Mariposario and more

This past week was packed with fun and adventures...and birthdays! Monday we celebrated Lidia's birthday by taking her out to a fancy French restaurant. We got all dressed up and had a marvelous evening being catered to and waited on.

Lidia, me, Laura, and Dovanna all gussied up for our evening out

Tuesday was a national holiday (Bolivia's Labor Day) so we all had the day off. Dovanna, Kristi, and their friend Christina and I decided to go to the mariposario (butterfly gardens). It is a beautiful place...manicured lawns, gorgeous landscaping, ten terraced swimming pools that empty into each other, a lagoon with canoeing, not to mention the largest butterfly dome in the world!

Dovanna and me on top of the observation tower, at the very top of the dome. We could see all over Santa Cruz - all the way to the mountains!

Isn't the vegitation amazing? So lush and green...we felt like we were in the middle of a rain forest!
We had the best time, wandering around, exploring, and being silly. Here's my favorite moment...holding a huge tarantula! Those of you who know how much I love spiders can see that I've come a long way...

Yes, he's alive and very real!

Friday night was the one-night-only production of The Importance of Being Earnest, put on by the SCCLC high school drama class. They did an amazing job...complete with period costumes and even accents! It was such a treat. I did feel for the non-English speakers in the audience though. Even my brain was tired after trying to follow Victorian English for two hours. Here's my theory. The brain only has enough space for a certain number of words. Therefore, as I'm expanding my Spanish vocabulary my English vocabulary is shrinking. Unfortunately, though my ability to speak English is declining, my Spanish is not improving! To all of you who think I'll come back speaking Spanish, let me just say...HA!

Saturday we celebrated Kristi's birthday Bolivian style...complete with the grand tradition of "biting the cake," where the birthday girl took a bite out of the side of her cake, and as she did her "friends" pushed her face into it! Seems like kind of a mean tradition to me, and also rather detrimental to the cake, but it's funny to watch (I'm just glad I doged that bullet on my own b-day!)

Kristi's friends got a little carried away with the face smushing...but don't worry, there was enough cake left for us all to have a piece

Sunday afternoon Katie and I took Dana W. out for her birthday. We went to a really delicious upscale buffet, where they actually cook the food right in front of you. The we had dessert at Fridolin, the premiere bakery in Santa Cruz. I'm now paying for all my scrumptious consumption ("the blessing" has been visited upon me), but it was worth it!!

Tomorrow we're having another "paro" (strike) in protest of the new education laws the President is trying to pass. The laws would basically limit and dictate the curriculum of every private school in the country. Eventually he wants to see private schooling outlawed completely. You can definitely pray for private education to continue in Bolivia!

Another "sur" (south) wind has blown in, so our temperature are dropping. We're also having a thunderstorm at the moment. It makes me want to go home and curl up with a good book! Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow...then again, maybe I should start packing! Three weeks from today and counting!!