Wednesday, January 2, 2013

A Visit to the Campo

Last week we were able to visit a wonderful place outside of Cochabamba in the countryside. It was the personal property of some folks who have been serving as missionaries here for four generations.

Our friends Richard and Gladys Scoggins drove some of us out in their car and the others rode in the back of this small pick up truck. Definitely the "fun" ride!
Here we are taking a tour of the property. Jonathan and his Bolivian wife, Monica, live here with their four young sons. This is one of two of the ponds that are used to raise Catfish and as water storage. The tour included goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, llamas, ducks, and, of course, dogs! They eat the various animals(except the dogs!), when they get too old or have too many of them. On this property they also experiment with different types of fuel, and water sources and then train others how to use them, who are serving the Lord in remote locations.
A highlight for Clancy riding the friendly llamas

While we were there the heavens opened and poured rain. The children had a great time getting out in it!


On the way home we drove past the highest tech dairy I have seen here. I thought some of our dairy friends and family might enjoy seeing what a super nice dairy looks like.

These are the most cows I have seen on one dairy. There were about 40 including the young ones.

A field of Alfalfa
Each dairy or farm grows their own food for feed for their animals. A lot of alfalfa, corn, and a variety of grasses/herbs are grown.
This picture was taken close to our house, but it shows a farmer taking cuttings for his dairy cows. It shows the variety of feed they give the dairy animals. I have only seen Holstein dairy cows here. They are all much smaller than the ones at home.

A comfortable home in the Campo!
Children in the Campo
I asked Richard to stop so I could take this picture of some children with their pigs! You can't see them very well, but the children are absolutely adorable! Their house is in the picture behind them.

    This is what the roads looked like driving home. Wet and full of puddles!

The Scoggins took us to a delicious traditional Bolivian food restaurant on the way home. The kids had fun with the indoor play equipment!
Gracie, Paula, Ruth, and Clara "Bomberas"
The Children's favorite dish
Chicken, rice, noodles, french fries, and a fried banana, this is Bolivian food at its best. The little dish to the right with a green sauce in it, is locoto and no respectable Bolivian meal is good without it! I eat it on practically everything and LOVE IT! The brown bottles are full of delicious, jugo de manzana (apple juice). It was a great meal!
Silpancho, One of my favorite Bolivian meals!

                                                     
Enjoying our meal with our friends

Rudi, Carla, and Paulita

Gladys, Richard, and Gracie
If you can't tell from the picture above, Richard is from the good ole' USA. His wife, Gladys, is Bolivian. Gracie is Clara's best friend here in Bolivia. They also have two teenage boys. Richard moved here in the 90's. Gladys and Richard host the Saturday afternoon fellowship for children that we have very much enjoyed going to the past few months. It is the highlight of our week. It is on holiday for now until school starts again. Hopefully, when it starts again I or Clancy will take some pictures and post a blog about it for you all to read about in detail.
Thank you Scoggins for a great day in the countryside!







14 comments:

  1. Oh man! Silpancho! I miss Silpancho...and platanos fritos... Yummy!

    Beautiful post! Looking forward to Clancy's upcoming post about the children's fellowship!

    Denise :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kendrick says he wants to "ride that llama too"! And pointing to clara and myles with the umbrellas he says, "I like dat picture." :-) Thanks for the lovely tour into the countryside. Do they homogonize and pasturize the milk there or is it raw?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tell Kendrick we would love to have him visit and ride the llama!
      Because of the lack of sanitation all of the milk here is Ultra-pasteurized. It is sold in 1 liter bags and does not need to be refrigerated until after it is opened...nutritious???
      I miss you and love you bunches. Thanks for commenting!

      Delete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What is in Silpancho? The chicken dish looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew someone would ask this question and I almost added it to the posting! On the bottom is fluffy white rice and thin slabs of fried potatoes! (There is a lot of fried food here...I LOVE FRIED FOOD!)The meat is a slab of beef that has been smashed into a thin round piece of meat. I think you will recognize the egg and then it is finished off with a Bolivian type of salsa. Yummmmmm!

      Delete
  5. We miss you all...I get updates from here and from Aunt Diane, heard about the little ones being sick and looked up in my herbal, give them fresh pumpkin seeds right out of the pumpkin (or squash) UNHULLED---up to 15 seeds chewed, two or three times a day. Praying for you always, thanks for the photos and stories keep 'em coming.

    Love you!

    Aunt Melody

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for the squash seed advice. We will try it! We are willing to try just about anything within reason!
      I am glad you are keeping up with us on the blog! We miss you too. Lots of love,
      Carla:)

      Delete
  6. The picture of Rudi and Carla with Paulita made me cry. You look so happy. Praise the Lord for having you right where He wants you!
    Love, Meriwyn

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you again Carla for a very newsy post!! I love, love all the pictures and captians!! Prayers for all of your family and the lives you touch and the lives that are touching yours!! Love, Aunt Margee

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! I was so excited to see two new posts since I last was able to spend time on the computer looking for new blog entrees! :)

    Bless you, Scoggins for taking our family to the country. They looked so naturally at home there! It had to have been a real treat for them. Also, thank you for hosting the Saturday fellowship!

    Carla, thank you for sharing the details (re food, for one!) along the way: dairy with smaller milk cows, children and their house in the background, and pigs (most animals seem thinner there--as do you and Rudi), the puddly road, Clancy and the llama, the children with their umbrellas. It as if we joined you for the outing.

    I hope sweet Paulita is doing better.

    I will now leave this blog and go read the other--a veritable feast of blog entrees! Yay!

    Much love and continued prayers,

    Mama/Paula/Grams

    ReplyDelete
  9. I must have been thinking food! I meant blog entries!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought your "blog entrees" was a well timed pun!
      I knew that you would like the food stuff!

      I am not sure how I like being compared to skinny animals... I guess it is better than fat ones!!!

      Delete