We are back in Jacksonville, Florida

If you have lived in another country for a few months or years you can relate to the way I feel.  To come back to Jacsonville is a bittersweet experience. 
Sweet because I am in my comfortable house, sorrounded by all the comforts that living in the States offer.  No more bundling up inside the house because it is winter and no heating in the house.  The kids are thrilled to be back.  They surely missed home and their toys.  It is wonderful to hear them speak Spanish so fluently! Andrew, who was the one that spoke Spanish the least, is the one  that now speaks the most.
It is bitter because I left my other home, my dear mom, my sisters and their families.   I miss their company; they all are so much fun.  We miss the food and the fresh fruit.  When  I am in Bolivia I feel like I never left. It was great to fit right in the culture , church activities, school for the kids and life in general the Bolivian way .  It is just amazing how resilient the kids are!
We are all pilgrims on this earth traveling from one place to another and one day we will arrive to our final destination.  For me it will be heaven, and I am sure there will be no more longings for my homes in Bolivia or the States.
Thank you to all of you who followed the blog.  I hope you learned more about Bolivia.  It was a fun trip!  God willing we will go back in the next two or three years. 
Adios!

I treasure my family!

I am so grateful for my family!  We had a good time together eating a delicious meal (grilled meat and chorizos).  My mom and sisters, brothers-in-law and nephews are just great!  We love them and will greatly miss them.

El Teleferico de La Paz

The Teleférico is a cable railway that connects La Paz and El Alto city.  La Paz is in a valley.  El Alto is in the high plateau above La Paz.  For many years people would take buses or minibuses to travel between the two  cities.  The trip would take about 20-30 min.  Today with the teleférico the trip takes 10 min and the view of the city is spectacular!  We all enjoyed the trip today.  The kids were amazed at the size of the city. 

La Paz y nada mas (La Paz and nothing else)

La Paz and nothing else is what people who love this city would say. This is where I was born and grew up. La Paz is the second capital of Bolivia, the executive and legislative branches are in this city. Sucre is the judicial capital. I grew up three blocks from Plaza Murillo, the main square in La Paz. Congress and the Presidential Palace are on this Plaza. The streets where I walked during the day were always buzzing with people. How different is the upbringing of my kids in a suburbun area of Jacksonville where they hardly see people on the streets. I want our kids to experience and enjoy the things I did as a little girl, and feeding the pigeons in Plaza Murillo was one of them. The pigeons are very friendly to the point of climbing onto your hand.

La Glorieta

The castle of the Glorieta is a beautiful building in the outskirts of Sucre.  It was the home of Francisco and Clotilde Argandoña.  They were given nobility titles of prince and princess by Pope León XIII for their work with orphans. Mr. Argandoña owned silver and gold mines.  The beautiful building, built in  the late 1800s, has gothic, barroque, neoclassic and mudéjar styles. Unfortunately, the only heir  left Bolivia for a few months, and during that time the castle was ransacked.  Today just a few pieces of  funiture remain.

Cretaceus Park-Part III by Jonathan

There are three things I liked the most in this Park:
1. Titanosaurus, which is the biggest dinosaur found in the world.  The model of this dinosaur is the biggest in the world, more than a 100 feet tall!
2. The dinosaur footprints on the cliff.  I saw them clearly through the binoculars.
3. The playground was awesome. There was a super fast slide, and we dug out a fake fossil.

Great lunch!

We are having a memorable lunch overlooking the main square in Sucre.  Lawrence got Chorizo Chuquisaqueño (sausage from this area).  Claudia got picante de lengua(spicy cow tongue).  The kids got chicken cordon bleu and pork chops.  We all enjoyed our food  mucho!! Delicious!

Cretaceus Park - Part 1

Picture this massive cliff covered with dinosaur tracks, to be precise 5055 tracks of at least 8 species.  This is what you see in the Cretaceous Park. The original name for this park is Cal Orck'o (in Quechua it means limestone cliff.) The cliff is 1500 meters long and 110 meters high.
The park has also life size replicas of dinosaurs in South America.  One of the most outstanding is titanosaurus, the largest replica of the world. The kids loved seeing the carnotaur, the ankylosaurus, and others.  Victoria will write later about a tour we took to get a closer look at the tracks.

Cretaceus Park - Part II by Victoria

My mom and I took a tour to see the dinosaur tracks up close.  There was a steep, narrow way leading downward.  We stopped on the way and the guide explained the different kinds of tracks.  There were differences between carnivores and herbivores. We could get up to 3 meters close to the huge cliff.  We saw mostly herbivore tracks, which looked like circles. The there eight sets ofrece tracks going in the same  direction through the whole cliff!
The first picture shows the cliff.  The second shows the footprints of Titanosaurus up close.  This was just an amazing experience!

Casa de la Libertad

The translation is the House of Liberty.  This house is the equivalent to Indepence Hall in Philadelphia, which we happened to visit early this year.  This beautiful old building was a jesuit mision built in 1592.  Later it housed one of the oldest universities in the Americas, la Universidad de San Francisco Xavier.   The house was also one of the sites of the first cry of liberty.  But most of all it's impotant because Bolivia's Declaration of Independence was signed here!
The Hall, where the declaration was signed, was a chapel with  beautiful carved furniture and the pictures of Bolivar, Sucre, and Ballivian.  Other exhibits include pictures and personal artifacts of Bolivia's presidents, some pictures of the founding fathers and heroes.

We are in Sucre, Bolivia!

Sucre  is the city where Bolivia was born.  It was established on Sept. 29, 1538.  Sucre is the site for the first cry of liberty in the Américas in 1809.  The Bolivian Declaration of Independence was signed here on August 6, 1825.  This city was named La Plata first, and later Sucre after Bolivia's second president Jose Antonio de Sucre. Today this city is the judicial capital of Bolivia.

Adios Cochabamba

Today we are leaving Cochabamba.  It was very sad to say bye to my wonderful mom.  She is an amazing and godly woman.  We just loved spending these  two months with her, and will miss her terribly.

Globos

Globos (balloons) in Spanish is a fun restaurant. We went there to eat ice cream and play in the huge playground. We had fun times playing hide-and-seek, and we laughed and played till we were very tired.  My chocolate ice cream had a lot of  whipped cream. It was delicious!  The boys' ice cream was really cool.  Look at the pictures.

La Cancha, great shopping experience.

I have to write about La Cancha, which is a huge market where I did most of my shopping in Cochabamba. La Cancha is like a flee market that encompasses many blocks.  It's a huge maze!  In one aisle you can find  just baskets, on the next food vendors.  Walk a few aisles and you can buy live chicks, pigeons, rabbits, etc.  It took me a while and a lot of walking to find my way.  It also is the cheapest market in the city, and you can always bargain to bring the price down. But watch out your purse because there are many pick-pockets around.

Papi is finally with us!

Lawrence arrived this morning in Bolivia!  We are so excited to have him with us. Our family is now complete. 

Visiting Villa Albina

Yesterday we visited Simón Patiño's beautiful country house.  Patiño was among the world's wealthiest people in the 1940s. He built his fortune by owning the majority of the tin industry in  Bolivia.  He was nicknamed "the Andean Rockefeller."  Patiño's  country house, Villa Albina, was named after his wife.  The house is a mansion built in 1915, and is sorrounded by beautiful gardens.  The furniture and all the decorating items were brought from Europe.
The house is about 50 min from Cochabamba.  Since my family doesn't own a car, we took a bus, a mini bus and a taxi top get there. It was quite an ordeal but worth it.

Getting our nails done

Victoria and I got our nails done.  Look at the pictures because these ladies did a work of art.  They basically draw beautiful designs on  nails!  The price for getting our nails done was 1 dollar!

Sick

Victoria and Mami Fide (grandma) are sick with the flu.  So far Victoria has been in bed for four days with fever.  She is a real trooper who does not complain about her headache and constant cough.  Please pray for her and my mom. The doctor said that it was viral, and we just have to wait.

Public transportation in Cochabamba by Jonathan

In Bolivia the streets are crowded with buses, mini-buses, and taxis.  Radio taxis are taxis that come to your house when you call them on the phone.  They are very convenient.  My mom likes them. 
Most buses look old.  Bus 27 is the one that comes close to our house.  We take it once in a while to go to the cancha, the biggest market in Cochabamba.
Mini buses are vans.  We don't take them because none come by our house.

Swimming lessons

Victoria and Jonathan are taking swimming lessons every afternoon during the winter vacation.  They are enjoying the pool!
This is a busy time for me as I try to hire a painter to paint the whole house.

School is over

School is over!  It seems like such a short time.  I will miss my friends very, very much.  They were very friendly and good to me. We had fun times together.  I really hope I see them again in the future.
I will miss my friends and studying in Spanish most of all.  Now  I will have my mornings free.

Andrew's birthday!!

Today we are celebrating Andrew's 6th birthday the Bolivian way.  We had a salteñada (morning celebration with bolivian juicy turnovers) and cake.  We hired a clown who made the party even more fun.  The clown painted the kids faces, gave them balloons with figures, and organized all sorts of games. We had the cake (believe it or not I made it), and the kids played soccer until they got tired.  It was a great morning!

Baking class

I am taking a baking class while the kids are in school!   It  has been fun to learn more about baking cakes.  My class has 4 other ladies.  They all have more experience than me.

A brief history of Cochabamba

Cochabamba was founded in 1574 (33 years before Jamestown!)  by Sebastián Barba y Padilla. Cochabamba, known as the breadbasket of Bolivia, was since its beginnings the source of food (wheat and corn) for the important mines of Potosí and other regions.  The name Cochabamba comes from the Quechua khocha pampa, meaning swampy plain.
The mild weather in this city is considered the best in the country.
The city has around 500,000 inhabitants.

Soccer world cup excitement

There is much excitement about the world cup here in Bolivia not only because Brazil is our neighbor, but also because soccer is the most popular sport. Right after school most of the boys play soccer in the school field. Jonathan and Andrew are definetely enjoying soccer.

Right now we are watching the inauguration!  We are rooting for Brazil.

A visit to the farmers market

Jonathan and I went to the farmers market  today.  I wanted him to see  the trucks full of fruit, the vendors sitting on the ground with their produce, and just the busyness of the place. He was amazed at the abundance of fruit.  It was quite an experience for him to see so many bananas in one place (bananas are his favorite fruit.)

Teleférico (cable railway) by Victoria

We rode down from the Cristo de la Concordia in something the "Teleférico," a cable railway.  There was room for 6 people in it. As we went down, we saw the wonderful view!  It was a smooth and fast ride. 

Cristo de la Concordia by Victoria

Yesterday was great! We went to Cristo de la Concordia.  It is a very, very huge statue of Christ built un 1994.  It is about 40 meters tall. The Cristo is located on one of the high hills in Cochabamba at about 2,800 meters above sea level.  We drove up there with our friends, the Amados, in a taxi.  When we reached the top we could see the whole city.  What a view! We walked around the statue.  Unfortunately, this time we could not climb the statue.   You can go up and down the hill using the teleferico.  I will write about it next.

A tribute to my grandfather, Claudio Cardona by Victoria

We visited my grandfather's grave 2 weeks ago. My grandfather, Papi Caño, was a great example of perseverance. He was a national swimming champion despite the loss of one eye. He survived a terrible car accident in his forties, and had to learn to do everything with his left arm.  Papi Caño never gave up and that inspires me to  be perseverant.

Famers market

We bought all this fruit for less than 6 dollars!  Look at the picture, there are 75 tangerines, 25 bananas, 2 papayas, and 1 watermelon.  The fruit is fresh and delicious. I feel blessed.

Andrew's kindergarten

Mom:  Andrew, what do you like most about kindergarten in Bolivia?
Andrew: I like recess the most. I like to play in the sand box.  I liked my kindergarten in Jacksonville better though.
Mom: What did you like the most about your kindergarten back home?
Andrew: I like the playground, calendar, PE, science, and music.

Andrew is missing Ms. Johnson and all his friends at Greenland Pines.Here is a picture with his new kindergarten friends.

Laundry day

I grew up washing clothes by hand, and most of the time I enjoyed it.  Today the kids washed their socks by hand, and it was fun for them!  They also realized how hard it is to scrub dirty socks.  Hopefully they will think twice before running around the house with just socks.  Many Bolivians do the laundry by hand,  but  the younger generations are buying washing machines.

Mother's day in Bolivia!

This has been by far the best mother's day I ever had.  It is special because my sisters and I are spending it with our beloved mom! My mom, Fidelia Chávez de Cardona, is the best mom God could have given me.  Bolivians celebrate mother's day big time.  So far I have been to 6 celebration parties for moms!  I went to three different ones this morning at the kids school.  There was one in our neighborhood last night, and another one in church on Sunday.  Each celebration had incredible food and gifts!

Snacks

Several of my posts will be about Bolivian food  because it is just delicious.  Yesterday we stopped at an ice cream place and was very excited about the variety of flavors like mango, maracuya, tamarindo and specially chirimoya (a white  sweet,fleshy, soft fruit from the Andes.). Chirimoya ice cream is absolutely amazing!