Campamento (continued...)

Okay, here's the rest of my story (sorry it took so long...both Blogger and our internet connection were having problems).

- The Represa -

Another huge highlight of the trip was our trip to the represa (dam). The pictures kind of speak for themselves...basically it was like being at a waterpark.

Here you can see the water running over the dam. This part was very shallow, so we could walk right up and sit under the water...a very nice massage! =)

I took this from the top of the bridge - the bottom pool is about waist deep with a fairly strong current. Once you step past the white line of water it's only ankle deep, though still strong, but if you're careful you can walk all the way up it to the waterfall.

Here's Laura and me, enjoying the refreshing cascade (we tried not to think about what could be in the water, but were told that there were actually piranhas in the river up past the dam. So I guess I can now say that I've bathed in piranha infested waters!)

- Dramas -

The last night of camp each team was responsible for presenting a drama based on a Bible story that went with their name. My team, Soldados en Christo (soldiers in Christ) presented David and Goliath. The best drama by far was the Parable of the Prodigal Son, produced in full costume, complete with pigs (played by children) for the son to feed. The best part was when the son returned home and the father ordered a feast - they brought out one of the "pigs" on a platter! It was hilarious!

Here's the poor fattened pig, waiting for the feast (she did a great job of staying still, though I think I saw her eyes open a few times).

I think a great time was had by all...I know I enjoyed it so much. Laura's church is very friendly, and they really included me with open arms.

The group from Santa Cruz

Tuesday afternoon we loaded up on the first available flota, which unfortunately didn't leave until 4, and made the long journey back to the city. It wasn't too bad until the last couple hours, when several stops and cranky passengers made the trip seem endless. But we made it without any trouble (other than a few water balloons lobbed through open windows).

And so ended another unforgetable Bolivian experience!

Campamento!

Bolivian camp...where do I start. I don't want to bore you with a long drawn out description of camp, which most of you have already experienced, so I'll skip the play-by-play and just hit the highlights.

- The Trip -

We left on the flota (bus) Saturday afternoon, and arrived in Concepcion five long hours later. The ride actually wasn't too bad, and the drunk guys on board were great entertainment.

Marco, Betsy and me chill'n in the back of the bus

- The Town -

Concepcion is a beautiful little town with dirt streets, a lush plaza, and a lovely Catholic church. We walked around a bit when we first arrived, before the paint really started to fly.

Let me explain. During Carnival (Saturday through Tuesday) the goal of most people seems to be to get as dirty and messy as possible. After the kick-off parade on Saturday night, the "teams" (social clubs or just groups of friends) begin a huge war. It starts inocently enough on Sunday with water guns and balloons, then Monday they add paint and foam, and Tuesday basically anything goes - and you do not want to get caught in the cross-fire.

Paint-covered celebrants take a break from the action in the plaza

- The Camp -

To avoid the messiness (and then carnal motiviation behind it) most churches hold campamentos during Carnival.

I'd been told horror stories about Bolivian Campamento, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had an actual bed to sleep on, our meetings were held inside a very nice, finished church, and we even had hot water for showers! As for the actual activities...for anyone who's ever been to camp you know what to expect. Early wake-up calls, morning and evening services, crazy team games, sports tournaments...we had all that and more. Add to that the fact that everything is happening in Spanish, and you'll understand why I got home completely exhausted.

This particular relay consisted of wearing a sombrero and bat sunglasses while balancing a pencil on your lip and racing to the end of the field and back again.

I did get a few breaks from Spanish, thanks to Laura and Elliott. Three gringos at one campamento...I think we broke some sort of record! We didn't find out that Elliott would be there until right before we left, (he's a SAM missionary stationed in the little town of San Javier, several hours from Santa Cruz) so it was a fun surprise.

The three gringo amigos

To be continued...

Cooking (and eating)

Monday we celebrated a huge milestone in KinderWorld - 100 Days in School! There's something about the number 100 that makes the kids just so excited. We celebrated by counting to 100 several ways, read books about 100 things, decorated pictures with 100 seeds, and ended the day by eating popsicles (in 100 licks or more!) It was a fun day - for once the kids were really excited about learning! If only every day could be that way...

Wednesday, when Dan Strebig came to pick his daughter Raquel up at noon, he asked what my lunch plans were. When I replied "crackers and cheese" he immediately invited me for ribs at their house. I've never been a huge BBQ fan, but there was something about the smell of the grill and the sauce that made me feel so much at home! "The other Dana" was there too, along with two guys from the Strebig's home church in Montana. It was a delicious, messy time of food and fellowship.

Wednesday night Laura invited me to go make cheese empanadas with her at a friend's house. It was a great experience all around. Laura's friend, Abelina, doesn't speak a word of English which was great since I was forced to use my (very) limited Spanish to communicate. She very patiently showed me the process (see illustrations below).

Step 1: Mixing the dough (flour, sugar, oil, and water) by hand (literally)

Step 2: Knead the mixture until in forms a smooth ball of dough.

Step 3: Grate the cheese (we used a very hard white cheese that had little oil - this helped it stay inside the crust)

Step 4: Roll the dough into very thin ovals

Step 5: Put cheese in the middle of the dough, then pinch the sides together (it looks kind of like a sealed pita pocket)

Step 6: This is the tricky one: roll the edges of the empanada so that it forms a nice scalloped design. Easier said than done! By my fourth or fifth try I was starting to get the hang of it - although I was reeeeally slow. (If you look close I'm sure you can tell which ones I rolled and which ones were done by the experts - Laura and Abelina)

Step 7: Fry each pastry so that it puffs up crispy and delicious

Step 8: Enjoy! (But be cautious - blow on it first!)

Empanadas are a very typical Bolivian pastry that are also sometimes filled with chicken and potatoes. They can be eaten at any time, including breakfast, and are super yummy - though obviously they don't exactly make it very far down the food pyramid!

Thursday through Sunday "the other Dana" and I house and dog-sat for Charles and Hannah McCall, and young couple that are part of SAM's rural ministry team. Seidy (their dog) is a beautiful Weimaraner puppy. She's great to look at. Unfortunately she's also in that awkward stage of hyperactivity/clumsiness/destruction. It was an adventure, that's for sure! A few examples of the way Seidy "livened up" our weekend:

- We let her watch a movie with us, hoping she'd settle down. Nope, instead she very innocently inched her way closer to me until she was laying across my lap! That was okay - until she started licking my ears and nibbling on my hair!

- We took her for a walk, hoping it would help calm her down. She literally dragged us down the street as she nosed through garbage and tried to drink from the filthy water puddles - then when we stopped momentarily she wrapped herself around us and then took off so that we smacked heads and saw stars!

- We invited Katie over for left-over tacos after church on Sunday (Saturday we made a Mexican feast, complete with from-scratch salsa and guacamole). While we were eating Seidy snuck up behind Katie and then pounced-attacking her hair clip and licking her ears.

Of course after every escapade she'd just look at us so innocently as if to say "Did I do something wrong?" Despite all the dog drama I managed to have a very relaxing, quiet weekend. Hopefully it will sustain me through next weekend, which will be, from what everyone has told me, "utterly exhausting."

Stay tuned for my next post: Bolivian Campomento!

(it will be later then usual, since we are off Monday and Tuesday next week for Carnival).

When it rains...

It floods. At least that is definitely how I would describe my life for the past two weeks. We actually got a respite from the rain for about three days in a row, but last night the storms returned with a vengence. The thunder was so constant it set the car alarm off four times! (Keep in mind this is at 1:30 am). The following pictures were taken this morning - as you can see, the school grounds are more suitable for wading that walking. I guess that's why they built the sidewalks (and here I thought they were to protect the grass...silly me).

Who knows when we'll get to play outside for recess again. Of course the kids were all about going swimming. I was able to convince them it would not be a good idea - but I'm afraid eventually the temptation will be to great and at least one child will just have to know what it's like!

My life is also flooded with activity at the moment. I was hoping this week would be a little calmer after the whirlwind of last week, but it just didn't quite settle down the way I'd hoped. In addition to my usual weekly activities (Bible study and prayer meeting) I added a trip to the clothing feria with Laura, Brittany, and Jarod (Jarod is a new teacher at SCCLC who just arrived three weeks ago. He had not been to any kind of market before...I think he was a tad overwhelmed). Friday night we had another Princess Conference meeting to go over the drama again (we had to get a new lead actress since the former princess couldn't make it) and re-decorate the room. Afterwards the Strebigs invited the singles over for pizza. It was delicious (homemade) and we had a great time, but it meant kind of a late night. We were up again early Saturday morning for day 3 of the Conference. We tried to shorten it some, but we ended up running behind all day. I was put at a table again, fortunately with Katie so between the two of us we were able to understand most of what the girls said. Two of them were from ICM (Iglesia Christiana Missionara) which is the church that I've started attending regularly. So it was fun to get to know them.

After the conference I went home and collapsed for a couple hours - and it was good that I did, since Lidia decided that we should all go and watch the pre-Carnival parade that was happening downtown. We got there late and had to run to try and get ahead of the parade. I think we missed about half of it, but that was all right since every group was pretty much the same (they all danced - can you imagine how exhausting it would be to dance vigorously for an entire parade?) It was a fun "cultural experience" and much safer than the actual Carnival parade - I've heard it's really wild. People bring water and paint to throw on everyone, and there's a ton of drinking. It's not as bad as in Rio, but it's pretty crazy! Carnival is the weekend after next, and all the churches have camps outside the city for the four days that it goes on. I'll probably go with ICM, which will be really good for my language practice I'm sure!

Sunday after church several missionaries went out to lunch at a Brazilian buffet (good, but it didn't hold a candle to real Brazilian food) then we got together again at the Kinzle's for the Superbowl. We were pretty disappointed at first when we found out that the broadcast was in Spanish (you can't get English ESPN here) and that they wouldn't be playing American commercials. But since it was a good game everyone enjoyed themselves. We ended up staying for the whole game, which made for yet another late night. I think I'm going to have to go to bed at 7 in order to make up for all the sleep I've missed the last two weeks!

Elliott and Jeff watching intently...or are they just trying to understand the announcers?

Maybe this week will be calmer...doubtful, but hey, hope springs eternal!