About a month ago now Rudi's younger brother, Ben and our niece (also manager of our coffee shop), Ericka, came to visit us and Bolivia. My boys decided before Uncle Ben came down that they should build a boat with him. Ben is a great carpenter and so was a willing target for the project! The boys spent every spare minute building the boat. We all were super proud of how it turned out!
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| Uncle Ben and Myles, "Starting to Assemble the Boat" |
They had to use some VERY stinky stuff and fiberglass to seal the boat from any leaks. They would move it to the porch and the smell would permeate the house. My favorite spot for them to apply the stuff was out in the yard AWAY from the house!
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| Clancy, Uncle Ben, and Myles |
We took the boat out to Lago Angostura to see if it would float! Not only did it float, but in the three days we were at the lake it logged more than 24 hours of service! We all got a chance to ride in it...
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| Shoving off for the Maiden Voyage! |
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| And She floats.... |
We were able to spend a lot of quality time together playing games and putting together a puzzle out at the lake house.
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| Rudi, Ericka, and Emily playing Settlers of Catan |
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| Trying out Emily's new game she brought home, Dominion... |
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| The last piece of the puzzle FOUND |
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| Uncle Ben and Paula |
One of the Saturdays they were here all of us Boohers, along with Tia Techy and her family, hiked up to K'aspicancha. (Emily did a blog about the first time they hiked to this pueblo.) It is about a three hour hike and you go up about 2 or 3 thousand feet. Not for the faint hearted, but well worth the effort. It was my first time to this village.
Rudi was concerned about the fact that the river, that is usually very low, would have risen making it difficult to cross. He was right. We ended up wading across with the guys standing in the water to make sure we weren't swept down stream. I don't know how they stood in the water helping us. My feet were frozen and I was barely in the water compared to them.
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| Fording the Stream |
The village at the end of the hike is like stepping back in time. Some of the ladies in the village had made us potatoes with a super yummy onion, cucumber, tomato salad on top. We had to eat with our hands and the food tasted incredible after the appetite we had worked up!
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| Enjoying lunch WAY above Cochabamba! |
The thatch roofed hut in the picture above is where they do all their cooking. It has years of black smoke and spider webs above your head inside...cozy!!! The woman of the house makes beautiful blankets out of wool that is "grown" right there in K'aspicancha. She is hopefully going to make me one to bring home.
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| Emily and Ericka enjoying their well earned lunch! |
And just to prove that we all made it we took this family picture in front of the hut. Rudi carried Paula a lot and was sore for quite a few days after the hike. I carried nothing but myself and was sore for even longer!! We want to go as a family again before we come home to the States.
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| The Rudi Booher Family "On Top of the World" |
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| Uncle Ben helping with the babies... |
And, of course, there was much time spent with the Casa de Amor babies. What a blessing it was to have all the extra helping hands. I miss Ericka's help, especially with our baby girl F. She was going through a fussy stage and it seemed that Ericka was always available to hold or feed her. Thanks, Ericka!
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| Ericka helping out with F. and A. |
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| Morning Bible Reading with the Whole Crowd! |
Our family tradition is to read the Bible and sing together every morning before school. Usually we do this in Spanish, but while our visitors were here we read and mostly sang in English! Tia or I usually comb the girls hair during this time!
While Ben was here he celebrated his birthday with us. Along with E. S. and Clara. We did a big February birthday party with them all together. I do not know where the pictures went. I have waited on doing this blog to find them. If and when I find them I will do a special birthday blog with them altogether. I didn't want to wait any longer to do this blog as it is late enough already!
All too soon it was time for them to head back home. We are so thankful they could come down and spend this time with us! Hurry back... Bolivia les espera!!!
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| Ben, Rudi, Clancy, and Myles |
It is good to see the boat! I am very impressed with its structure and size. Nice work, Uncle Ben, Myles, and Clancy.
ReplyDeleteWow! The river WAS fuller.
The colors seem brighter and clearer up in K'aspicancha. The potato dish sounds refreshing. Do you think any of the folks you visit in K'aspicancha would ever come down to visit you in Cochabamba?
Have Tia and Javier and family seen their relatives more often since you all have been there or do they hike up there fairly often?
Ericka and Ben seemed to fit right in down there. I am thankful they were able to go.
Thank you, again, for a satisfying blog, Carla. :)
Because Quechua is their main language, as in the women folk speak little to no Spanish, and our cultures are light years a part, I do not think they would come to visit us. I don´t think it would ever cross their minds actually. Bolivians are a closed group and the Campesinos even more so.
ReplyDeleteThe first time Tia had been up was last year with the kids and Rudi. Since then she has gone a total of two more times. Javier has been up more often. So I gues the answer would be, yes, they have visited more since we have been here!
Thank you, Carla, for answering my questions. :)
ReplyDelete