party!

We played some great games at the party! We wrapped two dads like mummies...one is Juan Pablo of course. We played hide and seek and then the parents hid from the kids. They searched for the spiders, and also the pumpkin which Joaquin found. And we walked blindfolded with a spoon and ball...I was terrible at that!

Costumes

Isabela was a princess and Joaquin a cowboy. We had those costumes from our dress up box from before we moved...the only things I actually made were the horse and his 10 gallon hat! That was my favorite! We did drive through San Miguel to see what was going on. That's the shopping area near us. There must have been thousands of people walking around, families and groups of children. So they definitely do Halloween here...but everyone was dressed up as scary things...witches, devils, monsters. They definitely haven't caught on to the "fall festival" idea yet. And here, they prefer to BUY costumes! I did see very few pumpkins, and one tiger. So all the businesses in that area give out candy and there were scary tunnels and things to go in. They don't go house to house. We didn't stop because it was OVERFLOWING and the kids got plenty of candy at the party! The party did turn into scary face painting of most adults...hence Juan Pablo's face...and I put some candy tattoos on mine.

Hallo' decor

Here are some of the decorations we made for the party last night. The black bat was a papier mache pinata. The haunted houses were made from juice boxes, wrapped in black paper, with craft foam decorations. Craft foam or "goma eva" as it is called down here is all the rage! The spiders were egg cartons painted black, with pipe cleaner legs. And there's the pumpkin we made...painting it was much easier than carving it would have been! Oh, and there's a bucket of eyeballs (pingpong balls) and jello monsters and pumpkin fruit cups. Those were much easier than the INFAMOUS orange jello boats. They were made with mandarin oranges and the pulp just peels right out!

Land of Plenty

My first OpEd piece (I never did know what that meant heehee!)

You are not going to believe this! I still can't believe it. And we wonder why the rest of the world doesn't like us. In America, you can buy anything you can imagine. If they make it, it is there somewhere. Maybe a rare Chinese spice that only grows in the Himilayas might be hard to find, but some specialty store will sell it. This Halloween, I've had trouble finding candy corn and pipe cleaners! It's not Halloween without pipe cleaner spiders. heehee! I've heard the candy corn is in a store for $11 US dollars! And after combing the city, Juan Pablo did find pipe cleaners...sold individually...for 1 boliviano each, and as cheap as .50 bolivianos...so we bought 10. Considering you can get a whole bag in the US for like .99 cents...that is crazy! And I find it ironic that most of the items we buy in America are made in third world countries, but they can't even buy them!

Plus, I found a cute Playskool train for their cousin's birthday...he's turning two. It was about $26 US dollars...so I went online to see how much it is back home....$10 at Walmart! And that singing Spiderman that moves his hands...500 and some bolivianos (about $70)...it's $20 at Target.

Now I know food is definitely cheaper down here and clothes are somewhat cheap (nothing beats an Old Navy sale though)...but the clothes and toys made down here aren't that great a quality so they don't last that long. I just had no idea that there are some things you just cannot find down here.

So did everyone already know this?

house pictures

Here are some pictures of the house as requested...You've actually seen a lot of it in the background of other pictures. YES, it's colorful! Keep in mind we live in Juan Pablo's mom's house. The first picture is our bedroom. Then there is the upstairs family room where we watch movies. Downstairs is the living room, dining room, and another sitting room, plus the kitchen which you've already seen, which is right off the dining room. There also a picture of our front door, and we sit on those chairs sometimes when it is sunny.

Achumani market

This week I discovered the Achumani market! My neighbor, Claudia, took me, and I love it! I went back by myself the very next day. It's like a grocery store, but everything is divided up into separate little markets. So at one you can buy milk and yogurt. At another breads. At another fruits and veggies. And our favorite, the meat market, you can get chicken, beef, or even cow's tongue! That was the kids' favorite part....seeing the hanging cow's tongues...I'll try to get some pictures for your viewing pleasure later! There was also a lady who sold dried goods and I found Old El Paso taco sauce!! Woohoo! Nearby there is a toy store and a place to buy pots and pans...which I desparately need, and an arts and crafts store (my favorite!). And then when you are done shopping, there are taxis waiting to take you home.
Got a few pictures today...sorry about the quality! Those are the cows' tongues hanging by the light!

kitchen?

Here's some pics of the kitchen...the tiling has been finished for about two weeks or so, but the rest of it is on hold. I'm not sure why, but I can't wait until it's done. That white thing on the wall is the water heater for the new kitchen and the new washer down in the basement. It's got this huge cartoon rabbit on it...doesn't really go with the decor. But who cares...hot water one day!

zoo

After the restaurant, we went to the zoo which is nearby. I told Juan Pablo it more like a test of desert survival than a zoo. That bear definitely has the right idea. It is flat and arid and a long walk between the few animals that they have. We had more fun pouring water on our heads than anything else!

outdoor restaurant

We went to this fun restaurant this weekend! It's a nice drive up the mountain and through the mountain!! It is outside and has some fun things for the kids to do while you're waiting for the food to come. The food's not too bad either...grilled meat and french fries basically. It was hot and sunny!! That big cactus tells the whole story.

bird in the hand

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...but what about one in your house! Here's a picture of the dove that was in Isabela's room this morning...I guess that's why you should keep the doors shut. I was too scared to get it out, it kept flying around, so my neighbor's housekeeper had to come over and get it out.
And speaking of birds...those are some bat puppets we made for Halloween. It could be a picture in Family Fun magazine, except for Isabela in the background!!heeheehee!

car wash

Who remembers waxing a car by hand? Wax on, wax off. I think we did that when I was little. But they still do it here in Bolivia all the time. When you park on the street, usually there is someone there that asks if you would like them to take care of the car. That means that they'll watch it and make sure no one steals anything from it. Sometimes it's children and usually it's an older woman. I don't know what they would really do, should someone steal something. It seems like there are car washers on every street too. We've been having the car washed a lot because it's for sale. One day, we came back to the car and Isabela asked, "Did the guy wash it or watch it?" Usually you give like one boliviano for watching it, and I think a car wash/wax is like 15. Sure beats CarPool.

Coroico: trip home

Joaquin was zonked right away! We made one wrong turn on our way out and asked a lady for directions, and she told us...but also asked for a ride, so we gave her one. People hitchhike all the time here. She only rode for like 10 minutes. The views were just as nice on the way home, and you could definitely notice the temperature change as the altitude did. How about those clouds? All in all, it was a Feliz Viaje just like the sign says...("have a nice trip!" if your still working on your spanish)

Coroico: a little walk

We went on a little walk near the hotel and saw some fruit trees...check out the bananas growing. We also saw a coffee tree? or bush? and a lone orange growing. Can you see the chickens running around? Plus more beautiful views!! Isabela took lots of pictures of the local fauna!!

Coroico: poolside

We cooled off at this beautiful pool overlooking the mountains at El Viejo Molino (the Old Mill). The water was definitely freezing, but Isabela, her dad and uncle had a blast in it. Joaquin and I were in briefly, but had more fun at the playground, where there was a rope climb and slide. There were these little bugs, like mosquitos, that bit us all over--forgot the bug spray-I must have like 40 bites all over my legs....big red splotches. They didn't hurt so you didn't even know they were biting you!!

Coroico: the new road

SORRY!! THESE POSTS ARE A LITTLE OUT OF ORDER!!
We went to the infamous Coroico yesterday for the day! The old "death road" has been replaced with a beautiful, new, paved, large road. Those of you who still want to travel the death road will have to do so by bicycle only! But the new road still has the same beautiful sights! We were as high as the clouds and then dropped down to the Yungas jungle within 2 hours. It was very foggy driving through the clouds and started to clear up as we went down the mountain. There were beautiful flowers and trees and lots of wildlife to see....blue butterflies, black birds with bright yellow tails...of course I couldn't get any good shots of them. We drove on this cobblestone path when we arrived, right through the jungle, and it was amazing. The weather was beautiful and the town was empty since it was during the week. That poor mule was still standing there when we left!!

more dancing!

More pictures of course! But I couldn't resist. The first is of the kids anxiously awaiting for the start of the parade. There are more of the huge procession...be sure to check out the sights along the sides of the street...vendors, etc. If you click on a picture, you can enlarge it to see better. The last one is the three girls huddled around a tourist's digital camera to see the shot. I love that one of the three cholitas!