Peru

These girls want you to take their picture and then they want a tip but they were so adorable with their lamb it is hard to resist.
This is the first day we arrived we walked around the city and explored a little bit.
This is me asking, "Is it llamas that spit?"
Here is Grant and Rachel on the top of some ruins that were really beautiful. I started the hike but due to the altitude sickness I didn't make it to the top.

The school year is over and our house in Bolivia is all packed up so we took the opportunity to visit some friends that now live in Cusco, Peru. We have had a great time so far. The city is amazing. The plaza has two beautiful cathedrals and a fountain. It is a very colonial looking city. There are llamas everywhere. The people speak really clear Spanish and they are easy to understand. There are Incan ruins all over the city.

Scenes from the Road

Trinity Union Church

Since it was my last Sunday at church I thought to bring my camera to get a few shots to remember our church here. That is our pastor Andy behind the pulpit. He is from England and a wonderful preacher and teacher.
Kelsey, Jamyma and Melissa--the two older girls are students of mine that attend church at TUC and Jamyma is the pastors middle child.
Here is Mickey, the pastor's wife and their new arrival Phoebe.

Tutoring Andrea

On Mondays and Thursdays after school the second semester of school I tutored Andrea. Her parents wanted extra English practice for her outside of the Learning Center where she was in Pre-Kinder this year. I would read her books. I had her make up stories to tell me in English. She made a book of the letters of the alphabet and words that started with that letter.
She is full of energy but I really enjoyed working with her.
Here we are on our last day of class together.

Farewell (a little early)

Two weeks before we were leaving our regular Wednesday night prayer meeting was our farewell. It was a little early because there are so many people leaving the field for various reasons they spread them out and ours was first. Rachel Stull was also included since she is leaving the same day we are to visit missionaries in Peru. Mary with her arm around Rachel praying for her and telling her how much the field has appreciated her work in Bolivia.
Betsy Tejeda sharing a verse and some anedotes with group about us.
A prayer of blessing as we are about to start a new stage in life again.
Here is some of the group. Cade is the cutie in the babyseat.

Surprise Party

Here is Rachel and I at Cosmic Bowl.
Daudi, one of the missionaries here, surprised his wife for her birthday with a bowling and dinner party. First we went bowling at the only lane in Santa Cruz. It was a lot of fun and I think I bowled a 90! Not so good but I had a lot of laughs getting those 90 points. At the dinner the waiters bring meat around on skewers. Everytime meat was brought to our table another waiter brought a rose and a carnation. This continued 12 times! What a romantic! Here is Andrea and I between turns.

Saltenas--Breakfast of Bolivians

A popular breakfast or morning snack in Bolivia is a saltena. They are sweet dough filled with chicken, potatoes, peas, hot sauce (optional) and broth. One morning Grant and I went out to a little shop and had saltenas and strawberry milkshakes. This would never become a popular breakfast anywhere in the states in my estimation but we enjoy the combo very much even for breakfast.

This is the most popular chain for saltenas. It's like a little garage and the owner was chasing dogs out of the store the whole time we sat there. A rooster wandered in at one point as well :)

Last Day of School

Today is the last day of school....I was looking at my planner and I distinctly remember the first day and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago. My room is very bare and white since I have taken down all the student's work from the walls. Next week we do have exams but it is different than most schools in the States because the students only come for their exam hour and then they are free to leave. Next Friday is the graduation and we leave for Peru on Sunday, May 25th. I'm excited to be going home and to be with family and friends again. It's been a great year and we have learned a lot--Grant has worked hard on learning Spanish :) We are going to miss Bolivia especially the people.

Sloth!

It was a beautiful day on Thursday when we were showing Tim around Santa Cruz so we decided to go to the zoo and I'm so glad we did. We got to hold a wild sloth! It was just loose walking around the zoo grounds and we held it. It's fur felt really dry like grass and it didn't seem to mind at all that we were holding him. I was nervous at first but it was a cool experience.
This is Grant's uncle Tim and the sloth with his arms open wide.
A close up with the slow moving teddy bear.
Here he was actually trying to turn to the side and look at something else other than straight ahead.
This was my first time holding a wild sloth so I was a little nervous.

Talita Cumi

Thursday was Labor Day so we went to Talita Cumi to hang out with the kids since there was no school. It is so great to go because no matter what they are doing all the kids come and greet you with a hug and a besito and they are so happy to see you. Here is one of the new boys Rodrigo hugging on Grant. Grant and Gustavo watching a marble game that the other boys were playing.
Lunch time for Juan de Dios, Edwin and Eliseo who is Rodrigo's brother and also new to the home.
Here is Heidi, Devana, Stephan and Grant on Stephan's last day at the orphanage. He is moving to Colombia to do missions work there.

These are the new stairs that were built at the home to replace the ones that burned down in the fire. Maple City Chapel provided the funds to do this project and the new stairs look great.
This is Eliseo, which is the name Elijah in Spanish. He is 4 and was abandoned by his parents because they couldn't afford to care of him and his brother. When they first arrived they sat on the floors and felt the tile because they had never seen any other type of floor besides dirt floors. He is such a beautiful boy and his smile just melts you every time.
Grant and Eliseo.
Another shot of lunch time.

Fall in Santa Cruz

It's fall in Santa Cruz right now but instead of raking we are enjoying beautiful flowering trees again just like in the Spring. Also, it's getting colder and because of that Bolivians are beginning to bundle up this includes their pets. On a day when we were just wearing jeans and a short sleeve shirt most people have winter coats on.

Llamas and Pizza

The school lunches are most often very Bolivian dishes that are pretty good. This week pizza was on the menu so I bought lunch and later thought better of it. The pizza had ham and cheese (pretty normal) also on the pizza was corn, green olives, chicken, tomato slices and mushrooms! It was very bizarre. Also, on Wednesday night Grant and I ate llama meat for dinner. It tasted like pork as best as I could describe it. The next day we went to the zoo and saw llamas and I thought it was a little strange. :)