Hello, friends!

Greetings, everyone! 

It has been some time since we posted anything here, so I thought I would give you an update. We have been back in the USA for about 6 weeks now, and we are still finding it hard to adjust. We had forgotten how fast the pace of life here can be, and the whirlwind of activity has just been wearing us out! It is slowly getting easier to go work in an office for 8 hours every day, although I miss my students very much. Someone asked me what I missed most from living in Bolivia, and I told them it is the simple joy that most Bolivians take in everyday life. Bolivians don't seem to invest much in delayed gratification. If there is a reason to celebrate, they have a party! They don't wait for when it fits everyone's schedules. Many people don't have every minute of their day mapped out with "what's next" - and that means they have time to stop. Just stop. Admire the scenery, laugh with friends, dance, talk about whatever interests them (usually local politics!). It is a wonderful lifestyle, and one I could happily enjoy the rest of my life. Alas, things are different here at home. My sister Amy asked me recently how things were going now that we're back, and I said I feel like I'm riding a carousel that's spinning out of control, and it's too fast for me to jump off!

So, what have we been doing since we returned home? I went back to work almost right away. I work at a company that manages flex/cafeteria pans for small to medium sized businesses. For those reading this from other countries, it means I help manage employers' health benefits for their employees. These plans are very desirable to workers, and having one means your company is more desirable to the best, most qualified potential employees. It also means you're more likely to keep employees from moving on to a position with another company that does not have a similar program. Jeff is working from home using the Internet on a project that is generating some extra income, but has the potential to generate quite a bit more. It is nice to be back where we have reliable high-speed Internet service. :) Jeff has also entered the discernment process, which is Episcopal-speak for "he is seeking the support and approval of his local congregation to become ordained." He feels he has been called to ordained ministry, perhaps to become a priest. His focus is youth ministry and local/global mission. Please pray for him as he begins this new chapter in his life.

Delaney spent the first few weeks we were back with her friends. She was with at least one friend every day! She has also attended Episcopal Summer Camp at Pictured Rocks Camp in Monticello, IA for a week, plus she attended Band Camp for marching band at her high school, where she was "promoted" to playing piccolo. She is all registered to start her junior year of high school on August 21st, and she is very much looking forward to that! She is also studying to take her written exam and get her driving permit so she can do drivers' education this fall. Watch out, she'll be driving soon!

Finally, one thing I have heard from many people since our return is: how did you guys lose so much weight? It's called eating clean -- no preservatives, additives, artificial colors or flavors, sweeteners, etc. Nothing processed. It's hard to even find that sort of thing there, and what a difference it made. It has made all three of us very aware of just how bad the American food system really is. It is hard to find anything that isn't processed here, all of the food is "dirty"!! We discovered lots of foods taste much better when they are fresh and untouched. It is funny how our opinions as a society are formed by the mega-corporations that made their millions feeding us the junk they call food! Really? I'm weird for preferring to eat real food? I don't know that many people understand that we did NOT diet while we were in Bolivia. We didn't skimp or starve. We just ate real food and lost a lot of weight. If you are interested in learning more, I am starting a new blog called Eating Clean. I will be sharing recipes, ideas and tips, and I will also start a FB page where others can share their thoughts and ideas. I promise to monitor for trolls!

So this is me, signing off for now. I think we will probably keep this blog up for awhile, but we won't be posting to it regularly anymore. Please find us on FB, or feel free to email for other ways to keep in touch.

God's blessings to you all, and take care of yourselves,

Susan

Home at last

Hi everyone!

We have had requests from many people to continue our blog, at least for now, so here we are! Today's Waverly Democrat newspaper published a front-page article about our return, Here is a picture:

Since they don't publish all of the articles online, here is the text of the article and the two photos they used...

One year ago, the Cornforths of Waverly set out on the journey of a lifetime. After more than two years of planning and fundraising, they departed at last for a year of mission work in Bolivia, South America, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. They traveled to the Unidad Academica Campesina (the UAC-CP), a small college in the tiny rural mountainside village of Carmen Pampa. Founded in 1993, the mission of the UAC-CP is to: provide higher education to the poor and marginalized; prepare young men and women who are called by Christian principle to serve the poor; guide young adults in their search for truth through education, research, and community service; and integrate the College’s work throughout Bolivia’s rural area.

The college started as a joint effort between the Catholic University of Bolivia in La Paz, the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (MFIC), the Diocese of Coroico, Bolivia, and the sub-central Villa Nilo–a local governing body of the indigenous people, Nor Yungas, Bolivia. The people of Nor Yungas are mainly of Aymaran or Afro-Bolivian descent who, until 1952, were indentured slaves.

Sr. Damon Nolan, MFIC, who was living in the mountainous Yungas region, guided the four groups who were united in their concern regarding the absence of higher education for young people in one of South America’s poorest areas. Building a college, they agreed, would be a way to empower people from the rural area to respond to common problems and needs of the population. In 1992 an agreement was signed with the local farmers’ organization to build the College. Some farmers signed the pact with a thumbprint.

Jeff and Susan Cornforth visited the UAC-CP in 2001 when they were graduate students at South Dakota State University, one of several US institutions with which the UAC-CP has exchanged students and research projects. They were so inspired by the work and mission of the college, and its effect on the rural communities and people of Bolivia, that they returned after two weeks determined to return and help someday. Their youngest child, Delaney, grew up with talk of the day they would return to Bolivia, and the family felt called to go there together and serve God’s people. As Delaney prepared to begin high school, she began discussing the possibility of missing a year to go to Bolivia, and a family friend mentioned Iowa Learning Online, a program that would allow her to keep up her studies over the Internet while gone. Susan reached out to an old friend at the UAC-CP, Dr. Hugh Smeltekop, who by this time had become the Vice Director of the college, and began discussing the idea that the family would come for an entire year, with Delaney keeping up her studies online. He assured them an Internet connection was regularly available, and they realized that the time had come to make their dream a reality.

The family talked with their church, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Waverly, and they were very willing to help with fundraising and support the family in any way they could. Jeff and Susan, usually accompanied by Delaney, began fundraising in earnest, visiting over 20 churches and organizations and using social media to reach friends and family members out of state. Several committees of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa gave grants to help, plus St. Andrew’s raised funds before and during the year, supporting needs that came up as the mission developed. Without the generous gifts of people all over Iowa, and throughout the US, the mission would never have happened.

Landing on July 10, 2013, in La Paz, Bolivia, at the world’s highest international airport (13, 070 feet above sea level), the Cornforths then departed for the Yungas. As they settled in at the College, their work began. Susan taught English to two classes, one a group of students in the Agronomy department and the other in Education. At first, the students were hesitant and shy, but since Susan is a singer, she fills her life and surroundings with music wherever she goes. She began a tradition of creating a playlist of songs in English for her classes, and playing the music before class. She also used song lyrics in many lessons, teaching her students English while they sang along. Many times, she discovered some of her students had heard a song before and were eager to learn the words and what they meant. The music broke the ice, as students would crowd around her after class asking for copies of music she used in class and dancing and teasing each other. Susan says one of her favorite things about Bolivian culture is their artistic tendencies – they love to dance, sing, dress up, decorate, have parties. Over the two semesters she taught there, she made many friends among the students, and had great fun. Among other things, they baked banana bread together (using recipes in English to practice), played baseball, and sang karaoke. She learned to love them and their creativity, and learned much from them about the importance of joy in everyday life.

Jeff started out exercising his handyman skills, fixing things small and large all over the campus. He also designed and worked on several large projects during his year, including a hanging garden system to create a visual barrier along a set of stairs with an open side and no handrail, a fountain for a redesigned courtyard that reuses old satellite dishes, and a complete remodel of the library. His vision for library included an indoor garden and soft corner to encourage reading for pleasure, an almost unheard-of pastime in Bolivian culture.

Delaney spent much of her time working on her schoolwork, and with the Internet connection very unreliable at times, she sometimes needed extra hours to complete her schoolwork. Her volunteer work was centered on the children’s library in the village. A family from Minneapolis came in August with a large donation of books and helped her set it up, then she ran it by herself for the rest of the year. She took great delight in interacting with the village children, and established a weekly storytime where she could read to them. She also built a great relationship with the faculty and staff children on the campus where the family lived, often having them over to bake cookies or play games.

The family returned to Waverly on June 21, and was welcomed back by St. Andrew’s the following day. They say they will spend the next several weeks adjusting back to life in the US, and that the experience has changed forever their relationship with God and the way they think about the world and other people. “While we know this sort of mission is not for everyone, it was an incredible time for us, and we would encourage anyone who feels moved by the needs of others to act, whether that’s by spending a year in a developing country or by volunteering at your church or in the community. Get outside your ‘comfort zone’ and interact with people from other places or parts of society, and be open to other points of view,” says Susan.

Last days in Bolivia

Hello everyone,

Sorry not to have posted earlier this weekend, but things got a little crazy! After we got back from La Paz on Tuesday, we were nonstop until a few hours ago. Between final exams and final grades for me, Jeff and Delaney getting in as many more hours working in the library as they could, and cleaning and packing up our apartment after a year, we are exhausted! While we are not excited to pay for three nights' hotel on our way out, we decided discretion was the better part of valor and came today just in case some group decides to start up another blockade tomorrow morning. Seems Monday mornings are often a target. Besides, it is nice to have a couple days here in La Paz with no pressure before we begin the long journey home very early Wednesday morning!

Friday evening we hosted a pancake supper for all of my students from the whole year, plus many other friends and colleagues. It was a great opportunity to visit with everyone one last time, and Jeff served up some masterful pancakes!

Friday noon our dear friends and neighbors from upstairs, Carlos and Gladys, served up one last delicious home-cooked Bolivian meal. It was wonderful fun, with the conversation flying back in forth in both languages as we all consumed some truly outstanding food.

Yesterday we finished packing, and around quitting time, many of our friends among the faculty and staff stopped by to say good-bye and wish us well. As with the students, many of them asked when we would be coming back!

Today we rose early, put the finishing touches on the apartment, and were just ready to go when our driver arrived. Carlos, Gladys and Nathaly all came down to help carry and load luggage and see us off in the clouds and sprinkles. We all shared some hugs and a few tears, as we will miss each other very much! On our way to La Paz, we stopped and took pictures a couple of times, including a few at the very top of the pass, where there is a shrine. It was very cold up there!

Here is a link to our latest photos: http://tinyurl.com/pb2jt3p

Enjoy the photos, and we will see many of you soon!

Peace,
Susan

Monkeys and a paddleboat...

I’m on top of the world, hey!

Okay, so I had to quote from one of my favorite songs, because today and tomorrow we are in Copacabana, Bolivia. Two interesting things about Copacabana: first, it’s the original Copacabana that all others are named after. Second, it’s on the shore of Lake Titikaka (or Titicaca, depending on who you ask), the highest lake in the world. The surface of the lake is at 12, 500 feet. Our hotel room is a ways up the hill, and on the 4^th floor, so figure another hundred feet or so above that. Needless to say, the stairs up to our room are gasp-inducing, even when we were in La Paz for a couple of days first! Our hotel there is at (only!) about 11,000 feet.

We will post many more pictures and some videos tomorrow night from La Paz, because our Internet connection here is kind of wiggy.

There will also be many from our trip last Sunday night to Senda Verde, the animal refuge near Coroico. We stayed overnight so we could see the two Andean spectacled bears, who have the largest enclosure in the world (for their species in captivity) at over 3000 square meters – that’s more than a square mile of rainforest where they can roam and nest and just be as natural as possible. They are an endangered species, and have no protections in Bolivia. Both were rescued from black market situations where they were horrifically abused, but are now recovered and in excellent health.

They also have parrots, macaws, monkeys of several different species, tortoises, and many other animals there, and it was a wonderful experience. Delaney was very inspired by the volunteer work that is done there by young people from all over the world, and is planning to return after high school to volunteer herself. To see many photos from this week, including Senda Verde and Copacabana, visit our Google Plus page – just go to this address:

http://tinyurl.com/pcbt5wx

Jeff will do a separate post sometime this week with photos and words about the progress on the library project. He and Delaney will be madly working to finish as much as possible before we go…

Love to all, and see you soon!

Susan

The week's events

Hola amigos!

     As I’m sure you can imagine, we are crazy busy with end-of-the-semester activities, preparing to return home, and trying to squeeze a few more of the sights before we leave in a few weeks. This week, the interns from Siena College fully participated in English classes. They are certainly a welcome addition, I only wish they had come sooner! George and Joanna have truly been a blessing this week, and I’m sure they will continue to be over the next two weeks as classes wind down.

     Last Saturday the Siena students went on a hike to the Puerta de Viento (Wind Gateway), a high mountaintop about an hour’s hike from here from which much of this end of the valley can be seen. Several UAC students went along, as did Jeff and Delaney. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:

     Speaking of pictures, here is a link to a new album of pictures, including the poinsettia tree (yes, they are really trees!) in front of our building in full bloom, two different street celebrations in La Paz, snow in the pass and shots along the road to/from La Paz, views from the staff retreat a couple of weeks ago, more photos from the Siena hike, and pictures from the student research fair:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110653989940195940305/albums/6019679122574008273

     Friday afternoon Jeff and I went to the students’ project fair. Every student at the UAC must complete a scientific research project for 10% of all their class grades. Today they presented their posters and results, giving verbal presentations and answer questions in a format somewhat similar to a high school science fair at home. We found the Agronomy section the most interesting, what with live animals, growing plants, and a wide variety of very well-displayed and well-researched projects. We also visited the Education and Nursing displays. The projects ranged from extremely simplistic – a study of administrators’ knowledge of the mission statement of the UAC and its meaning – to extremely complex – a study of the effects of using three different types of liquid organic fertilizer in potato production. We had a great time mingling and asking questions, and visiting with the many students we have come to know and love.

     Sunday afternoon we will head to the local wildlife refuge, famous for its monkeys and its rare Andean spectacled bear, to spend the night in a cabin and see all there is to see. We promise many photos!

     The library project is currently awaiting paint, which we heard Thursday may not happen until after we leave. So, Jeff is busy doing all the prep work so that everything is ready to hang or install as soon as the painting is done, and Ruben has very detailed plans of how it should all go. We have been promised pictures of the finished product sometime later this summer.

     Jeff has also been hard at work finishing designs for a couple of other projects he has proposed, so that they can be done when the labor and funds are available later. One is his satellite dish fountain, which Padre Emilio is very excited about!

We pray all of you are happy and healthy, and we will see you very soon!

Love,

Susan

Karaoke, the Library and Interns from the US

Greetings to all!

     Well, our chronic Internet problems have just been getting worse and worse. We apologize once again for not getting anything up last week. Hopefully we have the problem solved now and we will be in touch until we leave.

     First, a report on two continuing items: Karaoke practices are ongoing, and the variety of song choices is trully astonishing! They range from simple teen pop music to classic rock to adult easy listening. We can’t wait to hear how they all come out! Since we have no way to adjust the sound properties of our system, it has been a challenge finding a room to use where the echo is minimal enough to keep from feeding back into the microphone, but we are now using a room with carpet on the floor, which is much better. Last time, we not only had 10 students come and practice, but there were at least 4 others who came just to listen and enjoy the music. So much fun!

     The library remodel is coming along. THANK YOU to St. Andrew’s for donating the rest of the money needed to finish the project before we leave. Ruben is thrilled! This week will see many changes, and we will take plenty of pictures for you all to see next week.

      Second, our big news this week is the group of student interns from Siena College in Albany, NY, arrived! Two of them, George and Joanna, will be interning with the elementary school in the village in the mornings in their advanced English class, and in the afternoons/evenings they will be working with my two classes. I am very excited to meet with them and work out exactly how they will fit into our last few weeks of class. You can read more about the Siena students (and some of mine!) on their blog: http://sienaglobalserviceinternship.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/where-will-you-be-serving/ (The entries by my students were for a class project on learning to introduce and describe themselves.) They also read this blog for information about the Siena students. I am very much looking forward to having Joanna and George in the English program!

     I will close this week with a proverb in Spanish that hangs on the wall in our apartment. It’s great food for thought!

Vigila tus pensamientos, se convierten en palabras. Vigila tus palabras, se convierten en acciones. Vigila tus acciones, se convierten en hábitos. Vigila tus hábitos, se convierten en carácter. Vigila tu carácter, se convierte en tu destino.

Watch your thoughts, they will become words. Watch your words, they will become actions. Watch your actions, they will become habits. Watch your habits, they will become your character. Watch your character, it will become your destiny.

Abrazos a todos!

Susan

Hello all, and welcome to this week’s post!!!

This week has seen some interesting sights. Susan’s English 1 classes are starting to rehearse their karaoke songs for their finals, which is always entertaining. I have been awakened early in the morning by a flock of green parrots. Last night, around midnight, the dogs were all set off barking by a monkey’s call. He would call; let the dogs get all riled up, then when they would all settle down, he would call again. I tell you, it is like living in a jungle here! J

Projects are proceeding. The library garden is waiting for a fountain now. We are looking to see if the Diocese of Coroico might have something that we can use. The library project overall is moving forward. Paint is being requested, chair rails have been removed and holes patched. Tables are being shortened to match the rest of the furniture heights. It is all very exciting. Since putting in the garden, I was very happy to see that students have started watering the plants, giving them ownership. It is a nice thing to see happen.

Delaney is finishing up her school work. She has been having a hard time due to the Internet being out so often, or so slow that she can’t actually do anything. Luckily she has some GREAT teachers that are sending her stuff to accomplish off-line.

With less than 6 weeks left of our time here, it is amazing how fast this year has gone by, how many blessings we have witnessed, and how many people have touched our hearts. The students always remind you that you have touched their lives, which is a great pick-me-up when I am tired or hurting. They create in you a desire to help them achieve what they want in life. The students are starting to see a trend in my special projects. I created the hanging gardens/safety buffer, (which unfortunately has to be repaired). I created the library garden, which has seen an increase of students sitting in the comfy chairs reading around the quiet space. And the first project that I proposed is a fountain utilizing the satellite dishes that are no longer in use for the different levels. I am afraid that I will have to leave a detailed description for someone else to make it with. In short, I have become the garden architect! Hopefully, I can use some of these skills and ideas to make our space at home nicer in turn!

I want to take this time to wish every mother out there a very Happy Mother's Day. We should celebrate our mothers everyday, but, alas, we must have some time to fish! So Happy Mother's Day from well South of the border!

I will end for now, although I understand Delaney is also making a post, so make sure and read that. Know that each and every one of you is in our thoughts and prayers. Yes, even you. (You know who you are!) Take some time to slow down, listen, and be what God is calling you to be.

La paz,

Jeff

Earth Day and other news

Greetings to everyone!

We apologize for taking the week off last week - the Internet was very spotty, and it would have been nearly impossible to post the pictures below...

I'd like to start by telling you about my English students' Earth Day project. We did an idea I found online called a Council of All Beings, where each person chooses a plant, animal, or other part of the natural environment, creates a mask or costume to represent their character, and represents their character in a round-table discussion. Since these are beginning English students, rather than a round-table, I had them create a statement in English answering these three questions: who are you? Why are you important? How do humans make you feel? That last question takes a lot of imagination in some cases, and I was hoping it would inspire students to think "outside the box." I was not disappointed! Each person had to present their statement in both languages in costume. Some chose to do it in front of the whole upper campus at the weekly flag-raising ceremony on Earth Day for an extra 10 points. Here is a photo of a few students and me (yes, I thought it would be good for my Spanish, so I did it too!) making our presentations that morning:

L to R: Evelin (tomato), Ismael (bird), me (wolf), Valeria (Mother Earth)

And here is a montage of some of the others making their presentations in class:

I will try to get a copy of the group Forest and post it next week - my camera battery was dead!! There were four students - two trees, a parrot, and a flower. They each presented their own statement, then each had an extra sentence about how they fit into the forest. It was very cool! Above you can see a star, a bee, a tree, water, a sunflower, another flower, and a bird, plus a close-up of my wolf mask. Standout presentations talked about pollination, photosynthesis, and hydrography. One of the boys was a bunny rabbit, complete with a sock tail! His was meant to be funny, and it was! Bunnies are important because they bring chocolate eggs on Easter and they are soft and cuddly to pet. :) LOL

This week my students had the chance to introduce themselves via the blog page of a group of students coming from Siena College in New York state on May 22. It was a great chance for them to practice their main skill sets so far - personal information and descriptions of people and places. A few students really stand out when they have a chance to write. You can see the 6 bios of the US students, then my students' posts are below: Siena Global Service Internship

Jeff is continuing work on the library project - he finished the garden this week. We'll get you a picture next time, once the plants have settled in. The wood for the trophy display area is in process, and the holes are all spackled so we can re-hang the chair rail at the right height for the tables, so things are progressing. Thank you very much to the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church youth group for their generous donation to start this project. Padre Emilio has committed some UAC funds to the project as well, but as you all know, the loss of USAID funding means that finances are pretty tight here, so if anyone else out there would like to send some money for a very worthy cause - encouraging reading and literacy! - it would certainly be greatly appreciated. We are working to turn an echoing, cheerless room of plain tables and chairs into a welcoming and inviting place where students and staff are encouraged to read for pleasure, as well as for schoolwork. There is not a tradition of recreational reading in this culture, and encouraging it as a way to a literate, knowledgeable public is something many agencies and organizations are trying to do at every level. While adult literacy is far greater than it was 10 years ago, it is still an uphill battle. I see that some of my students can barely express themselves writing in their native language, and many have difficulty reading for information and thinking critically. These skills are all related to a culture that reads regularly, so welcoming libraries are IMPORTANT. Thanks so much for your help. :)

That's all for this week - God bless you all!

Peace,
Susan

Happy Easter!

ALLELUIA, HE IS RISEN!

   (Okay, I know it’s only Saturday, but I also know most of you will actually be reading this on Sunday, so just go with it!)

This week Jeff started work on the first stage of the upper campus library remodeling project: the indoor garden. He rounded off the outside corner of the room with a low retaining wall. Next, he went rock hunting for the facing. We have spent a few hours today (Saturday) putting together the jigsaw puzzle of stones and cement across the front of the wall, and Sunday afternoon we will do the top of the wall. Here is a picture of the corner before the wall:

The wall itself is supported by bricks and cement:

And here is the stone facing in progress:

           

This got us to thinking about the jigsaw puzzle of life, if you will, about how we each have a place in the world and in church. Just as the lives of your family and co-workers would be vastly different without you, a church is a puzzle made up of all the jigsaw pieces inside, and each one makes church a bit different from the others. Each person, young, middle, or old, married or single, man or woman, working, student or retired; no matter how we label ourselves, we all have an important place in church. Without all the pieces, the puzzle is incomplete. If we take the image one step further and imagine a three-dimensional puzzle (such as our retaining wall!), then a missing piece may cause the whole puzzle to fall, or fail. In our wall, there are large stones, small stones, even tiny chips of rock. The entire whole makes a wall, but separately, they are just rocks. Some of them are quite insignificant rocks. Their importance comes from their participation in community, in something greater than themselves, and something that serves others (in the case of some of the rocks, they support the entire structure!) Seems like a great way of describing the mission of church, both internally among ourselves and externally to the world. Our challenge as people of God, and as church, is to find where our piece fits in the puzzle. Whether this is through a formal discernment process, such as the one Jeff is entering, or an informal personal journey, such as the one that led us here to Bolivia, or something in between, is up to you and your circumstances.

It is my hope for you that this week has offered you an opportunity to reflect upon your place in the puzzle, whatever your puzzle is. Share that journey with those around you if you can – after all, they are parts of your puzzle and you are part of theirs…

Happy Easter to all~

Susan

PS – For those of you who wonder why I did not use the word ‘the’ in front of ‘church’ in my post, I wanted to distinguish between the church building and the people who are “church”. Hopefully this explanation helps!

Holy Week - Semana Santa

Wow, what a relief to be back to our temporary home of the UAC-CP! It was refreshing to go back to our normal routine, and to be back around the students again. Many students and friends have asked us if we were in danger, to which we replied that “no, we just stayed in La Paz, and kept our nose safely out of other’s business.” We are still hearing stories of people that walked through the blockades, and lost possessions, or were beaten. This is one chapter that I am VERY glad to close on our year-long adventure!

Speaking of chapters of our adventure, I have decided to go into discernment towards ordination. When we return home, I will begin the process to figure out where my calling is leading me to. I have been trying to ignore what keeps getting in MY way, by ignoring what is obvious in GOD’s way. This decision has come during the perfect time of year. Holy Week is here, and I personally have much to pray about and be thankful for. As the Passion of this week unfolds, think about what you are being called to do. Most of us won’t be called to carry a cross, to be beaten, ridiculed, and crucified. Most of us won’t even be persecuted for believing in God. What ARE you being called to do? Listen to that still small voice. Let that voice lead you to the paths that you may not have considered. Volunteer, visit a sick friend, teach someone English, run a library (I think you see where I am going with thisJ!) Let that voice take you places where you are needed. It may not be a comfortable place for you, but everyone is needed somewhere. So, this week, listen to that voice. Follow where it points your heart. Remember, that we are God’s hands and feet on this Earth. We are also the voice for those that don’t have one.

Oh, and Cookie says, “Meow!” (Or at least that is what I think he said, as his Spanish is very sloppy, but not as bad as his English!)

La paz y bendiciones to all,

Jeff

Home at last -- with pictures

Well, we made it home! Oddly, the traffic was very light this morning between Coroico and La Paz. We wondered if this was because the waiting traffic had all cleared the area last night when they first opened the blockades, and maybe people are hesitant to travel in between if they don’t have to right now. I know the niece of one of the miners works at a restaurant we have been patronizing all week, and she told us to get home quickly because they will be putting the blockades back up probably Monday. It was a beautiful day today, and the weather was clear all the way through from La Paz to Coroico, so I’ve included a couple of photos we took. The bike tour companies were finally running today, so the first shot here is of a few members of one of those.

Here’s a shot of the road, that’s Coroico way off in the distance.

And finally, no travel in this family is complete without some kind of adventure, so of course, since our trip from La Paz was completely uneventful, we had a flat tire on the way home to the UAC from Coroico. We had taken a cab because we had a bunch of stuff to carry and it was just easier. Silly us! The bus that we could have ridden passed us while we were waiting for the spare tire to come in another cab from Coroico.

But, fortunately, there were some really pretty rocks to look at, and pollywogs in the stream, and a waterfall, so it was a pleasant half-hour break.

Finally, when I downloaded these pictures from the card, I found the picture below. I apparently never posted it, and I apologize! It is of Jeff cooking Shrove Tuesday pancakes – he says he didn’t have an apron, so he wore a t-shirt from home instead.

Thanks again to all of you that have thought of us, prayed for us, and been there for us this week. We really appreciate it, and the ease of today’s journey home, after all the trials of this week, just shows that prayers are answered!

Headed home! (We hope...)

Well, there have been multiple announcements on the TV, plus a couple of reliable sources have confirmed that the blockade is being lifted for the weekend. So, we will get up in the morning, gather up our stuff, and head up to the bus terminal to see if we can get a ride home. It may take us longer than usual to get there, but we will try to post an update when we get home.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and comments, we really appreciate that you have been thinking of us.

Susan and Jeff

Still here!

Hi everyone!

     We thought to post an update here for those of you who are not on Facebook. We've been in touch this week mostly that way, and we know not everyone uses it. It has been a VERY full week, so, here goes!

MINERS' BLOCKADE Tuesday morning the government stopped all further action on the new law as a first step toward addressing the miners' concerns. This did get the miners to come to the table to talk, but nothing came of that meeting. There have been talks with a mediator, several meetings the miners have walked out on, and much appealing to the "court of public opinion" by both sides. Meanwhile, thousands of passenger buses, commercial trucks and private vehicles have been stranded in long lines of traffic on both sides of each barrier. People are trapped in bus terminals with nowhere to go and no money to care for themselves. Wednesday night the miners opened a few of the blockades for a few hours as a humanitarian gesture, but it was not long enough, and some of the worst ones did not open, including ours. We thank God that the timing was such for us that we have had the financial resources to stay in a hotel (and to eat!), rather than being stuck for days on end at our (completely outdoor) bus terminal. A man died overnight trapped by the blockade near Cochabamba. There are no details right now, but it sounds like maybe exposure? I can certainly understand it. At 12,000 feet here in La Paz (and Parotani is above 8,000), it might be 70 and sunny during the day, but it still gets down close to freezing at night. Please pray for those still trapped in vehicles, for the fourth day now, with no heat, water, food, or bathrooms, especially the ones in and near La Cumbre, the 15,000+-foot pass between La Paz and our home in the Yungas region. There are rumors that maybe they will lift the blockade for the weekend. The last time there was one like this, about 18 months ago, they did lift it on Saturdays and Sundays. We are hoping that we will be able to get seats home tomorrow. It would also be good for them to let some trucks thru, as there has been a beef shortage here in La Paz since yesterday, and now the chicken supply is beginning to dwindle and prices are rising accordingly. Of course it is possible for food to be flown into the airport from other places, but that costs substantially more.

EARTHQUAKES As most of you probably know, there have been two major earthquakes in Chile this week, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Iquique is about 250 miles to our west, and on the other side of one of the highest mountain ranges in the world. However, one of the types of seismic waves that these earthquakes produced goes over pretty long distances under the right conditions. What that means is that both earthquakes were felt in high-rise buildings in La Paz and two other large cities here in Bolivia. We are staying on the 6th floor of an 8-story hotel. As with most other buildings older than 5 years in Bolivia, it is an unreinforced masonry construction, which is a big no-no in an earthquake, as it this type of building tends to just crumble into dust and collapse during strong shaking. Fortunately, the distance attenuated the waves so that by the time they reached here, they were too weak to do any real damage. However, the shaking was certainly scary! Earthquakes are pretty rare here, and people panicked in the areas where the bigger quake on Tuesday night was felt at ground level. The stadium and a covered market were evacuated, along with numerous high-rise (over 10 stories) buildings all over the central part of the city. Tuesday night's quake lasted most of a minute and was an 8.2 magnitude in Iquique. Here it was felt at about a magnitude of 4.5, enough to sway a tall building pretty effectively. The furniture and draperies in our hotel room were doing quite the dance, and it lasted a VERY long time. Several of the aftershocks have been strong enough to shake us again here, the biggest one being the 7.6 on Wednesday night. One thing Jeff and I were concerned about is where we would run to if a bigger quake came and the building started to come down. The only exit out of this building is the main doorway onto the street in front, which is narrow and bound by more multistory masonry buildings that might fall into the street, or at least present a falling debris hazard. We took the opportunity to go up to the roof and figure out an escape route that gets us away from that hazard, so we now have a plan just in case. Over the last 24 hours the aftershocks have seemed to slow, so maybe the danger has passed, but who knows? One thing we don't need to worry about in La Paz is tsunamis -- if one reaches us here, most of the land on the planet would be underwater like in the movie 2012!!

DELANEY Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, Delaney stayed home Sunday night when we came to town. She and the cat are muddling along on eggs for the girl and dried sardines for the cat (his favorite treat!), as the people food is all stuff that needs to be prepared from scratch and preparation for much of it is beyond D's comfort level, and the cat's food was nearly empty when we left. I have a nice bag of cat food in my backpack, bought it Monday morning to take home to him... Unfortunately, the emergency money we left for Delaney ended up paying for the egg delivery Tuesday morning, so now she is insolvent. But, she does have plenty of eggs to eat! Our friends and neighbors are watching out for her, and are there to help if she has an emergency. God bless Ina, my department head and a fellow American volunteer. She has been covering my classes and checking up on Delaney every day. Thanks, Ina! We are also at the other end of a text or phone call if Delaney needs us, and we have been checking in with each other a couple of times a day. For a 15-year-old girl home alone on the other side of a 20,000-foot mountain range with no cash and minimal food, she is holding up remarkably well and we are very proud of her. We asked her this morning if she was ever going to stay home by herself again, and she said that the cat would have been frantic without her! Trust Delaney to think of the pet before herself. :)

     This is all we know for now, other than we are both ill from going a 2nd day without our usual medications and not sleeping well because of stress. Jeff was able to find a couple of blood pressure pills for me at a pharmacy nearby this morning, that being the most important one to not miss! We will let you all know if we are able to get home tomorrow or not, but in the meantime, it is a beautiful, warm, partly cloudy day here in La Paz, so we have the window open in our room and plan to just try to rest and feel better today. Thank you for all of your concern and prayers, please know that they are not just needed, but also greatly appreciated AND effective!

Love,

Susan and Jeff

Stuck in La Paz...

Hello friends!

      Well, Jeff and I came into town for yesterday's dentist appointments. The good news: my tooth seems to have been salvageable, although it is the largest filling my US-trained dentist has ever done and he is concerned about stability. Time will tell! I'm just happy that the still-living nerve is now safely buried under a huge filling. The relief was almost instantaneous. The bad news: we are now stuck in La Paz. It probably hasn't made the international news, but a conflict flared up yesterday between the miners' unions and the government. A new law was passed that makes it illegal for mining cooperatives to have any relationship with private interests. Mining is nationalized here, and the idea was to prevent subsidized mining interests from taking advantage of taxpayers by privatizing. (US petroleum companies, are you listening? That is the model they are trying to avoid here.) The problem is, the miners aren't compensated very well, so they are angry that the government intends to exclude a major potential revenue stream. They have responded by storming out of yesterday's meeting, then blockading the routes between the major cities yesterday afternoon. Now, La Paz is completely hemmed in except by air, and they have expanded the blockade today to include pretty much all the paved highways in the country, or at least that is my understanding. They intend to bring economic activity in Bolivia to a standstill, and since most transportation of goods and people happens via surface roads, they are doing a pretty good job of it.

     We intend to make the most of our time here. We will be out getting estimates for the library remodeling project at the UAC that Jeff is designing, plus we will be getting the three estimates Sister Jean needs to buy a new piano keyboard for the chapel on lower campus. Unfortunately, as along as we are in La Paz, we are forced to stay in a hotel and eat out, which can expensive quickly. The hotel where we are currently staying does provide a nice free breakfast, but hopefully we won't be here too much longer, because eating out can get expensive even if you go someplace cheap!

     Please say a prayer that they will resolve this conflict quickly, not just for our sake, but for the sake of the businesses and people of this country, and for the sake of the miners, two of whom were killed in a clash with police at the blockade near Cochabamba last night.

     Peace to all of you,
     Susan

Happy weekend to all

Hello everyone!

     This week has been full of planning for our return home, among other things. Our flight will leave at 6am on June 18^th, arriving in Chicago at nearly 9 in the evening. We will probably stay overnight in Chicago and head home in the morning. We may even hang out for a day or two and rest before making the final leg of the journey home by rental car. We want to give a shout-out and a BIG thank you to the people of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, our faith home, who generously helped us out with our plane tickets home. They turned out to be much more expensive than expected, and while we love it here in Bolivia, we are really looking forward to coming home, too! Thanks again, St. A’s, you have been such a blessing to us.

     This week’s weather report: it has been raining most of the week, but there have been several absolutely beautiful mornings, but the rain has closed in by afternoon. Today, Saturday, however, is just gorgeous. After coming home from the market, we opened all the windows and hung our blankets out in the sun to freshen. It’s a good day for laundry to dry, too, so we will take the chance while it’s not raining!

     Thursday evening, staff from the US Embassy in La Paz came to speak to the students about opportunities to study in the US, and programs to help them pay for it. Since the meeting was during my Education dept. class, we met briefly to check homework and take attendance, then walked over to the presentation. I assumed that it would be partly in English and partly in Spanish, and that this would be good for my students, plus it can take a year or more to get one of these programs set up, so 3^rd-year students like mine are the target group to begin the process, and several of them were really interested. Four students from my Agronomy class also attended, so they got an extra credit point for that. I was so proud of Valeria, one of my Ed. Students – she asked a question in English, and even understood the answer in English. Yay! Bonus points and two thumbs up! She is interested in becoming a Fulbright scholar and studying Education Administration in the US.

     This morning we made our weekly trip to the market. I got up feeling a little icky, so I wore comfy clothes – my peach-orange ombre long broom skirt and a smocked poet shirt over a cami. I didn’t even think about the fact that this somewhat mimics the chola – the traditional outfit that most older Aymara and Quechua women still wear, even in La Paz. It consists of a ¾-length or longer colorful skirt that is layered in tiers from the waist (it is supposed to exaggerate the hips, something that is traditionally considered very attractive), then a pullover type blouse or sweater on top, usually of a solid color (although sequins, sparkles, lace or iridescence are usually present), plus hair tied back in braids. I didn’t braid mine, but I did put it in a simple ponytail tied with a bright orange scarf that I got at the huge market in El Alto. I attracted a range from approving to outright delighted looks from many if not most of the locals in town. One older woman we greet often even commented about how nice my outfit was when we passed her fruit juice stand in the town square! I received nods and smiles from nearly every traditionally dressed woman we passed, and even some of the men. Who knew that positive international relations could be achieved so simply? It was fun! Maybe next time, I’ll do it on purpose… ;)

Peace to you all, and may God bless you with a beautiful sunny day like today sometime this week!

Susan

March 22nd

     For our post this week I thought I would describe land usage around the area. As many of you know, cleared land here is at a premium. That is why for centuries, the citizens of the Yungas region have cleared hillside after hillside to grow coca, which is used to ease symptoms of elevation or altitude sickness, and other maladies as well. Many locals here live in the bottoms of the valleys, but climb thousands of feet every day to cultivate/harvest the vegetables, fruit, and products of nature. At home, it is not uncommon to commute 30 miles. Here the commute is vertical and can cover as much as 5000 feet. This isn’t done by vehicle, it is done on foot. People that are fortunate enough to have their own piece of land generally clear some ground for gardening. This can be used to augment family income, or it can just be for the family. For some of the larger homes, small flocks of sheep can be seen keeping the grounds presentable. These homes generally do not have anyone living on site; these are more often used for weekend retreats from La Paz for the more affluent people. Some of these homes would fit right in in many of the most affluent neighborhoods in the U.S.

     For the homes that have families living in them all of the time, there is a wide variety as well. There are homes that are nice by most standards. Then there are houses that are more lean-to shelters than houses. These can be found attached to mud brick buildings housing sawmill equipment, or homes for other residents. More often now, you find fired hollow brick structures replacing the old mud brick or lean-to structures. This doesn’t necessarily mean that a house might have more amenities; it is just structurally sounder than the mud brick before. Many times, the only electricity is to a single bare bulb hanging over the raw brick opening used as a door, covered by a curtain to give privacy to its residents.

     So, things are improving here for the individual families as far as housing goes. Clearing the cloud forest still presents the same problems it has always caused, but families are able to grow food, and some have very green thumbs. But what do you do when you don’t have any land of your own? This example was my reason for this subject today. There is an older gentleman, (I would estimate around 70 years old) from the village of Carmen Pampa that has four cows, 2 sheep, and 2 goats. Back home in the states, this man would have to have a couple of acres, if not more, to sustain his herd. This gentleman doesn’t even have a yard. What he does instead is simple. Every morning he gets up, and walks to whatever patch of grass he left his livestock tied up on the night before. He unties them and starts herding them up the hill from Carmen Pampa and the lower campus, up past the upper campus. He follows them about 10 kilometers, or about 6 miles toward Coroico, then turns them around and follows them home. He does have help though; he has 2 mutts that help him keep everything in order. His cattle get plenty of grass and water, plenty of exercise for leaner beef, all while providing a free lawn mowing service for grassy areas near the road.

     So, the next time that you think you don’t have enough room for whatever you think you need more room for, think about this example, and go out and find a way to get it done!

Peace!

Jeff

Hello from Bolivia!

Happy Saturday to everyone~

Here’s the news for the week…

     Firstly, Jeff is happily working on his project designing the remodel for the upper campus library. Currently, light fixture proposals are on the table. A creative idea that may fly is one we saw in a restaurant in La Paz a couple of weeks ago, where a square of translucent fabric was suspended below bare light bulbs, both hiding and softening the light source. This seems like an inexpensive and attractive option to replace the dim, clinical lighting in the current space. Do you have some other ideas like this one that you’d like to contribute? Please comment below or send Jeff a Facebook message sometime this week.

      Secondly, I have spent the week in a Vicodin haze. One of my teeth broke off, and inside was a hidden cavity that apparently developed behind a loose filling. The dentist thinks I may need a root canal. Not the greatest impact on our finances, but at least this sort of work is much less expensive here than at home. So, I am waiting until payday (April 1) to go back to La Paz for that. In the meantime, please keep me in your prayers, as the nerve is exposed and quite painful at times.

      Thirdly, this week we said goodbye to our friend Hugh, who is no longer the Director of the UAC, but has taken a position with the Carmen Pampa Fund working with donor relations. He will be based out of Boston, it looks like. We will miss him, but he assured us he will be back here a couple of weeks before we leave, so we will get to see him again then.

      Finally, Delaney is hard at work on her second semester classes. Internet access is a chronic issue for her, and can be quite frustrating at times. She is in the home stretch now, though. If you have a few moments to stop by her Facebook page and offer her some encouragement, I’m sure she would appreciate that. Words from home are always welcome!!

      As our thoughts are beginning to turn towards our return, we have all realized how much we are looking forward to that. We love it here, especially we love the students and families that have become our friends and family here. We will always have them, and we will miss them when we leave, but we also miss our friends and family back in the States. One thing we will be doing this week is making a list of places to go and things to see before we leave – that will be a bit bittersweet!!

      Please know you are all in our prayers.

Love,

Susan

     I want to start off this week’s blog by saying that I am truly thankful for each and every one of you out there that has supported us financially, in prayer, and in the many other ways that are too numerous to mention. We are truly blessed to have any single one of you, let alone all of you.

     This past week, our home church, St Andrews, celebrated Shrove Tuesday with its annual Shrove Tuesday pancake feed put on by the men, for the lady folk in our lives.  This culinary event has been performed for decades, if not longer.  In solidarity with the men who cooked, served, and cleaned up, I too delivered piping hot hot cakes to Susan and Delaney. There is a reason that it is also called “Fat Tuesday,” and that is because we all make such good pancakes!

     Also this week, I passed a milestone. My father recently posted on Facebook that “If you hadn’t grown up by age 50, that you didn’t have to.” Yesterday I turned 50, and I don’t view myself as “not grown up”, so, by default, I don’t have to! Celebrating my birthday was a quiet affair. A simple meal of chicken and rice was served, but it felt like a gourmet meal. Susan and Delaney wrote a poem and gave it to me. The poem states “There once was a man from Waverly, Whose hat always tilted crazily, He went to the South, Lost teeth from his mouth, And turned 50 while singing terribly.” I want to be the first one to say that I think they are just jealous of my “joyful noise unto the Lord.” My oldest daughter, Hope, gave me a present too. She found out this week that she is having another boy, so I will be a grandfather again in June. But, I feel that the greatest present ever was to be here in Carmen Pampa, serving God’s people, and hearing God’s calling clearer and clearer.

     We are finally on the downhill side of our year in Bolivia. Planning is started (at least on paper!), and thoughts are turning toward home. The students here will be missed (at least most of themJ). I just wanted to remind everyone that we would not have been able to undertake this year of mission without each and every one of you. So I will close for now, but know that you are all in our hearts, our thoughts, and our prayers.

Peace,

Jeff

Feliz Carnaval!

This week there were three things that shouted at me to be shared with everyone following us:

     First, we are living in the Cloud Forest. This means that we will see animals, birds, snakes, and insects that just aren’t seen at home. This was pointed out to me yesterday by the visit of a giant beetle with really long antennae. I will post a still image of the beast, but make sure that you also watch the video here: http://youtu.be/pBz56uXTw2Q. A German shepherd pup approached, but was smart enough to not tangle with it. Yes, that is a normal-sized popsicle stick under his belly for size comparison.

     On a more somber note, I had to go into Coroico for some grocery shopping on Wednesday and I saw something that I thought I would pass along to everyone following us. On the way into town, we passed a funeral procession. That isn't so strange. What was different from funerals back home was that most of the people in the procession were on foot. From little children with squirt guns (it is Carnival here) to ancient Bolivianos bent with age. The coffin was carried in the open back of a minivan, wrapped in white muslin fabric and then surrounded with flowers and two gentlemen to hold it in the back. Everyone that was walking had already walked up from the valley floor around 2500 feet down in the sunny and 80 degree weather. The women were wearing their finest shawls and their bowler hats, and the men were in their fedoras and Sunday best. There were a few people crying, but for the most part, everyone was stoic. At first I thought that they were burying a child, and then I remembered the size difference, and realized it was probably an adult. I was just really touched by the physical approach to a funeral. Back home, people bundle into cars and run the a/c or heat (depending on season). Only the people coming from out of town arrived in vehicles, and even they got out and waited in the heat to pay final respects. I was just really touched by the fact that they put themselves through harsh conditions to say farewell, when their entire lives have been in harsh conditions. Life here has not been, and is not easy. People live, and people die, and still life goes on. I pray that each and every one of us live lives as fully as these people do.

     Finally, the English Department uses CD players to play audio clips for class and tests.  Each campus has 1 working CD player.  These are the same CD players that I cobbled together from non-working ones, to make the working CD players they do have. These CD players run anywhere from 299 b’s to 450 b’s.  We have been looking into alternative ways to deliver the audio and have come up with a workable solution. USB players are VERY big here. On average, these players run around 140 b’s, and can be used with a simple flash drive. These USB flash drives cost around 70 b’s, for a grand total of 210 b’s (enjoy the math Charles!) What we are looking for now is funding to get at the minimum 1 player for each campus. We will gladly get more if the funds are there. Please let us know If you can help, and thanks for your support!

       Happy Carnaval everyone! We hope you enjoy the pictures we took of the parade and the crowd today in La Paz. Sorry there aren't more, but we were afraid for our camera under the constant bombardment of water guns, water balloons, spray foam and spray confetti! Here’s a link to some great pictures of La Paz and a couple of Carnaval: http://tinyurl.com/nayoxmc

      It’s a bit insane here, kind of like Mardi Gras on steroids, or maybe a combination of Halloween, the 4^th of July and a really wild wedding reception… We have heard that Oruro is the place to be, and have been able to watch some of the festivities on TV at a couple of places today. We are there in spirit. Steph and Judith stay out of the kitchen on Tuesday. Brian and all of the men folk, I will be with you in spirit, and cooking pancakes for my ladies down here. Have some sausage for me!

La Paz ,

Jeff

English Department News

Greetings to all!

     Apparently prayers have been answered – it has stopped raining all day, every day, and just in time for Carnival! It is sunny to cloudy most days now, although it is still raining some of every night. It is the rainy season, after all. But the sunnier days are allowing things to dry out between rainstorms now, so the roads are MUCH better. Thanks be to God!

     Major changes have been in the air the past few weeks here at the UAC, both in staffing and in processes, so it has been a stressful start to the semester. Thankfully, things seem to be settling down a bit now, and the students and staff are finally able to settle into the work of the semester. It looks like I will end up with about 25 students in two classes, similar to last semester. We are still in need of some supplies, which I will shop for in La Paz next weekend, then I think we will be all settled.

     Our English department has been going through some changes as well, but we are on course now. We have decided to use an Earth stewardship theme for this semester, so our joint activities for all English students will be in that theme, and each class will do an Earth-themed project too. This allows us the opportunity to integrate cultural exchange conversations, community awareness activities and fun for the students. Watch for more about this as the semester progresses – I have already begun my first related unit as I am reading The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein in English and Spanish to my classes, then they will have to do some analytical thinking about the themes in the book and the resulting commentary on the relationship between people and the natural environment. Other activities in my classes will include a couple of vocabulary and awareness-building nature walks in and around campus, an Earth-day skit for the whole upper campus, and more. Our first English club activity will be a movie night featuring Avatar, a movie with heavy environmental stewardship themes. If anyone out there has some ideas for activities, please share them, they would be very welcome.

     I should mention at this point that the stewardship theme will very much be an exchange of ideas, because there are some things that Bolivians do VERY well as far as respecting the environment, and we Americans certainly have some things to learn from them. There are also things that I have learned and will share with my students, too. The most fun will be watching them come up with their own solutions!

     I will leave you this time with a recipe that readers from last semester will recognize – this is the Bolivian version of banana bread. If you like it a little less sweet, or need a reduced-sugar recipe, this would be a good choice for you.

BOLIVAN BANANA CAKE (Queque de platano)

¼ cup or 100 grams butter

½ cup or 200 grams sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup or 250 grams flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 160 C or 320 F. Beat together butter and sugar until foamy, then add eggs and salt and mix well. Add baking powder and flour, mix well. Stir in mashed bananas and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, check with a toothpick, bake up to 15 minutes more until the toothpick checks clean.

     The last few days, it has rained in the early afternoon after being partly sunny in the morning. Today, it was so pleasant after my 2nd class was over at 1:45 that I left the door to our apartment open to welcome the breeze. Cookie was happily asleep on our bed, so I didn't need to worry about him running out. It sounded as though it was raining very hard, and I looked outside, but it was only sprinkling. Then, the rainstorm marched down the mountain and it started pouring very abruptly, sort of like the sudden downpour in a thunderstorm at home. Unusually, the wind was blowing the rain in the windows and onto the balcony. Bella, the pretty red-gold shepherd mix who had been napping on the welcome mat, appeared in the doorway with an obvious question on her face - could she come in out of the rain, please?

     Like all other dogs here, Bella is an outside dog, but her polite request was so sweet, we told her okay, and she tentatively stepped in a few feet. Thus began Cookie's education. The two of them spent the next 10 minutes alternately ignoring each other, sniffing along behind each other, and, finally, interacting. He snuck around under the table, batting at her tail as she passed by. She looked at him with great puzzlement, clearly thinking, "What are you, and why are you messing with my tail?" He continued to mess with her, seeming to push the limits of acceptable behavior, and she good-naturedly played along, poking her nose at him and snuffing, ducking in and out of his reach, like she'd lived indoors with a cat all her life. Sort of strange for an outside dog who lives where there are almost no cats (there are some in the village, but only one other here on the upper campus). Anyway, the rain began to let up, and she must have heard something outside, because she went rushing over to the doorway to look out, then stepped out. Cookie followed along behind, right on her tail, messing with her, and stopped in the doorway to glare at her when she left. It was so funny! If he had hands, they would have been on his hips as he shouted, "And STAY OUT!" Clearly, in Cookie's mind, dogs belong outside. Fortunately for him, Bella seems to agree.

     On the topic of maintenance, Jeff has some thoughts to share:

     Riding to Coroico the other day, I noticed a group of Bolivians hacking at the jungle to keep the sides of the road from encroaching the lanes. This happens about every 3 months. It is amazing how fast the jungle attempts to begin reclaiming what it believes still belongs to it. Sinom, our guide in the Amazon jungle had to hack his way through trails that his father taught him when he was little. He uses these paths anywhere from 2-8 times a week, every week, and still he must force back the jungle. Even though these people have been here for a VERY long time, the struggle to maintain their hard won infrastructure remains constant. The road to Coroico has had several large trees that have had to be cut up to clear the road. Several smaller trees just get run over until only splinters remain. The road had been taking a beating with all of the extra run-off from the rains. The road side has lost that battle in several places now. Bus drivers are staying to the cliff side as much as possible (sometimes too far!) and then ending up in the cliff side ditch. These slumps are taking half a lane or more from the already narrow road. Recently, we also have had a mud slide, resulting in another half lane loss. This mud slide was about 25 feet across, and about 2 feet deep. It wouldn't necessarily throw your car off the cliff, but it could ruin your whole day.

     I will close for now with a request. I would ask that each of you keep the people of Bolivia in your prayers. With the flooding and mudslides in Rurrenabaque, and the heavy rains washing mountain roads away all over Bolivia, many people are dead, and many more still missing. Pray that we get only the rain we need to sustain the people and economy, and no more.

La Paz to all! 

Fiesta de Las Alasitas, Las Cascadas and Registration

     Our friends and neighbors here on upper campus had one last blast before school started… we all loaded up the kids and went to Coroico for Las Alasitas – the Aymara festival of miniatures, where they all buy tiny reproductions of what they want for the year, then take them and make little shrine to the good-luck god, Ekeko. After the fiesta, we went to the waterfalls (Las Cascadas), two of which are large enough that they have cemented in the pools at the bottoms for swimming (and to prevent the road from eroding away!) See our photos for some great shots!

     This week, first semester classes started here at the UAC. This is quite the production, as I’m sure you can imagine. Carmen Pampa is a tiny speck of a village, and Coroico is not all that big either (about 5,000 people). The crowd that descends on the area for registration weekend is truly an awesome sight. Many parents come along, and you will see pictures of some whole families if you follow the link to this week’s photos. http://tinyurl.com/p3wnlhj

     Never mind the traffic! At one point over the weekend, Jeff and I observed with amusement while about 25 people tried to get into a microbus headed back to Coroico. The bus had come from the village below, so there were already probably a dozen people on it. Here’s the fun part: these are 15-passenger vans with a luggage rack on top and a little extra space behind the front seats because that’s where the edge of the engine compartment is. It was like watching clowns crowd into a Volkswagen!

     This time our job at registration was to check-in the students. There is a behavior covenant they had to sign, then more paperwork if they were new, or a check-off form to take along to the next station for existing students. This means we got to see the face of every student who registered. We really enjoyed the chance to meet all of them, even though the place got pretty crowded a few times. We just kept our heads and worked the best we could. It was a lot of fun! I wish we could be here for that weekend every semester.

     So, a new semester means new classes, and lots of new faces and names to learn. My two classes are both English 1 this time, so they have a few words they have picked up here and there, but for the most part they are brand new. Most of my students this semester are in their third year of studies, although there a few who have been here more or less. Both classes meet during the 11am – 2pm lunch break, and we may end up combining them once the registration finalizes next week. Currently there are about 22 students total, so one class would be manageable, and it would allow us to do some things that the two classes are too small to do alone (for example, maybe another baseball game project??) We will have to see how it all shakes out. New this semester is a survey that I have given to all of my students to fill out. It asks them in English and Spanish about their home and family, what they are studying, what they would like to learn this semester, the ways they learn best, other ways they have learned English (if they have), etc. I am very much looking forward to reading these and getting some insight into my students much earlier in the semester than last time. (Last time I was halfway through the semester before the interviews where I learned more about my students than what I had learned in the classroom. The good news is that they had enough English by then to tell me all about themselves in English!)

     We have not yet made the trip to La Paz for school supplies and to finish up the tool shopping from the collection the St. Andrew’s Godly Play kids gathered in December, so if anyone would like to contribute to the fund for notebook paper, poster supplies, Scotch tape, and a new music player/USB drives for the upper campus, we (and the students) would certainly be appreciative. Thanks in advance to anyone who can do that.

     Jeff has taken a LOT of pictures of the flora here. We don’t know what most of them are, so if you do, comment on our blog and then everyone can know! http://tinyurl.com/p3wnlhj

     I will leave you this week with my kitchen-tested recipe for one of our favorite Bolivian foods: chicken salad sandwiches! Chicken salad is VERY different here, and so is bread. For an authentic sandwich, buy a big (Quarter-Pounder-sized) hamburger bun and squash it a bit and let it dry out so it’s a slight bit stale, then layer about ¼ cup or so of the salad inside the cold bun while the salad is still warm from the stove. Betcha can’t eat just one!

Blessings,

Susan, Jeff and Delaney

Bolivian Chicken Salad for Sandwiches

2 cups leftover roasted chicken, preferably white, shredded small (de-boned, but a little skin is OK)

4-6 medium carrots, peeled and grated (use the ¼” side of your box grater)

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and grated (use the ¼” side of your box grater)

2 large garlic cloves, minced

OPTIONAL: 2 small beets or 1 medium, also peeled, grated ¼” WARNING: SALAD WILL BE RED/ORANGE

1T chicken bouillion granules + 2 cups water OR 2 cups homemade chicken broth

¼ cup canola/soya oil

Salt to taste

Combine chicken, carrots, onion, garlic and beets (if using) in a large saucepan with water/bouillion or broth. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until all veggies are soft. Remove from heat, drain. (I save this flavorful broth to make yummy rice later in the week. It will keep for 7-10 days in the fridge if well-sealed.) Return drained mixture to saucepan, add oil, and heat to medium. Saute 5-10 minutes until mixture is a little drier and more separated. Remove from heat, salt to taste. Serve immediately on a sturdy bun or toasted slices of French or Italian bread.

Add-ons:

Toasted sunflower nuts

Melted cheddar cheese on the toast (doesn’t work so well with the bun!)

Fresh-ground pepper

Rings of uncooked sweet bell pepper, one per sandwich

Our trip to the Bolivian Amazon and the end of summer break

     In the last couple of weeks, we have seen many wondrous things, and learned some too! First, if your windshield is fogging up and your defroster isn’t working, put shampoo on a damp cloth and wipe down the window. A spot the size of a quarter will do the trick, and it lasts more than 3 hours! We learned this when we were heading to La Paz to go see Tiwanaku, the pre-Incan temple site on the Altiplano. These ruins are not as old as were originally thought when Susan and Jeff saw it the first time. We were told 13 years ago that they were maybe 20,000 years old. Recent theory now puts them at around 5,000 years old. The excavation at this site has now exposed more of the pyramid, and even more artifacts. We took a BUNCH of pictures, so be sure and look at the picture album! (Click on this link or copy and paste into your browser’s address bar:  http://tinyurl.com/p2pvjhl Double-click on the first photo on the top left to see a click-through slideshow. Captions will be to the right.) One photo that sticks in my mind is the one that shows a dirt altar in the middle of the raised temple. The reason this is memorable that I didn’t know that the Aymara people still use the site for their holy days. The picture shows ashes on the altar from their Summer Solstice ceremony held in December. We also learned that Delaney enjoys mocking 5,000 year old stone faces! Really don’t know where she gets her sense of humor…

     Our trip to the Bolivian Amazon earlier this month was definitely a QBE. Let us start by thanking the people of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Waverly, Iowa, for sending us on the trip of a lifetime. The three of us started our journey in a cab to Yolosita. Yolosita is the town that sprung up at the intersection of the existing valley floor road and the new road from La Paz. This is where you can catch the bus that continues onto Caranavi, and beyond. We were informed that the trip was around 16 hours. If the trip had gone according to plan, it would have been right on the money. Unfortunately, first, the bus was over an hour late, then we experienced an two-hour traffic delay 10 minutes into the trip, an hour delay for a flat tire 6 hours into the trip, and an over 3 hour delay due to a bad detour onto a one lane road that resulted in getting stuck twice. When we finally pulled into Rurrenabaque, we were more than 6 hours later than planned and had missed our tour departure. Luckily, they allowed us to go the next day (they didn’t have to!) The next morning, we were on time and saw us arriving on the banks of the Beni River to begin our Amazon adventure! We met the crew and loaded onto the 30 foot canoe to head up river to the camp. Along the way we saw towns and villages near the river and children playing along the banks. Canoes similar to ours were pulled up in front of thatched huts or trailheads, just like we would park our car in our driveway. We also saw families headed to town in their boats, presumably for market day. Some boats were heavily loaded with freshly cut bananas and/or plantains.

     An hour into our trip upstream, we entered Madidi National Park, the largest protected area in the Amazon.  We saw a stow away lizard, several macaws (red parrots), a caiman (alligator), a capybara (a type of rodent similar in looks to a small furry hippo), and some truly awesome scenery. Please check out our photos here: http://tinyurl.com/p2pvjhl

     Two hours farther upstream, after following a smaller tributary river for a while, our canoe pulled up to a half-submerged sandbar, we jumped out into shallow (piranha-infested!) water, grabbed our gear, and followed our boatman on a 30-minute hike into the jungle to our camp. Our feet received a lovely spa treatment courtesy of the warm, knee-deep mud that greeted us at every low spot on the trail. Suddenly our guide’s bare feet made sense, and after the first mudhole, we followed suit, slopping through the goop in bare feet, covered in slippery red mud. It was DEFINITELY an experience to remember!

     Once we arrived at our camp, we cleaned up while the camp cook fixed a totally excellent lunch, then we all rested for a while. Later that afternoon, we went on a 45-minute hike across the jungle to a nice deep fishing hole, where Jeff caught the first, and largest, red piranha of the day! Many fairly large sardines were caught by members of the group, plus a few smaller yellow piranhas. Our guide tossed them all in his pack and hauled them home for supper. They were delicious, gutted with the heads and skins still on and gently fried. YUM! Our cook was no slacker, all the food she prepared us was absolutely delicious. On the way home, we stopped and watched the troop of capuchin monkeys that was following us through the canopy. It was dusk, so none of our pictures came out very well, sadly, but there were at least a dozen of them, and we could clearly see and hear them, even if the cameras could not!

     That night, it rained all night, but we were snug as a bug in a rug in our thatched, stilted hut. J

In the morning, it was still raining. We all decided to go shoeless, as the camp was now a muddy, puddly swamp. It was warm, so this wasn’t as unpleasant as it sounds! At breakfast, we decided, with our guide, that it was too muddy to go out into the jungle, so we would take a break and just hang out for the morning. This was nice, as we all sat and chatted in the dining cabin for awhile, then napped or read in our sleeping cabin until lunch. After lunch, it was still raining. So, we all went over to the cabin with a front porch, and made jungle-based jewelry from nuts, dried berries, some cotton string and some nifty weaving and knots that our guide showed us. His name was Sinom, by the way, and we really got to know him much better during our jewelry-making. He had a wonderful sense of humor, and took great delight in Delaney, giving her a hard time and spoiling her rotten. She bought right into it and was a good sport, and it was obvious she liked Sinom, too. She kept bugging him about wanting to go swimming, and it finally stopped raining while we were working away on necklaces, so he caved in and we all changed into swimsuits and hiked off to the swimming hole. (Or, actually, just the wide area in the stream under the log bridge of the trail out to the river. Whatever. It was fun! There were sardines and tiny piranhas swimming too, and they kept nibbling on us as we swam. It tickled, but they weren’t big enough to actually bite us!) Then we had supper, and decided not to go on a night hike because it was still too wet and dangerously slippery to go out in the dark. On the way back to our cabins, Sinom showed us the tarantula that lives in the tree in the middle of camp (he’s nocturnal, so we had to wait till after dark to see him hanging out, looking for his breakfast), and then he stopped stock-still in surprise as we passed an old stump, also in the middle of camp, and he saw a snake wriggling in there. It turned out to be a poisonous one, and so he sent us skittering off to our cabin with unhappy thoughts about the fact that we were barefoot! LOL! Jeff got some good pictures after he slipped his shoes on and he and Sinom went back over to take a better look.

      The morning of our third day was sunny and hot and we took off after breakfast for a three-hour hike. It turned into four hours, though no one minded because we got onto the trail of a herd of wild boar after only about 15 minutes, and we followed them into the jungle for a couple of hours before they circled back around to within only about 200 yards of our camp! A few times, we were so close we were able to see them clearly, although their stench carried for probably a quarter mile through even the thickest vegetation. Ugh! Seeing them up close, and then spotting the troop of howler monkeys on the way back in, three hours of slogging through the mud, water, bugs, and another poisonous snake (we were wearing shoes this time!!), plus Sinom having to hack his way into the bush with a machete, made for a completely authentic and satisfying trip to the Amazon jungle. It was awesome!

      We had lunch, slogged back out to the river landing barefoot (having learned by now to carry our shoes over the knee-deep mudholes), loaded up, and zoomed down the now rain-swollen river back to Rurrenabaque, where our hostal had not reserved our room, but the tour operator , who could not have been more helpful, got us great rooms in another hostal and free passes to the swimming pool at the first one (it’s the only one in town during the rainy season, and they have a tame parrot named Polly and a tame toucan named Tuki), so we relaxed poolside. We had a nice dinner, played some pool, and collapsed in our beds for the night.

     Our bus trip home was uneventful, and 8 hours shorter. It did NOT include the detour, and it didn’t really rain most of the way, which helped a lot.

We have more to share with you all about things that have happened since we returned. All of us got back sick, of course. Summer colds suck in the jungle, too! Jeff went to La Paz, and got stuck there. He spent the entire night vomiting, then had to wait on a street corner with a shoe-shine boy for company, while we figured how to get him home. Thanks to the angel who rescued him!!  Good times!

      This coming week is the last week of break before registration on Saturday, February 1. Those of you who feel moved to donate for school supplies, they will be needed again soon. Susan has a faculty meeting in La Paz this Tuesday, so she could do some shopping then. Jeff will be along as well, doing some research for his design to remodel the upper campus library. Needs for students/classes include notebook paper, poster-making supplies like colored paper and markers, white-board markers, Post-it pages, and a new CD/USB music player for the upper campus, plus at least one flash drive. Total funds needed should be about $25. Since the English department does not have funds now, Susan will also need to pay for copies, so if anyone is interested in starting a copier fund, it cost roughly $30 last semester to make all the copies needed (many of the activities in the textbook are reproducible activity sheets).

     Finally, we have begun exploring our trip home. As many of you know, when we purchased our round-trip tickets last May, we could only purchase them out through mid-April, even though we need to stay until at least June 17. So, we will have to pay a $230 fee per ticket to change them, plus whatever the difference in airfare is. Right now, the total for the three of us is around $1400, although we will be working to find the same sort of great deal that got us here, so it may be less when the time comes. We have about three months to get that organized, but we thought it might be good to let everyone know that now, in case anyone has any ability to help with that. Much as we love it here, we do want to come home, so getting our tickets changed will be an important focus in the coming weeks.

     For now, we love you all, we miss you all, and we will be praying for you all. Please pray for us, too! J

Blessings,

The Cornforths