Catherine In Bolivia

Small Towns - A Few Snapshots

2012-01-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

Though I now live in the Big City and enjoy the conveniences of many things close to home, and being able to walk to many events close by, I still really like the small town life. I like the picturesque old buildings, and quick walks to get to the countryside.

I like the fresher air and the space on the side walks and streets. I like the slower rhythm, the friendlier people. These are a few snapshots to the adjacent valley to the valley where I live. Most are from Tarata where I have been many times, more than any other small town, and I still want to go back! The Franciscan Retreat Center located there, where we went on the Christmas excursion.

I took a similar shot of this street (above) when I first lived in Bolivia, but I couldn't help take another image so I could share with more people. I think the street lays out like a painting. You can see how the street fades into the country landscape at the end of the road.

Photo Contest

2012-01-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

Bolivia is filled with new and interesting things. I loved to capture the different. As a way to pass the after Christmas blues and the northern winter's short days, I have created my own 1st photo naming contest.

Contest consists of:

1. Correctly naming what is in each photo.

2. Creating alternative names or identifications for the photos.

Responses can be placed in comment section of this blog entry, or emailed. Please put date and time as certain programs and computers date things with incorrect times.

Contest ends February 17, 2012

Winners will be announced February 29, 2012

Prizes awared for correctness, and for originality. Prizes to be announced on February 29. Good Luck.

All are eligible to participate, family, friends, employees, contracters, supporters and board members of FMS.

New Guarderia - Seeds Sown - New Year Hope

2012-01-01T00:04:00.000-08:00

When I first lived in Bolivia I was the admistrator of a childcare center, and I was also it's director for 6 months. The Center was created by Lorraine and Diego, returned FMS missioners. Their hard work and vision of creating a center that served two purposes. The first was to provide a Day Care Center for poor and / or single moms, so that they would be able to work. The second was a center for handicapped children. The nearest center was a 30-50 minute bus ride away, making it impractical for people of Sacaba.

The above photo is of the Center in it's third year. Dona Hilda (in tan) became the director and retired just last year. Dona Leo worked as an educator for many years.

The history of this endeavor would take a book to tell the whole story. This coming year the center will celebrate 10 years! Lorraine and Diego started with a vision, a space behind the church, which included over 3 walls, and a dirt yard. With bags of cement, strong backs, volunteers, collaboration of the pastor, mayor's office, and a few other projects (again I need a book), Lorraine and Diego began a breakfast program and a Day Care Center. The playground equipment above came from a grant written by Diego to the Mayors office, installation was followed through during my tenure.

During my time at the Day Care Center, Fr Honny decided to reallocate a donation of land that was to be used to build nursing / retirement home. Though The Church of San Pedro had ministries for old people, Fr. Honny believed that creating a better space for a daycare center as well as a special center for handicapped children and young adults was more important.

Culturally families take care of their parents and grandparents in their own homes. Major fund raising and then building were done during 2005-2008. In 2009 the two centers were finally opened, more construction will continue, for example the daycare center hopes to build a second floor to double it's current enrollment.

The above photo is just the Day Care Center, the handicapped center is far larger, and includes meeting hall, cafeteria, physical therapy, speech therapy, doctors offices and more. The first three photos in the post are the old center. The last four are the new center. Notice in picures three and four, the same plastic playhouse has survives many years and it's move to a new location. So many things that were obtained in the first years are still functioning.

As a missioner I know that the seeds that I sow in my time in Bolivia, I may not see bloom into flowers. It has been good to see the seeds that Lorraine and Diego sowed and that I watered and fertilized (as well as many others) have blossomed and even been transplanted. I was a special invited guest at the end of 2010, for the first graduation (of kindergarten) to take place at the new center. Some of the younger siblings of the children who attended the Day Care Center in my time were graduating!

An Unexpected Christmas Visitor

2011-12-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

I believe this critter came for a photo shoot since he didn't appear for his photo shoot for an earlier blog. Christmas Day mass was beautiful, though people are rusty on their responses, in the absence of a regular mass. All enjoyed hot chocolate and fruit bread after mass.

Christmas Get Away

2011-12-22T11:11:00.001-08:00

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, the workers and volunteers of the Franciscan Social Center shared the celebration of mass and some informal times, before the Christmas Break. Above are a few of us posing, the group includes a doctor and two psychologists (the three other women of the group!)

A group of about 60 people came together from all the different ministries, and took an hour ride to the Franciscan Retreat Center in Tarata. We came in a bus, the ambulance, and a few private cars. As you will see the Center has beautiful grounds.

Finally a frog! Though thankfully there wasn't a plague. He was located at the rock bordered pools with fish in the formal garden. We weren't sure if it was real or not and got pretty close, the people closer assured me that the frog was alive.

We played various games, and sorry, as one of the organizers, I didn't get very good pictures. I planned most of the games, but thought it wiser to have some one describe them in plain Spanish. Despite this preparation, some things morphed into the most hilarious situations. One being, I had only planned to get people into groups, animal groups by using the sounds they make. Well people thought that to be silly and just called out their animal names. In groups, folks were to create short skits with a lesson. What I didn't know was that my collaborator told everyone to do the skits using the animal noises!

Another first to see the fruit called tumbo here actually growing. (Rick hope you like the shot!)

This is the back of the church, seen from the retreat center grounds. This is where many locals go to church, the retreat center has it's own chapel. In the mid ground is an old fashioned well, which is no longer in use. Below is a view looking down from the center to some of the walking trails that are on property.

This is the Way I Wash My Clothes

2011-12-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

Well the truth is, George Washington, this is the way I wash my blankets. I hand wash my clothes. It is one of my favorite chores, well that is if limited to small items such as shirts and dish towels. Jeans, large towels are a real chore! A load of laundry can take an hour or two to wash by hand.

When I knew I was moving back to the Franciscan Social Center, I wanted my blankets clean. Doña Severina suggested the stomping method. I couldn't help but think of crushing grapes for wine making, it worked well but wringing out soapy water and rinse water was strenuous. By the end of the day the "solar dryer" completed the work. (solar dryer is synonymous for clothes line) I had to add the hint, as my friend JC was disappointed not to view some new technology, when I used this term years ago. The old system works just fine.

I can't recall seeing many rainbows my first time in Bolivia. This time I have seen many and have found them hard to photograph. The rainbow seems to brighten up the city photo!

The Franciscan Social Center

2011-12-06T08:03:00.000-08:00

My New Home

Originally a building to cloister young women entering the convent, the two story structure surrounds a small garden. A second floor balcony also surrounds the garden on 4 sides over hanging the walkway below it. Each room opens out to either walkway or balcony. This type of architecture necessitates movement of people outside, to go from room to room.

Johnny is the secretary/receptionist in the afternoon. He became one of my first new friends after returning to mission last year. In the mornings he teaches religion and theology to religious in formation.

A view from the second floor balcony of the chapel steeple of the Santa Clara Convent. The convent is home to the Franciscan Sisters who opened their doors, so that many groups could provide services to Cochabamba's many needy and poor people.

Doña Lydia is one of my favorite people who take care of the children of Mosoj Ph'unchay. Mosoj Ph'unchay is a home for children with severe burns housed within the Franciscan Social Center. Lydia works 24 hour shifts, every third day, taking care of between 5 and 12 children. She cooks, cleans, bathes the children, washes bedding by hand and so much more. For 3 or 4 hours morning and afternoon (Mon-Fri) Volunteers come in for tutoring, physical therapy, playing games, and crafts.

Here I am with one of the kids from the center besides a poinsetta tree. They grow over 15 feet tall. We have 14 foot ceiling and the plant grows well past the second story.

A view from above, Nora and I live in the second story in one corner. The children of Mosoj Ph'unchay live in a connecting corner and along the next side.

All Souls Day

2011-11-25T11:07:00.000-08:00

All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls Day (Nov 2) are holy days in the Catholic Church. The celebrations of these feast days were low key where I grew up, a mass attended by few and a possible visit to a graveyard if it were a weekend. In the US people are aware of "The Day of the Dead" celebrated by our Mexican neighbors to the South and by a large population of Mexican Americans in the US.

Bolivians have a national Holiday for All Souls Day and many workers have the day off to be able to go to the cemetery to pray, bring flowers and honor family and friends that have gone on before them. If someone has died that year or it is an anniversary year (1, 5, 10 years or so on) the family may bring favorite foods or drinks to honor the person, having a picnic or enough to share with other people.

Special small cakes called masitas and special Andean breads called T'ant'a Wawas (if the have shape or form) are also baked in large quantities. Popular shapes are people (especially of the deceased), llamas, snakes or other animals, sun, moon, and a ladder (as in stairway to heaven, popular before Led Zeppelin)

Children go about in groups offering to pray for the deceased (see above photo), knowing they will be offered, masitas, fruit or candies. The size and item depends on their ability to pray, getting a T'ant'a Wawa is a great prize. Remind anyone or Trick or Treat with a religious twist? This year a group of kids I knew collected more then they could carry home. My cultural/personal bias made me feel it was a bit excessive, then my friend Olga said they didn't buy bread for 4 months last year. The masitas became hard like cookies and they would dip them in their morning tea. Not buying daily bread represents a great savings to a poor family. A poor family of six could spend up to 5-10% of daily income on bread.

(Above) Most people are buried here in the crypts for 5-7 years, and then the remains are moved to make room for others. They can then be cremated, buried or moved to other locations. If you are poor, you cannot afford a crypt and can be buried directly in the ground.

You can also hire a roving band to play a song or two for your dearly departed. Simon & Garfunkel's tune of the Sounds of Silence has been put to a version of the Our Father prayer. This was the most requested tune and at one time I could hear it played from 3 different directions simultaneously.

You can also pay for prayers from a professional prayer person, who are present at cemeteries any day of the year for prayers. My friend Olga's father is one of those professionals. Blind since before all of his children were born, he probably makes close to 1/2 of his annual income his day. Many people who work praying in cemeteries are blind.

We sat with her dad for a while during All Souls Day, and it was great to see him in action so to speak. Usually he is a quiet presence in the home (Olga's home) a very patient and undemanding person. I was with the family a month earlier when Micky (Olga's oldest) had a graduation ceremony, and his grandfather blessed him and prayed over him very publically, even ringing his tiny brass bell. Not a common site in the US or here!

At the cemetery he would ask questions of the person requesting the prayers and seemed so interested to learn about them. It is quite a ceremony, bells, chants in 2 or 3 different languages and a dash of Holy Water, which hits who or what ever is in it's path. A toddler wandering in front of him at that moment nearly choked on a mouthful of Holy Water. Once he mixed up the person to be prayed for with the person requesting the prayers. She let him know she wasn't dead yet, and there was laughter all around, and he restarted the prayers for the correct person.

(Above) Olga is standing near the altar set up for the forgotten souls, the ones no one will prayer for that day. Of course with an altar to remind us they get prayers, just not by name! There was a larger site set up in the gravesite area, past the crypts, with banners and green grass. The cemetery in Sacaba is one of the best green spaces very park like.

T'ant'as Wawas

2011-11-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

In the before and after school programs in Tiqti, on the day after All Souls Day, an altar is prepared to honor deceased children. Little flags are made out of colored tissue paper, with geometric cutouts and glued to straw cut from broomsticks. All the children bring something for the altar, fruit, masitas, flowers, candy, T'ant'as Wawas. This year there was a contest for the best T'ant'a Wawa. Streamers, palm leaves, and other items are all used to decorate the altar.

Here is a close up of some T'ant'as Wawas. I even photographed my first T'ant'a Wawa, (certainly not award winning) but alas I am not sure where I saved it.

The kids ham it up after prayers and refreshments. Altars like this are also set up in peoples homes, if they have lost someone in the last year. Neighbors come by for visits and prayers and to remember the loved one. Since people are "buried" quickly (no embalming) this tradition on All Souls Day allows people who missed the funeral to pay their respects in a formal way. I found out anyone is welcome to stop in and pray. It is one of the few times I have seen doors left open to entry gates of houses for extended period of time.

The Devotional Chicken

2011-11-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the praying chicken photo I wanted to include in an earlier post. She is outside my apartment in Tiqti. She was actually trying to avoid the rooster. Due to her unrespectful approach to my plants I called her owner up and sent her home. I guess her prayers were answered in that she got away from the rooster.

The rooster was also sent to his own home a few months later. The only other chicken had hatched out 6 eggs and no longer needed his services. I was glad to see the blind rooster go because he would crow at 4:00 am, and he attacked plants too.

A few weeks ago I heard the mother hen making a fuss. As she had lost two of her chicks the week before, and I was the only one in the center, I went to see what was happening. A chick was caught in a bucket of water by the outside faucet. It was near drowned, I rescued it, but it couldn't stand. It was shivering and the mother ran away. So I dried it best I could in my shirt and kept it near my belly to warm up.

I tried to see if it would stand every so often. It just kept shivering and couldn't stand. When the sun came out from behind the clouds I held it up to the sun. The feathers were not drying quickly. After about an hour the mother returned and as it had been able to stand a few minutes earlier for the first time, I set it as close to the mom as I could get and it took off running feather still stuck to it's back!

Butterfly and bee, in harmony, feasting on my plants, better than chickens!

The plagues

2011-11-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

2011 began with my usual collection of bugs in residence. There were the "no named many legged hard shelled" crawling bugs and spiders that I leave alone to help control the other bug populations.

January I began to notice my first scorpions a little larger than those of Comer Georgia, and I didn't know if they were more venomous. The spiders seemed too wrap them up like mummies so I found more dead than alive. I also noticed tiny grasshoppers in just one sector of the apartment. There always seemed to be a few, very cute, but they never seemed to grow, was it a grasshopper nursery?

Next the ants came, I could not leave a plate with a few crumbs in the sink because shortly dozens would be having a fiesta. One night I invited a few people over for dinner and games. To my embarrassment, I hadn't noticed, that the ants had invaded my apple crisp as it cooled. I banged the pie plate on the table and they came running out, it didn't stop some guests to ask for seconds!! That same night the flies invaded by the dozens. I was beginning to wonder if I was being visited by the plagues of Exodus.

At the time Joel and Lynn began to stay with me while they looked for a new residence. They were changing their mission site from Carmen Pampa to Cochabamba. Luckily Carmen Pampa is filled with bugs, so they couldn't find much difference, except when the flies began personal attacks on Joel, as he read at night.

I bought fly swatters and Doña Severina put ant poison at the front door of her apartment. My front door is on the back side of her apartment, and she has no back door. Thus my latest plagues of ants and flies were attended to.

The rainy season peaked during February, and mosquitoes took up residence in Tiqti for the duration until rainy season passed into winter (about June). For less than $5.00 I bought a beautiful lacy mosquito net and slept in peace knowing they could not get to me.

Mid February I began to have welts mostly on my arms and back, but sometimes my legs. I thought the mosquito net might help but to no avail. Fr Edwin said I probably had fleas from the dogs at the center. I thought maybe I had bed bugs, I woke up nightly scratching.

I moved to the spare bedroom with my mosquito net. I cleaned my bedding and room. My skin was improving and I decided to move back to my room. The day I completed my taxes (April 13th) I was jubilant! I attached to email and sent to Jill to print, write check and mail. I had washed my sheets in the morning and was excited to sleep on clean sheets, dried in the hot Bolivian sun and breeze. Nothing like sheets fresh from the line!!

"Many legged" is behind, hidding legs!

As I put the sheets on the bed I discovered 5 pesky vinchuca bugs clinging to the cording on the mattress bottom, fat from sucking my blood. The source of my welts confirmed. I captured them for the public health department. I went back to the spare bedroom where there were no bugs present.

Vinchucas can carry the disease Mal de Chagas, which effects many people in the Bolivian countryside. The disease weakens the heart, among other things and shortens life spans, especially when left undetected. To make a really long story short, it took five weeks to find exterminators and to schedule them to exterminate. They did come for an inspection 3 weeks before extermination.

After not one bug would stay alive in the apartment for almost 5 months! A second infiltration of ants (that had arrived two weeks before exterminators) was stopped in their tracks.

I had wanted to write a blog comparing my infestations to the plagues in Exodus. I realized I had more different ones but I still "faulted" on a few. We did have hail twice during that time, though not very damaging. I never had frogs, but then I have never seen one in Bolivia, because of location.

Cooking by Candles

Just recently I could complete some others such as darkness, when the pastor decided not to pay the electric bill for 4 months and the electricity was cut until payment was made over a week later. I felt I was back to early mission days, candles, drawing water from the "well". (My poor back) Water not just for me but for the lunch program, school program and plants.

I was visited by a new plague, mice! Which is not a good one when you don't have light! I could finally be thankful that I didn't have a first born or they might be in danger.

A special note for Dianne, Christy, Paul and my brother Jim, regarding the mice. My friend Dianne sent me a birthday card this year a copy below. A few weeks ago I brought the card to Doña Severina and her family saying I had taken a picture of the rascally mouse that is in my house. They were so amazed I got a picture of the mouse (believe me he doesn't stay still enough for his photo to be taken). They kept asking me about the helmet. Why was he wearing it? Where did he get it? and so on!! I said he was very smart and didn't want to die! By the way all our floors are cement or tile. Wood floors are rare in Bolivia, or more for upper class.

Machu Picchu

2011-10-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the first test of the Blog. Is the above photo Machu Picchu? Most people would not recognize the shot of the mountain as Machu Picchu, but it is! The ruins of Machu Picchu are set in the saddle between the two mountains of Wayna Picchu and Machu Pichu. All the famous photos are taken from the slopes of Machu Picchu of the ruins with Wayna Picchu as the backdrop.

I made it! I can cross one thing off my ¨bucket list¨ This photo was taken earlier in the morning before the tour, after my first peek at the ruins.

One of my first detailed photos of the northeast side in the early morning sunshine.

Another early morning shot of the northeast side. There are some agricultural terraces before the drop off down the steep mountain slope.

This shows the amazing Inca masonry. Cement does not hold the stone work together, they are cut and shaped to fit perfectly together. All the stone was quarried from the top of the mountain, which is good news for the workers who came for a month or two a year, to pay their taxes through labor. There is still a major field with rocks available for expansion. (which they may need to use, as so many people have robbed rocks from this important site.)

Machu Picchu seems to be created for the ruling and comercial class, though actual facts and historical data are absent. The ornamentation and high quality of stonework point to Machu Picchu being a royal retreat or important cermonial center. People lived there for about 100 years, which looked to have been abandoned when the Spanish invaded the region. The above photo is taken of the industrial center, with the residential sector to the left fading into the distance.

My new friends from Argentina who were in my tour group. Very international group, people were from 7 different countries. My new friends asked lots of great questions, such as where did all the workers live? They atually did not live above in the ruins but further below, closer to the river, though ruins of their houses were not on the tour. Issues revolving around migrant labor are not a modern issue but ancient in existence.

These huts were located at the edge of the agricultural terraces. They have been restored as far as the thatched roofs are concerned to give a feel of what it may have been like, very few roofs in the ruins have actually been restored. (the view is looking toward southeast)

As I ended my day, I hung out on the southwestern side, many people had left and it was much quieter. Above is a detail (of the below photo) of more agricultural terraces at the edge of the community. I had never noticed before in the classical postcard shots, until a Peruvian pointed out that the mountain of Wayna Picchu looks like the profile of a head in repose. I couldn't help but notice this, it is most obvious in the photo of me and the Agentinians.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

2011-10-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of Arequipa was the self guided tour of the Monasterio de Santa Catalina de Siena. The immensity of this historic convent was incredible. Much of the cloister was open for the public to wander around (at a significant entrance fee!) I have over 170 photo, it is quite a photogenic place, though I somehow uploaded the less colorful ones. It felt like visiting a whole separate town within the city. It seemed to go on for blocks, there are at least 6 major streets, orchards, chapels, various cloisters, common areas, individual cells, bath house, clay jar laundry and much more.

The convent was founded in 1597 and constructed of Sillar, white volcanic stone quarried locally. The first, fourth and fifth photos show the use of this stone. It is considered on of the most important and impressive colonial structures of Arequipa.

This bedroom chamber is located in the (old) novices cloister. Certainly upscale to most of my bedrooms in my life time. The original nuns that entered the cloister came from rich Spanish colonial families. They lived upscale lives within the cloister walls, each having a cell that consisted of a bedroom, sitting room (with eating area) and a kitchen. Some even had a bathroom (a room with a commode). One of the historical plaques referred to the sale of one of these "cells" from one nun to another. This rich life continued for almost three centuries, until a strict group of Dominican nuns entered and restructured the convent. I can't recall if this was the time when the indigenous nuns were allowed to enter the cloister or this happened at a later date.

All the cells had kitchens that seemed large for one person. The kitchens were darkened by wood smoke (this is not a back and white photo!) and were mostly out of doors. Later the great kitchen was created and the nuns ate communally in the refectory.

Earthquakes hit Arequipa in 1958 and 1960 (again this is not a black and white photo!), destroying parts of the convent. My inderstanding is that the second story was ruined in many places, thus exists many staircases that seem to go no where. In the above photo, this section shows the earthquake damage, an entire area was left in this condition. The new convent takes up only about 15% of the space within the cloister walls. I hope the nuns can wander the historic part when it is closed to the public.

I have spoke of the immensity, it was just a maze of one room after another and then popping back onto the street. It felt like a mini retreat, very tranquil, because few people were wandering around. It was like the spirits of the ancient nuns were still hanging around and praying. There were so many flowering plants, religious artifacts, blooming trees, the light filtering through various windows, or over walls and through gates. Some cells even had little private outside prayer areas, with small altars, crosses and plants. I felt there was so much to see, at the same time I just wanted to stay put, sit and soak in the spirit. I could see why someone would choose to enter the cloister and stay without returning to life outside the walls. A very peaceful place.

Vacation 2011

2011-10-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here I am with one of the many new friends I met on vacation. Luckily this is the only one who wanted to kiss me! I saw many llamas, vicuñas, and guanacos all throughout my trip.Some were at tourist locations, but the majority were in the countryside as I passed in buses. Vicuñas and guanacos are wild animals taht roam around like deer. Most llamas were in groups being shepherded around by campesinos.

I have dozens of flower photos, this one was taken near the Butterfly House, just outside Agua Calientes. The Butterfly House is an interesting environmental project, they only capture and release butterflies of the same altitude.

The below photo was taken during a tour of Arequipa. I can't remember if it is actually a mountain or a volcano!

Fall looks like Spring after the Rainy Season

2011-09-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of Spring in Bolivia. It is also El Dia del Estudiante, El Dia del Amor & de la Amistad. A sort of Spring, Valentine's Day, Friendship and Students Day all rolled into one. I think Bolivia has more specialty days than even the US, even with all our greeting card days. Some like friendship day seem to come around more often than once a year! (It is always good to celebrate your friends.. Hi Jan!)

After our reflection and prayer time last night, our mission group decided to head out for pizza. A treat we had been hoping for for weeks, a treat because it is not a cheap food item unlike the 4 cent oranges I bought this week! With the list of celebration days above, we slowly realized the error of of ways, checking out 4 different pizzerias with hour waits. We will wait until our next reflection to indulge.

So as all of you head into fall with cooling days, rain, leaves changing color and falling, pumpkins, cider and the rest (yes I grew up in the northeast), you can imagine us heading into Spring. Yet most of your images would be off for a Bolivian Spring.

First of all there is no rain, no crocus pushing up from the last melting snows. No wild bursting rushes of flowers or flowering vines. During these previous months of winter, people have been cutting back their still flowering trees, bushes and vines. But without August and September showers there simply are no flowers.

We just keep getting increasing heat until Advent time or until the showers begin and with it a coolness that does not become Summer, especially knowing I am so close to the equator. The rain brings to the dirt caked landscape mud. Slowly without being aware, because you are looking at your feet to avoid the mud, or to prevent tracking mud indoors, a spring comes.

The brown landsacpe has turned green and wildflowers and plants bloom and you look at your calendar and it is actually March! Strangely the Spring sensation lines up more with the traditional Spring of the Northern Hemisphere. All the pictures in this blog posting are from March of 2011. I left the original title, I just never had time to write a post at the time, and as Spring just started I thought they were more appropriate to this date.

I am interested in the celebration of Spring here, I guess it is the Spring equinox really. Very little of my northern image of Spring lines up. Certainly the days are warmer as well as the nights. Rainy season use to begin here in November, and thus the planting began in the countryside. The rainy season has pushed it's start into December, January and even as late as February some years, making it difficult for the planters to seed their fields.

Environmental change, global warming, and even El Niño/a have been sited as possible causes for this change. I hear this year the rains will begin earlier according to the old people who read the signs of nature (or should I say back to normal rhythm). I am interested to see if they will predict correctly. Interestingly in the last week we had sprinkles and many cloudy days, which for me is a great relief to the intense sun at over 8,500 ft.

Another seasonal difference is that we also have a windy season which had just extended itself from August into September this year. The wind usually comes more frquently in the afternoon with a strength to blow your clothes off the drying lines. As it is also still dry it feels more like dust storms, which blow sand and dirt right into the houses through all the cracks of poor construction and non existent door thresholds. Another reason to get your clothes in as soon as the dry, which is pretty fast here in Cochabamba.

I usually write my entries at home and type up at internet, I did so yesterday. Last night it snowed in the mountains, and was still snowing as I made my way into the city. I reflected that so many people here have seen snow in the distance and right now can even see it snowing, but they rarely get a chance to touch it or walk in it, as you would really need to make a mountain trek to it at 13,000ft and on up. This snow will certainly help any Spring planting (snowmelt), maybe the predictions are already starting to happen. Today we feel the cold of the snow, in the past I could even smell it blow down from the mountains.

Reunion in Bolivia

2011-08-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

In the fall of 1999, I entered orientation with the Franciscan Mission Service in Silver Spring MD. We were the 14th or 15th Orientation Group. We were a class of 6 and 1/2 as we called Annamaria, who was 3 months old when she came for orientation. Pictured above is the reunion of 4 and 1/2 though, that half is obviously full grown now! (from left to right, myself, Diego, Annamaria, Lorena and Peggy)

Five of the six were missioned to Bolivia. The sixth, Tom, worked in El Salvador then in Colombia. Both Peggy and Debbie committed to a second 3 year term after completing their first three years. Lorraine (aka Lorena) was already in her second term when we met in orientation. I returned in 2010 for a second term. I was the only one of my group not to complete my original 3 year comissioning due to serious health problems.

Peggy returned to Bolivia independently this year, and is working with Franciscans International here in Cochabamba, the offices are located on the corner of the same block, in the Franciscan Peace and Justice Center.

As you can see we literally renuited right on the steps of San Francisco (The Church of Saint Francis). It would have been great if Tom and Debbie could have made it too!! Hopefully we can all reunite at the next FMS returned missioner retreat that takes place about every three years in the US. I often think of Tim and Cecilia who I was in mission with briefly toward the end of my time in Bolivia, and who hosted me for a later visit after my recuperation. They are in mission again with FMS, but this time in South Africa, they inspire me with their blog and email newsletters.

The man behind the first two photos is pictured in the third, Fr. Ignacio OFM. Brother Iggy as we know him is a major support for all the FMS missioners spanning 3 decades!! (90s, 00s, & teens!) Iggy knew Lorena before she met and married Diego in the 1990s. He has been working and living in Bolivia for over 30 years. My first time in Bolivia, Br. Iggy was living in La Paz, but he always made time to check on those of us who were in Cochabamba. He has also organized various retreats for FMS lay missioners over the years. He also likes to connect people together, from various walks of life. I had the privilege of meeting his two sisters when they came for a visit.

I Am In Bolivia

2011-08-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

I know I am in Bolivia

When I see a truck fly by with wooden sides & 30-40 heads sticking up over the cargo area.

When I see people throw trash out the bus windows.
When a vendor doesn't have change for a small bill.
When no one gives up their seat on the bus to the old lady who just boarded the bus.
When I see a dog taking itself for a walk.
When I peek in an open doorway on a dirty desolate street and I see an oasis inside.
When I arrive at the International Airport and my 1/2 hr flight to Cochabamba gets canceled and there isn't another flight for 12 hours.
When it costs more to make a local call then to call the US.
When friends get robbed or assalted going to or leaving church.
When someone cuts in front of of a long line of people waiting.

When I see incredibly majestic mountains almost surrounding me in the distance and yet close up is severe poverty and dirty streets.

When I had parasites in my stomach.
When you just need to pick up something simple and it takes hours (and many walking miles) to locate.
When there are blockades on the road preventing you from going to work.
When there are strikes.
When you must say good afternoon and not just hi!
When you can buy a banana for 2 cents, a red bell pepper for 5 cents, and a pound of tomatoes for 8 cents (note in season!!)

When the exterminators come on motorcycles. (see above)
When a motor cycle passes with a family of 5 without helmets, and carrying shopping bags.
When children's education seems to be memorization and poorly done.
Yet the same children learn a higher level of practical items above their US counter parts.
When it snows in the Bolivian summertime.
When 30% of the people you know have lice.
When 35% of the children you know are malnourished.
When 90% of the children have parasites.
When you can still see children playing with marbles and wooden tops with strings. (see below)

An Eye on the Neighborhood

2011-08-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

I like to keep my eye on the neighborhood or maybe I should say the properties that surrounds the Center here at Tiqti Sud, since currently there are no neighbors.

I keep my eye on the cacti up the hill, where the sun currently rises. Are the people picking prickly pears called "tuna" here, or are the children playing war games, where they take machetes to the cacti? Are the women harvesting bugs from the cacti to make homemade lipstick? What are the goats eating today, will any dogs be attacking them? Will the walking ice cream vendor pass on the road above the cacti or will he come down the path that switchbacks through the cacti?

To the west is a company (see photo above) that wholesales building supplies, but looks nothing like Lowes or Home Depot. A team of 4 -12 men (see photo below) bend rebar in half and stack it in another place. Two men hold one end, and two or three others run the other half around until the two ends meet. Then one or two guys walk the bent piece to the new pile. The guy at the tip has to do a lot more running than the others! I woke to this sound early one morning about 2 or 3 AM, when I first moved to Tiqti and I was worried that someone was robbing the company. It took me twenty minutes because of the dark to figure out they were just working. I since found out that the men like to work this night shift so that they are not out in the strong sunlight all day. I really don't check out this direction much, only when I hang out my clothes to dry.

To the south or down the hill (see photo below), nothing much goes on. I just found out they will be putting a road along this southern wall as the neighborhood becomes more developed. The Center's upper patio does give a good view down to the 4 lane highway below, where I can look out to see if there is a strike or blockade affecting the flow of traffic.

To the east or what I think of as the east because I first saw the sun rise from this direction, are many property lots (see photo below). The closest ones to the Center have been sold, and bulldozing has changed so much of the topography, that a surveyor has had to come in yet again to remark the property lines. I met the surveyor because the dogs were barking (rural doorbells!!) and the man seemed suspicious, closely passing our northern and eastern walls, so I went out to talk to him. He explained to me that the various owners were fighting over the boundary markers, because of all the bulldozing.

I met the woman whose lot has become the garbage dump of the neighborhood. I can't understand why, as the garbage pick up comes each Wednesday and Saturday morning. Two men arrive with a 3' X 6' metal basket framed cart, they start up hill and let gravity bring the load to the highway, what happens from there I don't know!! The first time I saw them the skinny guy was in front acting as a human break! The garbage was piled over 6' in the air!

I met another woman and her family when they came to visit their lot, which is located next to the "garbage lot". Her property has three exterior walls which after the rains, transformed it in to a bit of a swimming pool, with trees in the middle. She dug a ditch along the street to detour future waters from her property. A few weeks later a road grader came through and changed up a bit of her work.

There is a nice guy that is building one lot over from our southeast corner. He first built the property walls, and then built 3 or 4 rooms on the northern wall. He just painted the "front wall" ( the one that will face the street) a mauvy plum color. It really spruces up the construction zone (the two properties below his were begun a month or so after he started.) Work has begun on another lot this week (see photo below).

I met the family that brought the three lots up hill from this man. Recently I noticed someone setting fire to these edge of this property. I went to check it out because burning trash is so toxic here because of all the plastic that gets burnt. It ended up being the father of the 3 siblings that brought the 3 lots, he came to burn some grass and weeds.

I learned from him that no one should take a nap under the Molle Tree, especially a child because the devil will enter their souls. There are quite a few of these trees on his children's lots. He also informed me, strangely enough, that you could take the branches of this tree (with leaves attached) and boil them, and add another ingredient and after it cools you coat your legs with it and you will be cured of a certain (I forget what) infirmity. I guess I should have taken notes.

Other things I have "learned" in Bolivia is that if you rub a child's kneecaps they will learn to walk more quickly. If a child doesn't master walking fast enough you can bathe their legs in cow's urine and that will cure whatever ails them! If a child is sick it is because something scared them (which I figure could be true sometimes but not all of the time), not because they sat next to a sick child at school.

So there's a quick view of the neighborhood, and my eyes taking everything in.

Church Interiors Photo Essay

2011-07-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

Side altar

I just wanted to share some pictures of church interiors that I have taken over time. Only the one in Tiqti has the modern look (see previous blog entry for photo). I need to take one of the San Carlos Church as it mixes old with new.

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Church at Plaza Principal Tarata

Detail of the altar above.

The Church at the Franciscan Retreat Center at La Angostura

This was said to be a replica of the church in Copacabana, that I wasn't allowed to photgraph. I believe just the statue of the virgin is the replica because, the church was far more impressive.

(Above)Inside of Tiqti Chapel

The title to this post translates roughly to: We are a Parish Family United in Mission. It is a phrase we use to describe my parish, San Carlos, here in Bolivia. Last year we were focused on the idea that we are all on mission. I may have shared this in an earlier post, or email newsletter, or just in individual letters.

This theme was more deeply focused and examined on an all day retreat that about 100 people from my parish participated in last year in May. We traveled to the Franciscan Retreat Center in Tarata, which is about an hour away. We participated in workshops that put us together in mixed groups from the parish. Our final workshop we joined with people who have similar work, and prepared statements on what we were willing to commit to for the next year.

Lintel of Doorway into Retreat Center

A week or so later we had a special mass we were all pledged to work as missioners in the parish. I wrote at the time of the irony that I felt to have traveled all this way to be a missioner and yet everyone in my parish was now missioners!

The third Sunday of Lent this year, culminated the year of focus on mission. All the churches in the diocese were invited to the International Fair Grounds in Cochabamba for a "Fiesta of Fraternidad". All the churches were to suspend their masses for the day and everyone was invited to mass at the fairgrounds. I would guess that there are over 500,000 Catholics in the Cochabamba area. They planned for 7,000 people to come and over 10,000 were in attendance. Crowd wise I felt it was far larger than SOA protests!

We were invited to spend the whole day celebrating and creating community. It was a bit like a Clearwater Revival (without famous artists!) There were areas for folk dance performances, theatre performances, concerts, kids play areas, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and more. Each church staked out an area to gather their people, some just to eat lunch, others their personal celebrations, dances and music. There was even a mariachi band that played one song, of the Mexican Folk Dances I learned to dance to out in Colorado!

There were various contemporary catholic rock bands and it was great to see so many folks dancing about and singing to the songs. It amazed me to see so many different groups of nuns; I believe a majority of who were in their habits.

Archbishop Tito was the main celebrant at the mass, there was a representative from the Vatican present. Padre Honny from my days in Sacaba was on the main altar too! There were dozens of other priests concelebrating the mass. It was the quietest Bolivia mass I ever went to. You could hear children [playing in the distance, and the birds twittering in the trees.

Archbishop Tito besides giving a sermon related to the Sunday readings, which focused on thirst of all types and incarnation of Christ, made connections to the theme he wishes we would work towards in the coming year(s). He challenged us within our parishes to create various groups that would create space for fraternity, and within those brother/sisterhoods to be communion or body of Christ to each other. We are to move into the 1st phase of the pastoral plan that orients our road to permanent mission of our parishes.

During the mass a group of people "brought symbols of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit" forward. I was waiting for the first symbol, when someone raised up a styrofoam cut out of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Then seven people released seven white doves. They flew round, split into groups, and one group of about 4 doves returned to the rooftop of a tent near the altar, guess they didn't want to miss the rest of the mass!

All in all I think it was a great day that should be repeated at least once a year. Positive notes, absence of commercialism, alcoholic beverages, and usual Bolivian trash (the young folks were picking up what was dropped.) People really seemed to enjoy themselves and there wasn't time to see everything!

Dogs and a Splash of Humor

2011-05-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Stories about animals and kids can be amusing. Here are a couple of vignettes. I tried to get a picture of dogs trying to come into the church. Some Sundays they go right up to the altar or take a tour during mass.

Here are two of the dogs that live at my center (there are four). The front one is Donny, the one behind I call Gramps. They guard the place. We don't need doorbells, because they bark whenever anyone comes to the gate. Though sometimes I think they bark at passing clouds or butterflies!!

When I am home (and working) I usually leave a door open. As I was passing from one room to another, something flickered in my peripheral vision. The rooster had come in through the office to the living room. I opened the living room door to shoe him out, but as he is supposedly blind, that wasn't easy. In those brief moments he was able to leave a few "presents". He has been on my hit list for eating, my pea, watermelon and flower plants. I hear that he is going to market tomorrow! (and he won't be making any purchases, wink wink!)

I will try to insert another photo in here later of the chicken that likes to say her prayers. She thankfully went to her birth home, because she ate even more plants, and left even more presents for the Virgin Mary.

Always save the best for last. One of the kids in the after school program, has a secret access to fish, the very small ones you find in a pond. I have no idea where he gets them, and all the other kids are fascinated with them. He is quite generous, and shares them with anyone, who has a little cup of water.

Dona Severina's son who is in first grade was very excited to get some. The next day we asked him where his fish were, and he proudly staed that he had put them in the water tank, so they would have room to swim and grow! Note that this is our water tank for drinking, cooking & bathing!! I couldn't stop laughing! So logical! Sure enough when we filled the water tank a few weeks later there were two larger fish swimming around. Sorry no photo, you just have got to believe!!

Retreat

2011-05-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

In January of this year our program director Rhegan and FMS board member Fr. Joe came to Bolivia to guide us in retreat, and also visit our work sites and our Bolivian homes. We went to a retreat center within the city limits of Cochabamba, and yet it felt far away. The grounds were well kept, there was a beautiful chapel, we had simple rooms and hot water!! We even had flowered covered gazebos were we met sometimes and where we had had our final mass. See above picture.

Flowers at Retreat Center

We had morning and evening prayer, group discussions and reflection times. I will quote from one of the evening reflections sheets Rhegan prepared for us:

"As missioners we know that we do not possess God. We do not carry God to distant lands and peoples. Rather it is God who possesses us and sends us to peoples of our world."

"As missioners we seek to live simple lives. By stripping ourselves of all that is not essential, we strive to be free from possessions in order to be for God."

"As missioners we celebrate the lives and experiences of the people with whom we are sent. Their lives change us. We experience with them a celebration, a joy, and unity of life beyond our individual experience. We celebrate the fact that we are becoming one just as Jesus wanted us to be."

Some of our reflections focused on The Beatitudes and on Canticles. One exercise we were given for the retreat was to create a canticle. We were given art supplies and instructions. We were to present our canticles in our final gathering time. Our responses were as varied as we are each different. At the time my thoughts were very much on my location of living and work; Tiqti Sud. I drew the picture below and wrote the verses that follow the picture.

Bless the Lord, you hills of Tiqti:
Who look from various angles
as the City of Jerusalem,
when the golden light of sunset,
shines on your unfinished houses of adobe and brick.

Bless the Lord! You cacti who flower and bloom,
and give your fruit for free.

Bless the Lord! You water that drops upon the dry soil,
that collects to running torrents.

Bless the Lord! You sun of Tiqti,
lifegiving and parching.

Bless the Lord! You brown dry plants,
that with rain become luscious green plants.

Bless the Lord! Oh you animals of Tiqti,
foraging pigs, nibbling goats, barking dogs,
seeking sheep, quacking ducks, and pecking chickens.

Bless the Lord! Oh you small creatures,
ants laboring under a large leaf,
grasshoppers looking for grass,
spiders protecting,
dragonflies who stay the night,
and other crawly unnamed many legged friends.

Bless the Lord! You hills of Tiqti,
who not long ago held life of one sort.
Now you open your arms to the scars
inflicted by humans,
and still you cradle us,
the new life,
to live on your soil.

Bless the Lord! You hills of Tiqti! Bless the Lord!

Bless the Lord!

Inca Rock

2011-04-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our last day of the pilgrimage, after mass, we visited the museum at the church at Copacabana. We waited a long time for a quick tour, our guide didn't say much, but the guide of the second group was full of information she wanted to share. I hung back at times to hear what she had to say. Again we were not allowed to take photos.

There were many artifacts from centuries earlier. Original chalices, vestments, altar clothes, paintings, altar vases and so on. Very little was labeled and was not very organized. (Items from 30 years ago mixed with items from 500 years ago. I noticed this trend in other museums.) There were a lot of silver and gold items. We came out into a beautiful cloistered garden adjacent to the church, where we did take pictures (none on my camera), it was a peaceful, prayful spot.

The whole trip I was able to spend time with different groups of people from church. I think because I didn't go with a particular group, it was easier for me to mix in and get to know different people. One night a couple of the church ladies asked me to join them for coffee.

After the museum, a group of young people were going exploring and invited me along. We arrived at Inca Head (above photo), which I assume was carved by a modern sculptor. I also thought it was our destination (we had already stopped at a small park.) No we were going somewhere else, we continued further up hill to the outskirts of town. We were going to climb a hill similar to the Stations of the Cross but on the other side of town.

It was nice they wanted me along, but now I thought I didn't want to slow them up. I am double the age of most of the group, and we needed to get back for lunch. I looked for ways to convince them I would stop and wait for them to come back down. They kept urging me on, and we discovered that we were not on the path about 1/2 way up the mountain. We had been bushwacking, well more like rock climbing, because we were using our hands, and there weren't many bushes!

At one of my rest spots, I took the above photo because it reminded me of the view from Mt Battie above Camden Harbour. Of course there are more boats in Camden! At my last resting spot, I was at it for a while, Jimena called me from slightly above, but more further around a cliff. She said I had to come because it really wasn't very far to go to see Inca Rock. It was nice that it wasn't on the top of the hill. Remember we are already at an elevation of 12,600 ft, so a hill feels a lot like a mountain.

Inca Rock is a lintel placed on two stones (see above, it is not the Easter Island type rock on the right!) Many of the stones at the top part of the hill stuck up like Stonehenge, though I don't think they were placed there like the lintel on Inca Rock. Jimena explained to me that this could be called punnishment rock. If one commited a "sin", a hand or a foot would be cut off. More sins or larger sins a whole appendange would be cut off, repeat offenders could have another hand/foot cut off..

Later someone told me that this rock was also a sacrificial rock, where humans were sacrificed. Could this be true too? The day before we were told only beautiful virgens were sacrificed. Oh what a blessing to be ugly! We made it back down the mountain in time for lunch, in record time becuase we followed the path the whole way! After lunch we cleaned, packed, and picked up snacks for the way home

Sacred Inca Ruins

2011-03-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

We stopped at a port on La Isla del Sol, where we saw the reed catamaran Sailboat take off. There were a few residences, a hostel and a few eateries. The beach here was covered with pebbles, more like the cliff walk beach at Newport Rhode Island. The first photo shows the rock staircase that we climbed to the spring. Along the rock steps, the spring ran down in a little stream, and people stopped to drink the water.

The ancient Inca Springs located two thirds of the way up the hill, were used by Inca Priests to purify themselves before rituals. They would come to this place by boat, to purify and prepare themselves for rituals that were held in other locations. Only the most important people were allowed to come here. There were two different springs with different types of water, a mineral water and the other just regular spring water. The priest needed to bathe in both waters and drink from both. springs.

All our Catholic pilgrims did an abbreviated version, a cup of water from both and wetting their heads in both. The cautious missioner that I am, I drank three handfuls directly from the streaming water and passed three drenching handfuls over my head. I must admit that I later got a headache, so I don't know that I recieved a blessing, but maybe I cured something else... People also filled bottles with the water and I wasn't sure if it was to drink or use as a holy water.

As an aside, when people bless themselves with holy water here, they put handfuls on their heads, or sometimes the priest drenches them with holy water. In many churches here, after mass, the people go up to the altar and wait for the priest to bless them with holy water. For some it is not enough to get a sprinkle from afar, they need to get up close for a good dousing!

After the Inca Springs we got back into the boat and passed by the above ruins slowly. I don't think that we had time to unload the boats, explore and reload the boats. I don't have any information about these ruins.

After we stopped by some floating restaurants, where you could choose which trout you wanted slaughtered for your dinner. They were in cages in the water. We only stopped for a short time, but a few people did buy trout dinners. So many people wanted to see them kill and clean the fish, that the area of the float went inches under water, and people needed to move to other parts of the float to adjust. We headed back after to Copacabana, where lunch was waiting for us (5:00pm!!)

My Personal Pilgrimage on Boats in Lake Titicaca

2011-03-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Having worked on sailboats for various seasons in the mid 1990s. I was quite excited to see Lake Titicaca, which is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. I think that it is the second largest freshwater lake in South America. Lake Titicaca is about 3,232 sq miles, average depth of 351 ft, with the deepest deepth of about 1,000 ft. To make a comparison, the land area of New Jersey is 7,419 sq miles.

When we crossed in ferry to the peninsula, we had to leave the bus and take small boats of 15-20 people to the other side. The bus was driven onto a ferry, which looked like a dock, or pierhead, or a gigantic raft. At one point in the middle of the channel the ferry bobbed up and down so much, I thought the bus wouldn't make it. Ours was the largest vehicle to cross at that time.

A week earlier two boats had collided and a couple of people drowned. The military police were out on our return crossing to make sure the boats were not over loaded and that everyone had a lifevest. The life jacket was very sketchy in my opinion and since I was the only one who knew how to put one on, I felt it but a joke (no safety talk on this boat). Though I know how to swim I put one on to show others, and to be able to help if there were an actual emergency.

Our second day we took a boat to Isla del Sol (the Island of Sun), the ride was almost two hours. When we arrived we basically went to the beach. There were soccer and volley ball games, some of us rolled up our pants and waded in the water. The campers on the beach (mostly foreigners) said the water was warm. Having worked sailboats in Maine, where water temps could fall under 60 F, I would consider this water cold!! After the soccer games some folks actually did swimm around.

What impressed me most in the boat ride and on the bus ride from the ferry to Copacabana were the proliferation of terraces, or terraced land. I had seen it before in Bolivia but not to this extent. It impressed me that so much land had been cultivated. I could only imagine the extent of the Inca Civilization. There were still working terraces that we passed by boat. The water temps in Lake Titicaca are said to remain the same year round, making it a great place to raise crops. Below is the best shot that I was able to get, but like the Grand Canyon it is hard to get a picture that truly represents what I saw.

After out time on the beach we boarded the boat again for a short cruise to another port on the island were we saw ancient ruins (stay tuned for next post for details) While we were there a reed catamaran set sail from the dock to head back to Copacanana. I hope to return some day to take a sail on that boat. The sailors also had long oars to halp get them out of port. The boats of old on Lake Titicaca were mostly made of reed. If you are in Washington DC you can see one of these reed canoes on display in the native American Museum in the main foyer.

Pilgrimage to Copacabana

2011-03-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Pilgramage seems like such an old fashioned word, it make me think of midevil Europe, though I know many people who make pilgrimages to Fatima, Isreal, Guadelupe.... Here is Bolivia one place of pilgrimage is Copacabana. Which is located in the altiplano, a plain at an altitude of roughly 12,000ft, located in the Andes. Copacabana is located on Lake Titicaca on a peninsula that juts out of Peru but is still part of Bolivia.

The pilgramage was organized by the parish of San Carlos, which is the parish for which I work. Over 80 parishioners went in two bus loads, ages 3 to 70 something. Included were families, couples, young adults, retirees, people from various economic backgrounds. Some people had not even traveled as far as La Paz, which we passed in transit.

Fr Edwin ofm, our pastor guided the trip. He prayed on each bus for both legs of the trip. Food was brought along and cooked to help keep costs down. We went to mass each day with Padre Edwin celebrating.

The Stations of the Cross were set on a hill on the outskirts of town on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Our first day after settling in, we headed out in group to pray the Stations of the Cross. It was a steep climb, that was hard on the elders of the group, but each station gave an opportunity to rest, as Padre Edwin led us in prayer and song. He prayed for the intenions of everyone in the parish. Each station we prayed for a different group, the sick, the children, the young adults, the aged.... We returned on Sunday at 4:30 AM. I went to the 7:00 PM mass that day, and Padre Edwin let everyone know that we had been praying for them on the pilgrimage, even though all could not go.

I have photos ready for 3 other posts for this trip. I hope to weekly write the entries.

At the top of the Stations of the Cross were mini shrines to Mary. We prayed at each one.

Resting at the top of the hill after the stations, various parishioners. Padre Edwin is to my left with a cowboy hat! It made it very easy to keep track of him.

View back into Copacabana from the Stations of the Cross.

What Would You Do

2011-03-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

I saw a TV show by the name of "What Would You Do?" It's a sort of Candid Camera with a moral twist. The episode that I saw featured various people (one at a time) lying on the sidewalk in various stages of distress. Camera rolling to capture the Good Samaritan. Just like the bible story they captured the apathy of the passerbys. The award to the best good Samaritan went to a middle aged homeless woman who accompanied a young, appearingly drunk, man. Going so far as to get rid of the bottle so that others would have more sympathy.

I sometimes wonder if they are shooting this show in Bolivia. I see many people, usually men, laying in the street or sidewalks, some obviously drunk trying to sleep it off. Sometimes homeless taking a nap to make up for lost sleep the night before, some just teenagers. I recently had to climb over 4 teens as they tried to take a nap, out of the rain on the doorsteps of the Franciscan Social Center, it had been a holiday with no services.

One Saturday afternoon I was walking from the market place to the apartment of Clare and Nora. I was approaching the business district, when I saw a young man face down in a position that suggested something was wrong. Had he been hurt? Had he overdosed on drugs? Was he just drunk? It was right outside a fancy take out ice cream place.

In the U.S. I would know what to do, who to call. Here the "system" is very different. Or maybe I should say there really isn't much of a system. I observed a man in a nice car parked close by, he was looking at the teen, and was on his cell phone. The car (a late model) could indicate money, power, position and education (or at the least knowledge of what to do).

I felt at the moment off the hook, I felt someone was in charge. I continued walking, comtemplating how little help I could be in the situation. No phone numbers no one to call. I guess I could have stayed with him until help came, because the man obviously was not getting out of the car.

At a traffic light a block or two later, the man pulled up to the red light. A passenger was in the car and they were eating ice cream. I looked back down the street and saw no police. I have always wondered was the man actually making a call to help the teen, or just talking on the phone? Was he just a spectator? Just like I was? Should I have gone back?

I once was on my way to church when I was in language school, and I came upon the scene of an attack, that happened 30 minutes earlier. The people living in the houses nearby had come out to help. After calling for the police and waiting 10 minutes they could wait no longer for the ambulance, and had taken the person to the hospital. They stopped me to show me the scene and asked if I knew the person, since it was someone from North America. I actually did and they asked if I would go to the host family's house to inform them. At the 40 minute mark the police showed up, no ambulance.

The teen on the sidewalk was less than 3 blocks from the police station, I wonder how long it took them to show up, or if they even showed up. When I was living in the city last year, I went out in search of a missing 19 year old male one night. After roaming the streets nearby, my friend Pepe suggested we look in the bars. There is one street that has many, but to no avail. We were about to call it quits, with a last look through at a nearby plaza. As we were about to cross the street to the plaza, something told me to look up the street and cross over 1/2 block up, giving us more eyes in more places. That is where I found him passed out on the sidewalk, people walking around him. I called to Pepe and our other helper to come. We took him home, he said the next day that he had only one drink, but someone slipped something in it. (He was 15 paces from a liquor store)

Back to the premise What Would You Do?, if you were a woman, and you saw a teen face down in the street of a foreign country, where you didn't have contacts and you were still learning the culture? Is this a rhetorical question? one to think about? or one you can make a comment about in the comment section?

I wrote this post weeks ago wondering if I should actually post it. Was it too difficult to read. I sent it to various people. A couple responses were noncommittal. But two of my old friends from my first teaching days at Jubilee responded overwhelmingly positive to publish the post. They shared great reflections of how, though one many not see someone in the street, the same questions can be brought up in other circumstances. I was tempted to add them to the post.

Churches

2011-02-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

Tarata Franciscan Church

You can never go far without coming across a Catholic Church. Sometimes I do not know I am passing one until someone else in the bus makes the sign of the cross. This indicates that one is passing the church and in particular the tabernacle. I could have dozens of photos if I only had my camera with me.

In the market area I had passed a church many time without knowing it was a church. At various times there was an older woman outside selling religious calendars, or candles. Since there is always people in the street selling things I didn't take note of the church. One day as I was passing many people were going into a mass, and I realized it was a church. I went inside and I couldn't believe how big it was, it was like a mini cathedral very old fashioned and quaint. I just peaked in because I didn't want to be a tourist during mass, and I needed to continue on my way for work.

I just wanted to share a few photos of churches to give you a mini picture of Bolivia. The above photo is the Franciscan Church in Tarata a charming village about 40-50 miles from my house. There is a retreat Center run by the Franciscans. My parish of San Carlos went on a one day retreat there, with two bus loads of folks.

The Franciscan church is slightly removed from the village. Above is the interior of another Church in Tarata on Main Plaza. I really like this town!

This is another church in the same valley as Tarata. It a valley parallel to the Cochabamba Valley to the South. There is more argiculture in the region and many artisans also. There are about 5 main small towns, with various hamlets. Each town has there main plaza with church.

This is the top of Santa Clara, where the Franciscan Sisters live in the city. Its hard to get a full picture from the busy street. This is taken from the Franciscan Social Center, where Nora and Clare live, and where I lived when I was first out of language school in March.

This is a Franciscan Retreat center on the way to Tarata, near a lake as you enter the next valley. You can see the front of the Church.

Here is the Retreat House behind the church. The only water they have is when it rains. Luckily it is a big tank, so it fills up in the rainy season!

Ordinary Moments with Fr Joe

2011-01-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

TIQTI SUD ALTAR

I think just like your lives in the U.S., life here is filled with ordinary moments. There are also moments of of inspiration, fear, joy, and difficulty. I am trying to find a balance in telling these different types of moments, and to not dwell in one group or another, remembering that when I tell about a joyful moment you may be mourning something. Or when I tell you of another difficult moment in the lives of the people here, you may be struggling to find light in a world that paints darkness with each news cast.

I always felt that news shows should produce more stories of the inspiring things people do each day. If we could see the wonderful things that people do around the country and around the world, we may be inspired to do more.

Fr Joe Nangle ofm was here for a week to accompany the missioners in their work and be with the group for part of our annual retreat. I asked him to say mass at my center in Tiqti Sud, because we usually don't have mass, we have a service, with prayers, the readings, and distribution of the Eucharist.

At the end of mass he shared one more story, I think to inspire folks to mission or good works wherever they are in life. First I will say that my neighborhood is a mix of poor and middle class. Though the middle class here might be considered poor in the U.S., they just have a whole lot more than the poor here.

Fr Joe's story was from when he was a missioner in Peru. A few of the other Friars had gone up into the mountainside to say masses at various locations for the weekend. They stopped at small local eatery on their way home for lunch. As they were finishing, an older obviously poor woman came in asking for their leftovers on their plates. The Friars called the owner over and asked him to prepare a plate for the woman and put it on their tab.

She received a nice plate of food, chicken, rice and potatoes, and she sat herself down in the doorway to eat. Shortly after, along came another poor woman. The first woman sat her down and split her meal with her. The Friars had thought she would say, "There are some rich gringos inside, who gave me this plate of food, you should go in and ask for some food too!"

For the Friars it was an amazing example of sharing, communion and love. Here they had been celebrating the Eucharist all weekend long and this was so concrete to them. Fr Joe shared how this event effected the Friars 40 years ago, you can still see how it effects Fr. Joe today! I think he told it to the people of my congregation to let them know no matter how poor we are there is always an opportunity to share what you have.

He didn't know this story of this past Christmas. I was heading into the city, late Christmas afternoon, to meet the two other missioners. As I headed down the hill, Evelyn, one of the girls in the after school program came running up to me with a handful of cookies. I thought she was offering me one, but she was offering the whole handful! Though honestly I did not want them, I accepted, because she was so excited to share with me one of her Christmas gifts! I put them in my pocket! I was glad to have them because when I neared the missioner's apartment, two families were sitting on the sidewalk begging. I was glad not only to give them alms, but to be able to pull out the cookies for the small children!! So Evelyn made more people happy then she realized!

Below Fr. Joe blessing a worker at a clinic in Sacaba, Bolivia.

Watermelon at Christmas Time and a Brief Reflection on Prayer

2011-01-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

I had wanted to get a shot of the 3 of us, the Cochabamba FMS missioners eating watermelon at Thanksgiving. I then also missed the shot on Christmas day. I was able to get this one a few days after Christmas at our weekly reflection time. Note the Christmas Book on the table. Nora is blocking the Nativity Scene, but the star is right over her head!! *

We try to get together to reflect every week, share prayer, check in on what's happening in our ministries and lives, and almost always share a meal. This week was my turn, which means meeting at my house, cooking and preparing reflection. Theme of be joyful, pray constantly. (Paul/ Thessalonians I believe). There are many opportunities to pray constantly here, or at least frequently, while waiting for a bus while riding the bus, while waiting for a meeting to start (even during the meeting). One can pray while cooking for people who are coming to eat the meal, and when doing the dishes after all leave. *

I am impressed by two people I know that pray for everyone they know on their long morning walks. Though impressed for more than a decade, I have yet to incorporate anything similar into my prayer life. I tend to focus on a few people at a time. *

I also always like the idea at Jubilee, that would come around at devotions a few times a year, where someone would right down all the names of the people living there, staff and refugees, and sometimes refugees who had just moved to Atlanta, or ones we knew to be particularly struggling. We would divide the the slips of paper with names among all who were present at prayer time and we would prayer for those particular people. I usually kept those slips a long time to remind me to pray for the people longer. Sometimes slips from various prayer times would pile up on a little plate. I would go back from time to time and open each paper and pray again, sometimes for a volunteer who was long gone and back to school, or off on their next adventure. *

I hope everyone will keep me in prayer from time to time. God knows I need it! We will be having a three day retreat in January and will be joined by the other two missioners in Bolivia. They live a days journey by bus (actually 2 buses) so it will be good to reflect and pray with them. Our retreat will be led by our program director Rhegan and Fr Joe, ofm, who is the former co-director of FMS. He was codirector when I originally trained in 1999, and was my boss when I worked as office manager/bookkeeper for FMS. It will be great to have him here. *

I am excited also for Rhegan to come, she has mission experience in both Brazil and Bolivia. I met her many years ago while she was in training. I was able to spend sometime in the US with her, when I was there this year. I was very impressed with a couple training sessions I sat in on. The three missioners in training also kept telling me how much they were impressed with her and the training. *

Be Joyful always and pray constantly. The reflection included the idea that when one prays constantly, joy is the result. *

Update on Fabiola

2011-01-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well here is a recent photo of Fabiola. She keeps growing and she remains a pretty quiet baby. She loves playing with her brothers, mother, father, me, and a few others. She doesn't like getting her picture taken and her mother is even worse. Fabiola is even cuter in person!! Her mom always wants me to erase the the photos! Her mother has her on her back wrapped in an aguayo. Usually women and sometimes men carry bundles, groceries, babies, and children with aguayos. They are great because they fit any load. An aguayo is just a beautiful woven square of sturdy cloth, bordered with a crocheted edging. Sometimes you don't know someone has a baby on their back until you hear some crying. I have seen women work on road crews with their babies on their backs. You just shift them around forward for feeding times!

Snow at Christmas Time

2010-12-31T11:51:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-12-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

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!

My Newest Neighbor

2010-10-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Tiqti Sud in June, I joined a family that lives at the Center as caretakers and gate keepers. I can't imagine living here without the family. Doña Severina and Don Marcial have two boys; Mario, who is in kindergarten and Ariel who will be in kidergarten next year. (pictured above)

They of course get free rent, electric and water for their work at the center. In addition Doña Severina is in charge of the "comedor" which translates to dining room or soup kitchen, though a better translation in this case is lunch program. She recieves no pay for this M-F morning work of overseeing the moms who prepare lunch. The only pay is lunch for the family, and if there are leftovers dinner. Severina and moms get this same pay.

Severina was pregnant when I moved into the Center, and someone told me she would give birth anyday. She didn't look very big and when I asked her, she told me the end of June beginning of July. Being blocks from our nearest neighbors, I let her know she could count on me to call a cab to go to the hospital when her time came. I could also accompany her if her husband was working, or take care of the boys if her husband was at home. She seemed relieved to know I was just a knock on the door away. I figured the plan was set.

The Feast of San Juan Baptista arrived June 24. People were lighting fireworks all over the countryside and city. I joined Doña Severina's family outside to watch, hang out by the fire and watch her boys enjoy their family's supply of small fireworks. Severina asked me what the traditional food is for this feast in the US. I had no idea, anyone have ideas? Bolivia's tradition is hot dogs, spelled just like that!! No perros calientes! You could see fires burning in the hills in the distances, sometimes in huge circles maybe 100-300 yards in diameter.

This was the night Doña Severina let me know that she really didn't want to go to the hospital for the birth of her lastest child. She wanted to have the baby here at home! Well that would make my offer of help play out a little differently! I wanted to be totally clear that I had never had a child, nor had I been at the birth of a child. I even missed the births of Chester, Otis, and Elsie (Rhoda the cow's offspring at Jubilee). I was willing to help, key word help in whatever way, maybe hang out with the boys!

Her reasons to have the child at home were that she had had both experiences in the past, and the hospital experience had many problems. I will leaves the details out. No US birth plan here, no clean towels and sheets wrapped in plastic waiting for their time, no midwife, no prenatal check ups, no prenatal vitamins.. okay you get the picture. I must admit I was worried if something went wrong.

They must have thought I wouldn't be much help because within the week, while I was preparing supper, I heard the cry of a tiny baby. Without fanfare Fabiola was born into this world. Her father and her mother's friend Betty attending.

A few short days later I would head back to the US for the death of my father and his funeral. The circle of life revolving around and around. I was glad to get to greet Fabiola, but sad to miss her first month.

As I was headed to the airport, I remembered last minute that I needed someone to take care of my plants. Severina was logical in her nearness, though not because she had so much free time of her hands. As I passed off the plants, she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said that she was going to miss me. She is a quiet soft spoken person but when she said that I became all choked up. I would miss her too!.

Faviola is pictured below with me in my apartment. Current update is that she is chubby looking but is actually very light to carry around. She is a happy baby and I rarely hear her cry!

Catching Up

2010-10-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a long time since I posted anything on my blog. I am considering doing "Flashback" posts to catch everyone up with what has been happening. Some would say "keep it current", but everything is in the past and sometimes with reflection and hindsight, an event takes on a different meaning, a deeper meaning.

I am in my third home since arriving in Bolivia. The first was with my host family while in language school the first six weeks. The next three months I was at the Franciscan Social Center in downtown Cochabamba. (I wrote an entry on the Center but I have yet to post it. Ah yes flashback posts!!)

My current location is another Franciscan Center. It is part of the San Carlos parish, which is located in the poorer southern zone of Cochabamba. The main parish is "smack dab" in the middle of the cancha, or market place. We are not talking a few blocks here, but what seems to be a never ending vendors delight, dare I say 30-40 sprawling city blocks. Just when you think you've seen it all, you come upon another nook or crany. And yes you can buy just about anything there cheaper then the stores downtown!

My center is one of the 5 centers, that are part of the Franciscan parish of San Carlos, that are located in the hills surrounding the eastern side of the parish. Though the poorest sections of the city, they command a great view of the city, far better than the middle class neighborhood I lived in for language school.

My location is Tiqti Sud (Quechua spelling), or Ticti Sud or Tijti Sud. This not to be mixed up with Ticti Norte, which is as you guessed it on the north (read wealthier) side of town. Though as Ticti Norte is up the mountain, it is not really wealthy.

My neighborhood has electricity but not running water (through pipes, nor wells) nor gas lines. Thus we get a truck of water to fill a huge tank every few weeks, and I buy a tank of gas for cooking. There is no central heat (and of course no A/C) just passive solar and residual heat from cooking, and blankets for the night! This leads to wanting to bathe in the middle of the day during the colder months.

The Center has a chapel where we have liturgy of the word Sundays. We have a before and after school program, lunch program (there is no lunch at the schools), sliding scale dentist and doctor in the mornings, CCD on Saturdays, and space for day retreats. There is a caretaker family in residence and I live alone in the sister's apartment, waiting for new missioners to come! The other Centers have similar programs, there are some additional programs like a day care center at one, and vocational classes at another. At Tiqti we are hoping to begin a garden to help provide some of the produce for the lunch programs. It is the only place that has space for a garden as it is outside the city.

Though I am just outside the city, less then 5 miles from downtown, it can take up to an hour to get there. First I must walk about 1/2 mile down hill (that means I have to walk up to get home, and sometimes with groceries). I then wait for the appropriate transportation. This depends upon which part of the city I want to go to, or which part I want to avoid (or which traffic jam). This waiting can take anywhere from 1 minute to 1/2 hour +, depending on day of week and time of day. Sometimes the desired tansport passes by full every 5 minutes, and then I might alter my plan!

With everything close one might ask, why don't I walk or take a bike. There is only highway without side walks from my bus stop to anywhere I might want to go. Once in the city it is easier to walk around. The steep hills (think San Francisco, with an altitude of 8,500 feet) prevent me from thinking about a bike.

There are buses called Micros, vans called Trufis, and something called a Taxi Trufi, which can be anything from a Toyota Corolla to a 15 passenger van. I can take any of these and pay about 22 cents. A taxi would cost between $2-4.00 depending on how far you want to go. Sometimes I need to transfer from micro to trufi, to get where I want to go, usually one of the other Franciscan Centers. Nothing will take me directly to any of the Centers from my home bus stop. I can get to the Parish of San Carlos directly as it is centrally located.

Well there is a start in catching up with my information. I am going to try to post a couple of pictures of Tiqti Sud. If it doesn't work I'll try again next time.

Visiting Sacaba

2010-02-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would be able to visit Sacaba so quickly after arriving in Bolivia, but after recovering from altitude sickness and before I started my classes; I had enough strength to head to Sacaba. Sacaba is the town where I lived and worked the last time I was on mission. Sacaba is about 15 km east of the city of Cochabamba, where I am taking a repaso in Spanish. I currently live in the north, northwest section of Cochabamba. Traveling to Sacaba took almost an hour that day, walking to where I could catch transportation and then waiting for the next Trufi (a 12 passenger van with seats for 15 or more, read: very cramped). This cost me a total of 30 cents!!

I alighted from the trufi in the main plaza of Sacaba, which contains: the church, rectory, mayor’s office, banks, stores and eateries. The usual cast of characters from my time in Bolivia was absent. Don Saturnino was not polishing shoes. Doñas Olga, Amalia & Ercilia were not selling refreshments. Erlinda was not selling ice cream and Doña Berta was not selling mote (a nutritious cooked bean). Where was everybody?

I chatted with a few people I recognized, who sell snacks in the plaza, then headed into the church. A mass was to start in a few minutes and Father Honny was to preside. Padre Honny was the pastor for most of my time in Sacaba. I entered the church filled with joy, I could not believe I was in that dear church again, I think it is one of the most beautiful churches, (sorry Fr. Tom and Fr. David) it is like a tiny cathedral. I was profoundly grateful to God and I soaked it all in. I greeted Padre Honny after mass as well as the sacristan Ariel who had played Santa Claus for us at the Childcare Center.

After mass I tracked down Doña Hilda, who worked with me at the Childcare Center and took over my work as the director. She had so much to show me. I knew that I new center was in the process of being built, which would also include a handicapped center. The good news was that the new center was to open up in a few weeks with the beginning of the school year (beginning of Feb.)

We went first to the old center, where there were quite a few changes since I left, and they were in the process of turning it into a center for Seniors. There was an association of seniors/elders that we would invite to come to the Childcare Center to have a snack and interact with the kids. It had been my idea of a mutually beneficial gathering. Some kids didn’t know their grandparents, because they lived too far away. So too some elders didn’t know their kids or grandkids because they had moved off to other places. It was very precious to see the interactions.

We visited the new center and it was incredibly huge! It also wasn’t finished, they were painting the interior and there were no windows or doors nor bathroom fixtures in place. Since we didn’t have doors and windows in the original center for a few years, I figured it could probably be ready for opening day.

Not only did I arrive in time for mass with Padre Honny, I arrived on the day of the monthly meeting for the Sponsorship Program that I coordinated while I was in Sacaba. This meant a good number of mothers and children would all be in one place for me to greet. Doña Hilda and I arrived for what we thought would be the end of the meeting. It wasn’t over so we continued walking down the road. We waited about an hour and walked back.

As we passed the building, someone spotted us and a flood of women and children came streaming out of the door to greet me. I told them to go back into their meeting and that I would wait, but the flood gates had been broken. The current coordinator, who I had met previously, invited me into the meeting, where she proceeded to introduce me to all, with fanfare and applause. My project had been merged with another so there were some people who didn’t know me.

After the (embarrassing) applause died down, I tried to leave so that they could complete the meeting. She again pressed for everyone’s attention, and for some reason told a brief version of the story of Jasmin (many of you know this story) She told of the little girl I loved so much, whose father brought her to the center, when there really was no room for her. I had accepted her to the Center only to take her to the hospital the next day because she was malnourished and dehydrated (she was just over a year old and weighed only 11 lbs) Her mother had abandoned her and she spent some time on Sundays with me while her father worked.

Again I was embarrassed by her words. Then she let everyone know that Jasmin was in the room. I asked "where?" The moms pushed Jasmin right up to me, and we gave each other a great big hug as tears ran down my face. (more applause) I was so overwhelmed that I could get to see Jasmin so quickly after my arrival in Bolivia. She just turned 8 years old, and she is so beautiful, the image of her father and her grandmother.

I met many of the moms and children after the meeting. All the adults I recognized, but the children had all grown so much. I got some mixed up with their older siblings. Some of the older brother and sisters had turned into young men and women! There were a few more babies to meet. I headed back to Cochabamba leaving lots of promises that I would come to visit everyone, though it will probably take some time. I’ve been back twice, and have met one family in town, but those are stories for another day.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday. Dianne, one of my best friends from college, gave me a great Christmas present. A book called A Lenten Journey with Jesus Christ and St. Thérèe of Lisieux, by Fr John Russell, O. Carm. I brought very few books with me, but this one I was very excited about, because it would help me focus on Lent.

I read over some of the preparatory chapters last week. This morning I woke bright and early, to start my Lenten Journey. Each day has the daily gospel reading, quotes from St. Thérèe of Lisieux, a Reflection, and a Prayer.

My reflection began right with the gospel, Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18, the one that I get stuck on every time it is read on Ash Wednesday. Basically to do your fasting and alms giving, with out blowing your trumpet, for if you do there is your reward. All these things are to be done in secret. (my simplistic version)

Every year I struggle with the receiving of ashes on my forehead. As a ritual and a sign within my Catholic Community it is beautiful and real. It is a commitment to God and one another within the church. The struggle begins as I go out the church door, if I stop at a store on my way home, am I not blowing my horn, that I have been to church??

The opportunity to give alms is constant and on going here in Bolivia. In Sacaba, the town where I was previouly missioned, it hardly ever happened. Here in the city of Cochabamba, there are days that if you actually gave away a coin to each person that asked, you could give away your weekly food allowance. With just a coin that equal to about 15 cents US! 15 cents may not seem a lot to you, but it is a perfectly acceptable alms. You can buy a 12 oz refreshment and a roll. (or 2 rolls) When I last lived here you could buy 5 rolls for 15 cents, the prices have risen drastically for the basics about 100%. The luxury items (soda, cookies) have risen only about 15-20%. Transportation has risen from 0-30%.

Back to the Lenten Reflection. This morning I also reflected on: how I could be a missioner, and follow this gospel. To be able to write a blog and to not toot a horn. Is it possible? I don´t know. Is it a struggle? Yes! I know my goal is not to toot my horn, but to share with whoever wants to read this blog, the stories of the people. To open a window to life in a developing country. If we are all one body, then we are just looking at ourselves, and if we are looking at ourselves, we will see our interconnection.

Abbott Francis Michael said various time to our retreat groups from Jubilee (in years past), that being in the monastery puts him right before God without distractions. I feel in a similar way, that being here in Bolivia, puts me before the face of God constantly, day by day, through faces of the Bolivian people, and through my interactions with them.

May your Lenten Journeys be blessed with a drawing near to God.

A Room With A View

2010-02-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

I have a room with a view. I didn´t the last time I lived in Cochabamba. One room had no outside window at all, and the other faced a small closed in patio for washing and hanging dry clothes. I live with Lilian and Teddy a middle aged couple with 3 grown married children, and 7 grandchildren, many of whom come to visit often. They live in a second story apartment, and Lilian´s sister and family live in the apartment below.

From there I can look down to the little yard/garden (about the size of 3 parking spaces) There are many beautiful flowering plants, one that grows up over and along the front wall. Across the street is a convent. There too, beautiful flowering plants and trees poke over the wall for all to enjoy. The rest of the view is full of red spanish roofs and other trees. Far more trees are in my view than any other average location in Cochabamba, I am blessed!

From this room I go.
I go to many places.
The one that connects to the view is the Language Institute.
There are many rooms with a view,
many classrooms with a view.
They are tiny little rooms.
You could squeeze 4 student in,
but two would be more comfortable.
They make the Jubilee classrooms look spacious!
The whole space is a walled in city block, filled with gardens and trees.

I am in the middle of my six week repaso course at the Institute. Repaso being a refresher course. The Maryknoll Institute has some really great teachers. It is really interesting to be on the receiving end of the instruction, instead of teaching. I tend to analyze theory, content and style, for future reference. What is nice about a repaso course is that the team of teachers (4 different teachers every two weeks) are open to requests and even direction, together they evaluate and plan a curriculum just for me!

Estoy Aqui

2010-02-04T14:28:00.001-08:00

These are the days that the clouds touch the mountains.

It is summer.
and it is the rainy season.

One day it is hot,
short sleeves, skirts, sandals,
windows open at night.

The next day it is rainy,
cold,
jeans, fleece, raincoat,
a three blanket night.

In the summers past in Bolivia,
a night rain could mean snow in the mountains,
the morning wind would blow the smell of snow,
as puddles lay about the street.

Now I am in the city,
where one can feel closed in,
and forgets to look to the west,
and see if Mount Tunari has snow.