We had a blast in Bolivia. It was Leo’s second time in the country, but his first visit was to the more tropical city of Santa Cruz.
We would look up pictures of Cochabamba, but nothing prepared us for the beauty of the desert mountains.
This was the view out our kitchen window! It was unreal!
And as beautiful as it was, we weren’t prepared for the dry, high-altitude desert!
It took us a few days to adjust. I would boil water in the kitchen in the morning and at night just to add some humidity to the air. The pastors had to have thought we were crazy, turning the little kitchen into a sauna everyday.
But boiling water served 2 purposes. Since potable water came in big water jugs, we saved the bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, and used the boiled water for washing dishes, washing fruit, and giving Elias his baths.
Our routine pretty much looked like this:
Wake up when the sun comes up, around 5:30 (Elias got better about sleeping in as he adjusted to sleeping with the sunlight, but the first week was tough).
Boil water, make breakfast (which was usually some kind of eggs, meat, bread and fruit, coffee and coca tea).
Play in the sauna/kitchen until we could all breath/talk after sleeping with the dry air.
Then, we would slowly get ready for the day and head over to the church to get to work. Usually Elias and I would go play in the park while Leo and the pastor would go into town to buy supplies.
But truthfully, Elias’ favorite part was sitting out in front of the house and watching all the taxis, busses, motorcycles and cars drive by. He especially loved when people were out walking their dogs. He would say hi to EVERYONE and LOVED the sights and sounds of the busy street.
We would normally just spend all day at church, either working on the sound or teaching classes and rehearsing.
It was so convenient that Elias could take a nap in his wagon. We would play and play, get a bite to eat, and then he would just sleep for a few hours so we could get some work done.
But it wasn’t all work and no play. We escaped quite a few times to enjoy Cochabamba. We went to a farm (which will have its own post), to the Jesus statue, out to eat at amazing restaurants quite a few times, and to the market!
We ate a TON of food, and it was totally different from any food I had ever eaten in South America. Cochabamba is the gastronomic center in Bolivia, and in the entire 3 weeks we were there, I don’t think we ate any food more than once (besides eggs. We ate eggs every blessed morning. Lol!). There was so much to try!
The flavors and combinations were incredible. I even got adventurous and ate intestines for the 2nd time in my life, and LOVED them. I did not like them the first time I tasted them in Peru a few years ago, but the way they cooked them in Cochabamba was delicious!
We ended every evening with a worship rehearsal. It “started” at 8pm, but normally didn’t get rocking until about 9. Sometimes Elias and I would go, and sometimes we wouldn’t. It just depended on the day and how he was doing. There were a few nights I knew he just needed some down time, so I would just hang out with him at home.
But, he LOVED being at church. He loved the puppies, the other kids, all the music, and all the instruments.
We would go to sleep around 11:30/12pm, ready to rock out the next day.
colombiatotheworld 