Family Fun!

These first three days in La Paz have passed by so quickly! The Locklin family adjusted more or less to the drastic change in altitude on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we were ready to begin sightseeing! At noon, a taxi drove us to La Paz's shopping center (called the MegaCenter) where we ate lunch at a restaurant called the Factory. We all ordered hamburgers; they were amazing! Finishing up with barely ten minutes to spare, we rushed over to the movie theater (a part of the MegaCenter) and bought tickets to see the movie Han Solo. I won't mention any spoilers, but I will say that we all thought that it was a worthwhile movie! We watched it all in Spanish too, which was definitely a wake-up call for me! Since we see movies in English the vast majority of the time, it made me realize how immersed we'll be in Bolivian culture for these two months! After the movie finished, we shopped at the MegaCenter's grocery store, and then headed back home. So ended our first day of sightseeing in Bolivia!

Thursday was more of a spending-time-with-family day. All our uncles, aunts, and cousins were there! It was such a joy talking to family I hadn't seen in two years! We had a huge lunch (at 3 in the afternoon!) and tea with a birthday cake for both Andrew and my cousin David. "Tea?" you might say? Doesn't that sound a bit British? Yes it does, and Bolivia has more or less the same custom. Tea is sometimes considered like a meal in Bolivia.  If, for example, you haven't had dinner, you can skip it and have tea late in the afternoon or at night. Between lunch and tea we hung out with our cousins and watched the movie Home Alone 2. A great time was had by all! Family is so precious!

Lots of laughter and food!

The amazing ribs, sausage, and beef my uncle grilled for that afternoon.

We also had potatoes, rice with cheese, salad, and corn on the cob! 

It's a fun family custom you could say, to have your face pushed into

the cake as you're taking its first bite. Andrew was the victim this time!

And the one responsible for Andrew's cake "dunk"..... our cousin Israel!

Andrew seemed to be fine with it... after he had smudged Israel's face too!

All the cousins! It's so hard to get our already (!)

 grown-up cousins together. It was truly a special time!