Somos Aqui! We Are Here!

July 14 - Cochabamba
We arrived in Cochabamba yesterday morning, complete with luggage - praise the Lord! We are now two hours ahead of Regina and we felt the loss of those two hours! The flight was long and we were tired when we arrived, and perhaps a little giddy. Ivan and Emigdio picked us up in the airport and we drove to the Baptist Mission where we are staying until tomorrow (Sunday). After a quick breakfast, we had a couple of hours of sleep before we began our busy day.

It is important to experience the food of a culture, and we did that in Lima and again here. We had a delicious lunch and then began our visits in Cochabamba. We made a short trip to a Compassion project, a mission dear to Karen's heart, but not on our STEP agenda. I'm not sure there are words to express our feelings as we met the children and were able to hear what they are doing. They welcomed us with open hearts, and with songs and recitations and smiles and hugs. Karen, with her bag of gifts, was most welcome, and we did indeed have to drag her away (I'm not sure the threat to leave without her was a good one). We returned to the Mission and were introduced to the General Secretary of the Bolivian Baptist Union, Yolande, and to a woman I think is the Vice-President of the Board of the BBU (whose name I didn't catch). Henry made a presentation of the first of the flags and certificates from Westhill Park Baptist Church. Karen presented a quilted wall hanging, also on behalf of the church, and both presentations seemed to be appreciated very much. We also stopped at the Casa de la Amistad, but it was closed. They are open limited hours right now because they have some holidays and also have work outside the office to complete. It was good to see the location, on the park across the block from the women's prison and around the corner from the men's prison. Last night we had another wonderful eating experience and then we returned "home" and slept.

The scenery is beautiful, and sights and sounds amazing to us. The city is located in a valley, with large hills surrounding the city. There are date palm trees - they look like the palm trees we see on television with thicker trunks - and lush foliage. It feels drier here, but there are plants that we could never grow because of our climate. We saw some grey parrots roosting on a building close to the Mission, similar to the way crows would in Canada. The hills are brown, as ours get in winter, because it is winter here. Yolande was wearing a turtleneck sweater with a jacket over it yesterday, and she explained that for her it is cold. For us, 29C is positively balmy. However, I would not like to see what would happen to us in summer here!

The people are very welcoming, very open and full of laughter. Colour is everywhere, and the roads in the old area of the city are cobblestone while the newer areas are paved. Driving is hazardous, requiring knowledge of another language - the language of horns. A gentle toot on the horn may mean "hey, I'm here; don't drive into me", and a long toot with effort seems to mean "what do you think you were doing?!" It is very good that Ivan and his brother, Daniel (also works with Compassion), are doing the driving. Traffic is fast-paced, exciting and there are lots of cars we do not see in Canada. It is apparently similar to lots of other South American countries, and reminds me of Mexico.

Family is very important here. The noon meal is the big meal of the day, and families gather for the long lunch/siesta. Work typically stops at noon and begins again at about 2:00 to continue to about 6:00 when it is finished for the day. There were lots of places still in business when were were out last night at about 8:30, as is the case in Canada.

Ivan and Emigdio have been good about keeping us informed, not enough to overload us and yet enough to keep us steadily thinking. We have a lighter schedule today, a meeting this morning and "baby washing" this afternoon. We have been told a little about this, but I'll save the description for the next post to be accurate.

Our Spanish language skills are getting a little workout. There have been a few times that we have been without a translator, and when Ivan has been busy elsewhere, and we are managing. It is true that our acquaintances appreciate our efforts to speak Spanish, and they are all very willing to tell us how to say what we wish to say. It is one way we can communicate, and one way that we can show that we are here because we want to be friends.

The children at the Compassion house recited a particularly apt verse:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13
And that's us!

We are having some difficulty so far with posting pictures, but we are still trying.
Posted by Nadine with edits from everyone else!