How else can we celebrate?

We've just finished a week of festivities that started last Sunday. Sunday Sept 6 was pedestrian day. Not just a suggestion like we do in Canada these guys take this serious! All day long there were no cars, buses, trucks, micro's only people walking or riding bicycles and motorbikes. It was fantastic to see the street lined with people walking down the middle of the roads with their children and dogs. We walked up the road to a neighborhood church and then walked home. In the afternoon we made sure a Sunday afternoon ice cream trip was involved as well. The streets were unusually peaceful and for 1 short day a year the pedestrian actually had the right of way.

On Tuesday we went to a weekly prayer breakfast at the Bolivian Baptist Union offices. This week everyone brought food to share as the new Latin America Team Leader - Jim McBeth and his wife Diane were introduced. The McBeth's were previously missionaries in Angola for 4 years and have just arrived in Bolivia in the last 2 weeks.

On Friday we were invited to celebrate Cochabamba day with the children of the Casa de la Amistad who had prepared for the day's festivities. It involved banners and posters that the kids had made, a presentation about the province and singing the hymn for Cochabamba, a dance presentation from the little ones and of course food. We were able to purchase small bowls of typical Bolivian dishes ( 5 in all). It was great fun and we were even introduced as honored guests.

Saturday we were invited for dinner by the McBeth's to the apartment where they have been staying. We joined the Guthrie family and all had a great evening eating Quesadilla's and getting to know each other more.

Sunday came and we finally after 2 1/2 months took the kids up the Gondola to see the world's largest Christo. It was a scorcher of an afternoon but nothing a little more ice cream can't fix. The kids enjoyed seeing the city from way up on top of the hill, and it's always good to spend time a little closer to God. We of course couldn't go alone so we invited the Guthrie family to join us and graciously they offered to drive. We finished the afternoon/evening off making pizza and hanging out until late into the night.

Monday (yesterday) was a provincial holiday. The kids had no school so we thought we needed to go check out the parade down in the main prado. Of course thinking like Canadians we thought we should go early to make sure we got a good seat. 1 hour early + 1 hour late parade + 3 hours of parade watching and it still wasn't done we figured we had seen enough. There were rumours that the Bolivian president would be there but instead we did see the vice. Many were the government officials, the veterans, the military groups and marching bands, the civic workers of every department, the unions, the women's groups, the disabled groups, the youth and whatever else came after we left. It was fun to take it all in and the kids although exhausted were troopers. Of course the vendors selling their foods and crafts were in the hundreds and our comfy plastic chairs did come at a price of 10 bs/chair.