Snow at Christmas Time

 

Just wanted you to all to know that we did get snow for Christmas too. Usually it melts during the day, but we keep getting more everytime it rains down in the valley. This snow hung around until more was added the next night. Mount Tunari the tallest in the picture (over 15,000 ft) is about 25-30 miles away from my house where I took the picture.

You Never Know Who You Might Meet On Your Way To.... (The Market)

 

If you only took pictures in one direction or one of the three others, you would never get an acurate view. 360 degrees is necessary. But today is just one direction. A little up the hill (North) and along the road to the east. I meet many other animals besides the dogs when I leave home and head elsewhere. the pigs above make their rounds at least a few times a week. maybe everyday, but I'm not there to check it out.

 

I see the goats maybe more frequently than the pigs, and I like them better as they remind me of Jubilee! The other day I saw a cute girl with two sheep one on a leash. If I had my camera, you would have a picture of a country girl. She was even dressed in the style of the countryside. I would have thought I was in the countryside.

 

Here I am with Mario (my neighbor,6 years old now, he is growing like a weed) and Roxanna one of my favorite kids from the after school program, and lunch program too! She is very helpful. Believe it or not she is 12 years old, she bent over to hug my waist. The third child is Eric, what you can't see him. Check out the number of right hands in the photo. Eric's hand is the bunny ears.

Photos from the Entrada de Sacaba

 

I love this photo. It is so hard to get action shots in real time, without some problem.

 

These guys look like angels! If you could see their costumes head on, you would see how much they weigh, and realize it is a real work out to dance 5 km.

 

Each costume costs a lot to make. Many people rent them for each event they dance in.

 

All ages dance from 3 to 70+. If you are obsessed with your weight this isn't the costume for you. I saw a perfectly skinny person put on one of these, and they looked 30-40 pounds overweight!

Entrada de Sacaba

First I want to say that the photo directly above wasn't even in the running, but by some downloading fluke here it is. In the post above are some of the better shots.

The Fiesta for the Parroquia San Pedro de Sacaba (where I lived my first time in Bolivia) is always in November. The date changes slightly so that the Entrada is always on a Saturday. The entire fiesta is about a week long. The entrada is like the entrance parade. Many groups of costumed dancers of various ages dance for hours along the route. The distance is about 5K from a small chapel to the main church. Dancers get breaks along the way and people offer food and drink.

This year the fiesta coincided with the School of Americas (SOA) Protest in Fort Benning Georgia. I went with my friend Hilda to the fiesta. Hilda had become my boss, when she replaced me as the director of the Childcare Center, when it became obvious I was doing two jobs, and became the administrator.

I shared with Hilda, as we sat in her kitchen chairs along the parade route, about 2 blocks from her house, regarding the protest at the SOA, since it was on my mind that weekend. I especially included the 2004 protest my first one after my return from Bolivia. ( I had been at many between the years of 1997-2001) In 2004, the protest leaders included during the solemn procession, a reading of the list of people, including many children who had been murdered in Bolivia in late 2003, by the army during the protests against the President. It was chilling to hear the names of the Bolivians, who had been murdered while I lived in Bolivia. In 2003 all US citizens were advised by the US Embassy to leave the country. (only a few left)

In the 2004 protest I was carrying a cross with the name of a young Bolivian soldier who refused to shoot at the people in the Main Plaza in La Paz. His commanding officer ordered him to shoot, he refused. The office said if soldier didn't shoot, the offfice would shoot him. He refused and was shot and killed.

In previous protests it felt like we were protesting past massacres to prevent future massacres, by closing the school that trained many soldiers in torture and assasignation of it's country's own people (including most famously that of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador).

In 2004 and subsquent years until 2009, the protest became more personal with the list of Bolivia people. This year again it is chilling again, to be back in Bolivia knowing that the protest to Close the SOA goes on. There will be no solemn procession here, it the festival atmosphere of the puppetistas that rules. The entrada of the Virgen del Amparo to Sacaba, hope and faith rule!

Weeks before I was in Sacaba for the solemn day All Souls. Again with Hilda, we looked for the graves of the children who were buried while I was in Sacaba and to give respect for those that had passed on during my time in Bolivia. I remembered those who were massacred and those who have passed on since my leavetaking.

I Am the Mover of Rocks

The Short Cut From Home To The Main Road(above)

I am the mover of rocks. When people ask me what I do sometimes I want to answer "I am the mover of rocks". Sounds like I am on the chain gang or have a manual labor job, but it is a little different.

I am the mover of rocks, small rocks you can hold in your hand, no bigger than your fist.

I am the mover of rocks, I move them from one altitude to another, sometimes to a higher altitude, sometimes along the same plane, other times I bring them back down again. I do this work almost daily, thus I reflect often on moving rocks.

I am the mover of rocks, I have not spurred any movements or changed the world hardly even my corner. Ii am the mover of rocks, one by one, two by two, sometimes up to four. Later I find them in my "purse", bag or pockets. They line my window sill at times.

I am the mover of rocks, over time maybe landscape will change. They end up in one of three places finally, but they come from all over. I am the mover of rocks.

I am the mover of rocks I say this to myself each day as I choose a stone or two and carry them with me. What is my role here in Bolivia, I am the mover of rocks.

If like the story of the beach strewn with starfish as the tide goes out, I was saving them one by one perhaps my time would have a different meaning.

Each day I say to myself, I am the mover of rocks. It has become a little mantra that has come out in this writing.

I have become something, I am the mover of rocks. I do this every day, I am waiting to pick up the same rock tha I left, but I really don't recognise them.

You are probably wondering why I am moving rocks back and forth, maybe I have an obsession. The answer is very simple, they are for protection from dogs!! Just having them along makes me ready for any encounter. If the dogs see you bending over to pick up a rock, they usually shy away. If there are no rocks, no problem the action of bending over and pretending you are picking it up is also enough to scare them away. I have only had to throw them once or twice, and being Franciscan of course makes me aim near but not at the dogs. They know what it feels like so they run!