Christmas in Moro Moro

Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas!
Well, it happened. Internet in Moro Moro is officially a thing of the past. The nearest working station is in Vallegrande (where we are now), a two-hour drive away. It´s amazing how strange it feels to not have the world at our fingertips just a short walk from the house. However, we´re not complaining, because this holiday season we´ve already received a half dozen calls from family to make sure we know that lots of people wish us a Merry Christmas. No doubt those calls were expensive, so we are extremely thankful to be in contact during the holidays.
Christmas in Moro Moro started Christmas Eve. Before that day, we had seen hardly any decorations, seen hardly any visitors in town, and heard hardly anyone talking about the holiday. There wasn´t even a tantalizing display of Christmas candy at the tienda! Due to this lack of external cues that we should be celebrating, we decided to get things started ourselves. We made a bunch of cookies, wrapped them in pretty paper and ribbon, and went to the homes of all the people we´ve met so far to deliver them. This process started the morning before Christmas Eve, and is still not completed. This is because every cookie delivery is accompanied by a 2-hour chat, which, if not adequate to boost our Christmas spirit, at least started to put us in a celebratory mood.
The first official festivity was a Christmas Eve mass at the Catholic church. The mass actually lasts from 9 to midnight, then most of the folks go home to a big family dinner after the service. We showed up at 9 (silly gringos), and the service started at about 9:30 with the singing of Christmas carols. Our favorite was Gloria en Excelsis Deo, which apparently has about 20 verses. It was our favorite because the chorus is the same everywhere, and we sang along all 20 times it came up as loudly as we could. I also noticed that most of the people didn´t know all the words to the songs and would kind of mumble the words they missed, so I started doing the same thing and was surprised to find myself not embarrased at all! We skipped out of the service early to attend a dinner in the house of a family that has been extra nice to us. That late at night, we were having trouble communicating in Spanish, so mostly what we enjoyed was the food and being around people who cared about us.
We woke up Christmas morning to booming and banging in the streets. Apparently all the kids spend their Christmas money on firecrackers, and the best place to shoot them off is in the ravine right by our house. We ate papaya for breakfast (a little too tropical to feel normal, but delicious nonetheless), then I opened my present from Andy. He got me a basketball so we can get some games going on the high school court. The only ball he could find with air in it has a giant picture of a nameless, angry-looking player dribbling on it. Kind of weird to put a basketball player on a basketball, but whatever. We had a big lunch, then hung out doing a puzzle with some of the neighborhood kids who kept wandering in our front door. More than twice I had to play the mean-lady and tell them to get out of my house with their lighters and bottle rockets, but it was fun anyway.
Christmas evening, one guy in town threw a huge party for about half the people in town (we haven´t figured out who gets invited and who doesn´t, but we were invited, so we went!). There was lots of loud music, food, dancing, and (too much) drinking. The host and a few friends kept coming around trying to pour us glasses, but we would just sip a little and offer the rest to the person next to us. I bet Andy said the word "poquito" ("just a little bit") about 30 times. He managed to drag me out onto the dance floor exactly one time, and I guess I can admit it was fun. We´re not sure what to do about drinking and dancing yet, so we didn´t want to overdo anything. It seems that about most of the people we meet think it´s great, and even culturally required, that we participate, but there are others that are against things of that sort, so we´re trying to balance that somehow.
All in all, it was a very festive day. However, I realized how tied to external factors (presence of family, favorite foods, certain decorations) that my feelings about Christmas are. I´m not sure what we´re learning from this experience yet, but it certainly has something to do with the realization that God --and the reasons that we celebrate things he´s done--should not be tied in our minds to places, people, customs, or culture (and certainly not to tiny Snickers bars with Christmas trees on them, which always put me in the Christmas spirit). We haven´t figured all these feelings out yet, but I guess you could say we´re thankful for the chance to do something different. Even so, I miss you all!! And I miss snow, and our family and friends, and everything!! Until next time - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Hey Friends,


Well, it finally happened. The internet joint in Moro Moro closed it´s doors. It seems the advent of cell phones has dropped the traffic to the internet-based phone service, and there´s not enough traffic to keep the doors open for just the computer users. It´s now a 90 minute drive by moto (much more by truck or bus) to find internet. All this as I´m trying to finish up thesis work - I´ve got a Jan 11 deadline. I have submitted my final revision, we´ll see what they say...


But there´s good news! We´ve figured out how to call our cell ophone with Skype, so if you´d like to call us, it´s super simple, and only $.17 per minute. Donñt try calling from your phone at home without some sort of calling card - my brother and I had a nice conversation at over $2 per minute!

So, if you want to call and deliver a Christmas (or post-Chrismas, really, anytime) greeting, we´d love to hear from you!

If calling from skype (http://www.skype.com/) - make sure you ahve some $ on your account.
Click "call phones"
Use the drop-down box to find Bolivia (+591)
Enter our phone number - 73692060
Click "call"
Enjoy how much the world has shrunk with technology.

After a month of being on assignment, we actually accomplished some real work. We´ve certainly done lots of relationship building, learning, and talking, but boy does it feel good to have mixed and poured some cement and seen a physical object as our completed work. A big thanks to Brian and Krista, the previous workers for getting the ball rolling on this project. With the help of the owner and an albanil (is it the same word in English?? Bricklayer maybe) we poured a toma (water intake structure) and built a brick structure to hold sand as a filter. The location is at the Don Ephrain´s orchard, so his family and workers can enjoy water that doesn´t contain pesticide run-off, and doesn´t have dead rats floating and frogs swimming in the tank. They currently drink out of an irrigation pond - not good. Here´s pictures of constructing the toma.



As always, thank you all for your prayers, words of encouragement, and support. We´re definitely feeling the distance from family, friends, and all things familiar as we get into the Christmas spirit here. Until now, there has been a bigger focus on the high school graduation than Christmas. The graduation fiesta was last night, so now we can really get into the Spirit. I´m searching for Christmas videos here - tough to find.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Andy

More video - coming home to Moro Moro

Ok, so we had some fun that day playing with the digital camera. At least we spared you having to watch the videos of Cassie yelling at me as she tried to turn a corner while I was looking through the viewfinder instead of paying attention to put my weight where she wanted it.

We have enjoyed 4 wonderful days in Santa Cruz, including the MCC Christmas party and having luch with our host family from a month ago when we were here getting language classes. We might be out of contact for a while. We keep hearing that the internet cafe is shutting down, but so far we´re 2 weeks past their original day for closing an they´re still open. We´ll keep updating when we have the chance. Merry Christmas to all!!

Andy

Hello again!

Here is a tour of our house in Moro Moro. Isn't technology incredible! Come hang out with us for a little while at our place!

Hi friends and family!
All is well here in Bolivia. We are staying wet and muddy, as it's the start of the rainy season, but are otherwise healthy and starting to feel a bit more settled. Andy filmed a video of our morning commute the other day. It should give you a good idea of what our little world here looks like. Enjoy! And happy holidays to all!

Photos from Thanksgiving

Marcinio - our Thanksgiving host.

We played too late chatting with family on Thanksgiving, and didn´t get the photos posted. Yes - Skype works here in our village - for now... We have learned the internet cafe is shutting down. We´re hoping to find a way to stay connected, but updates may be a bit less often for a while or from here on out.

A delicious and simple meal, enjoyed with a smile.

Cassie enjoying the relaxing day and ahard-boiled egg. It´s always a treat to meet the chicken who lent it´s offspring for your dinner.

Cassie rounding the las corner to the house after riding 20 minutes in a downpour wearing jeans and t-shirt.

Thanks for watching!

Andy

Thanksgiving in Bolivia

It's the day after Thanksgiving. Normally we would be enjoying family, shopping, football, turkey sandwiches, and leftover pie. Most likely we would be feeling warm, cozy, loved, grateful, and of course full. Yesterday morning we woke up in Bolivia and realized that we would have none of those things this year. In fact, the fourth Thursday of November is just another Thursday in Bolivia, and for us, a day of work awaited us. An 83-year-old man named Marciano had stopped us on our ride home the day before and asked for help finishing his latrine that had been built by our organization, but wasn't quite ready for use. We had the next day (Thursday - Thanksgiving) free, so we said we could come then. As we've already come to expect, he told us he would make us lunch.

On Thursday morning, we left the house on two motorcycles (we were carrying a load of bricks for the latrine, and one moto couldn't handle all the weight). Partway through our ride, one of the motos refused to climb a hill, and we had to leave it and go together with only half our load of bricks. Like he said he would, the old man was waiting on us, and had already started preparing lunch in his one-room, dirt-floor house. By lunch time, we had worked up an appetite laying bricks and shoveling dirt. Marciano invited us in, laid a rug on one of the brick benches lining his room, and brought us our Thanksgiving lunch: one bowl of boiled, unpeeled potatoes, a bowl with boiled corn and four hard-boiled eggs, a pitcher of sugar water, and a bag of salt. Having no table, he laid all this on the floor, and we ate with our hands while he busied himself around the room, occasionally asking us questions about our home towns, and often saying "Eat! Drink! If you're still hungry, we'll make more!" Other than the conversation, the room was completely silent, and partway through the meal, when we had potato peels and egg shells under our fingernails, we both looked at each other and couldn't help but comment on just how peaceful, simple, and satisfying the meal and our surroundings were. Due to Marciano's persistent pleas that we eat and drink as much as we wanted, we both got full.

After lunch, Andy went back to work on the latrine, and I went with our one good moto to fetch more bricks from the broken one. It was a warm, sunny day, so I was wearing pants and a short-sleeve shirt. However, by the end of the 15 minutes it took me to get back to the other moto, it was cloudy and getting cooler. I hurried to load the bike, and ended up spending a good 15 minutes loading bricks, dropping the moto while trying to turn it around, unloading the bricks so I could pick the bike up again, and then reloading the bricks a final time. Just as I got on my way, I felt raindrops, and a few minutes later, it was pouring. Within minutes, my clothes were soaked, I started shivering, and my arms turned red from the raindrops stinging my bare skin. As time went by, the dirt road got more and more slippery, and by the end I was riding in first gear with my feet down, fish-tailing into town. I arrived back at Marciano's house to find both he and Andy peering out his front door, obviously anxious for me to make it there. Andy ran to help me inside, and when I came in dripping and shivering, Marciano came out of the corner with his coat and two old, torn-up blankets. Since I had basically no other option but to sit in my wet shoes and clothes, the guys piled the blankets on, and the three of us sat in the dark room listening to the rain. After a few minutes, Marciano stood up and said, "I'll make some food," as though this was the obvious thing to do when you're stuck inside anyway. I thought about my full stomach and started to protest, but he was already pulling out potatoes and peeling. Thirty minutess later, it was still raining, we were still cold, and my feet were freezing inside our backpack (Andy's idea to keep me from having to put them on the muddy floor while I tried to let my shoes and socks dry). Marciano poured us each a huge bowl of steaming soup made from ground corn and diced potatoes. The soup had sort of a brownish, gelatinous, and not very appetizing look to it. To our surprise, however, it tasted just like popcorn, and I felt warmer right away.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The rain stopped, we finished our work on the latrine, said our goodbyes, and headed home on muddy but passable streets. As we laid in bed that night, we couldn't help but think about the simple things that made what could have been a miserable day into a day that was pleasant, memorable, and full of reasons to give thanks: new friends, work worth doing, basic food, old blankets, a leaky mud roof, and sunshine. Thanks to all of you for thinking of us and praying for us always, and especially during the holidays.

Santa Cruz in pictures

Hello friends and family. It's been a while since we got serious about posting anything of real interest to you folks (that is, pictures). So, we devoted this weekend to a photo tour of Santa Cruz, the city that has been our home for the last month. We'll be leaving here soon to head back to Moro Moro, our little pueblo in the mountains. We've adjusted pretty well to city life, but are looking forward to more tranquil living. It's been very hot during our time here (summer is approaching, and Santa Cruz is in the lowlands), so we're also looking forward to chilling out a bit. Okay, here's a little taste of Santa Cruz:

Cassie hanging out on the yard of MCC's compound. When MCC arrived in Santa Cruz in the sixties, they built the buildings on this property, which is located just outside the first "ring" (Santa Cruz is organized in concentric rings - with the first ring being the smallest and nearest to the center. Each ring is maybe 1-2 kilometers outside the one before). At the time the compound was built, the road in front of it was unpaved, and the property was very close to the edge of town. Now, fifty years later, the radius of the city is 8 rings in some locations, and pavement is more or less constant from the center to just outside the fourth ring. Obviously, this geographic growth was accompanied by a major population boom that was (so we've heard) driven by migration from the then more densely-populated highlands of Bolivia to the lowlands, and particularly to the city of Santa Cruz. When MCC came fifty years ago, the city had a population of something like 50,000. We've heard current population estimates of over 1.5 million.

Andy and Cat, also hanging out on the MCC grounds. This is taken just in front of the Unit House, where most of our time is spent when we're on the grounds.

Cassie, suffering terribly.

The soccer field on MCC's grounds. In the background is the office of Centro Menno, the branch of MCC Bolivia that works with Low German speaking Colony Mennonites.

Andy and a really bulbous tree that I can never remember the name of.

Intersection near the indoor/outdoor market closest to MCC headquarters. In the background is a Micro, one of the buses you can hop for around 20 cents to get you around town. Some of them are shorter than this one, so us tall folks (people over like 5'6") have to crouch down for our entire ride if we don't manage to get a seat. This street, as packed as it is with people browsing the many vendors, is one of the main routes through downtown for Micros, whose drivers are quite skilled at squeezing through micro-sized openings.

Jewelry shops. Businesses here cluster together with others of their kind. So, it's normal to find 8 jewelry shops in a row followed by 8 paper shops in a row, followed by 8 fruit stands all selling the same types of fruit. This system has a lot of advantages, especially for us as newcomers. If we think one vendor's price includes a gringo tax, we know (and she knows) that we can just walk three feet and get another price quote!

Used clothing for sale. We have been amazed at the number of entrepreneurs in Santa Cruz. There seems to be widespread knowledge of how to start a business without investing much capital.

A store composed solely of things "as seen on TV." From what we can tell, the mail system wouldn't really accommodate a lot of on-line, mail-order, or TV purchases. So, some brilliant person opened a store to provide the masses with special space-saving clothes hangers and the like.

If you want to sell your house, by far the most common way to advertise your intentions is with spray paint.

A cell phone tower that someone decorated to look like a tree. We've been walking by this corner for a month and only just noticed it!

Cool statue: Andy was especially fond of this statue, as it was built out of plow parts and the like.

Newly-renovated public park. Here you can ride paddle boats, rent a three-person bicycle, and enjoy the very wild-westish murals seen in the background here.

Fence and gate typical of houses in Santa Cruz. Notice the giant spikes on the section of fence on the right, and the broken glass keeping intruders off of the section of fence on the left. EEK!

Giant house!!

Andy and Other Cat, hard at work. Which of them do you think understands more Spanish?

And...not quite so hard at work. Notice the "look, I WAS studying" pile of books next to the hammock.

Coming up next....photos from our armadillo dinner. Don't miss it!

Laugh with us

Hey friends,

We are nearing the end of our time of language study, and are feeling more confident every day. Andy has received a lot of compliments from his teacher and other spanish speakers. He knew hardly any when we arrived, and he's carrying on entire conversations now. As you can imagine, he generally jumps into a conversation without worrying much about speaking perfectly, where I'm a little too cautious at times. People really appreciate when you just put yourself out there, and he's way better at that than me. He's especially made people happy with some of the blunders he's made so far. I'm sure there will be many more to come. Here are just a few highlights:

What he meant: Mis orejas están rojas. My ears are red.

What he said: Mis ovejas están rojas. My sheep are red.

What he meant: ¿Cómo fue tu viaje? How was your journey? (to our boss)

What he said: ¿Cómo fue tu vieja? How was your (old) lady?

And my favorite.....

What he meant: El gato está sentiendo a mis piernas. The cat is sitting on my legs (lap). (to our 65-year-old host mother)

What he said: El gato está sentiendo a mis piedras. The cat is sitting on my stones.

Life in Santa Cruz

Hello all!

Cassie and I are almost halfway through our language classes, and it shows. We’re continually hitting walls and struggling to find words, but every night, we have more complex and fulfilling conversations with our host family. We’re staying with a widow named Consuelo. We’re getting to see middle-class life in Bolivia - very different form Moro Moro. This family has a car and a computer, and even a washing machine. They have traveled to other countries and watch cable television. In the countryside surrounding Moro Moro, we’re often asked what it’s like to fly in an airplane, and how much did my prescription eyeglasses cost. The people are curious and know so much more than I have ever known about plant life and our immediate surroundings, but experiences of technology and life as usual in the developed world is fascinating to them.

We have settled into a routine of language classes 4 days/week in the mornings, and work on thesis, homework, or other projects in the afternoons. I am within a week of finishing edits on my thesis to turn back in. Cassie received word that her publication needs some revision, so she’s hitting the statistical software with gusto to complete that. We’re in and out of the phase of needing a LOT of sleep. At first it was 10 hours EVERY night. At times it’s in bed at 9 and groggy at 8 trying to get out of the house for class, other times I pop up at 6:30 with my head clear.

On the days we don’t have class, we’ve been doing various activities to orient us to Bolivian life. Whether a tour of the city by micro (the bus system here) or talking politics with an American expatriate who’s been living here for 40 years, we’re feeling like we’re getting to know this culture more every day.

A few experiences really throw us for a loop – such as the micros (bus system) here. Not bad, just different we remind ourselves… There are 114 micro routes in/though this city of 1.5 million, and there are 11 different ones that will take us from our house to the MCC office – about a 15 minute ride. The micros have ~20 seats, and are all privately owned, at times by a company, at times by the driver. There are no marked stops, so you just flag down a bus, and ask “PARE (stop) POR FAVOR” if you want off. At times you’re stuck in traffic, and you just have to ask “PUERTA (door) POR FAVOR” and he’ll let you off to fend for yourself in the traffic. I find the incentives built into the system quite interesting. The owner gets to keep the money brought in above and beyond costs – so his goal is to get as many people onto and off of the bus as possible. That means they drive as fast as they possibly can, but if someone flags them down, HOLD ON! And if there’s a few cubic feet of room left in the bus, he’s glad to stop and let you attempt to squish into the bus. Then if someone from the back wants out – that’s another process. It ends up being a fairly efficient system once you’re on a bus, because you get across town in a hurry, but it’s at times uncomfortable. Some of the busses were not meant for tall gringos (not a derogatory term in Bolivia). At 5’8”, I have to shorten myself a good 8” on some micros. If I have to stand for the 15 minutes – ouch.

We haven’t taken any pictures since we arrived in the city – we’ve seen fascinating things, but have been travelling as light as possible. We’re getting more comfortable now and will probably get some pictures of life here uploaded soon.

If you're wondering about homesickness, we're doing alright. A friend just shared her load of downloaded Office episodes, and though we couldn't watch it Thursday night, like so many of you at home, we'll get a few watched this weekend. We're lucky to have lived a fairly transient life since we've been married - staying in the same zipcode 18 months one time. I think it prepared us well to make yet another break from the familiar. As we said a few times before we left - we look back on the road that got us hear and realize how good God is too have prepared us for each next step. We never saw the next journey coming until it was time, and we had been prepared for it. Thanks everyone for your support and chats. Skype is working well - add us to your list and we can videophone online - our username is andyncassie.

Now, if you'd like to eat along with our journey, give Masaco a try:

Masaco

Need:

½lb beef cut – sliced thin, not ground

2lb bananas or plantains

Salt

Oil

Fry the meat – really, over-fry it just a little so it’s just a little dry.

Fry the bananas/plantains. Get them really well fried too – just a little dry is fine.

In Bolivia, every kitchen I’ve entered has a “tacu” a hollowed out stump for use as a mortar-pestle devise – mostly for making masaco. You’ll have to improvise. What you need to do is crush the fried meat so that it breaks apart into little slivers.

Remove the meat from the crushing devise, and do the same for the bananas. Add a bit of salt as you crush, and add the meat back to the bananas as you get them smooth. Keep mixing until it’s of even consistency. Now add some of the oil from frying the meat into the mixture – mix until blended.

A few more ideas and a pretty bad picture here: http://www.boliviabella.com/masaco-de-platano.html

Enjoy!

10 things that are different

We came up with a list of just a few of the things that are different here than in the U.S. These are just the things that are easily explained in a few short phrases, so just imagine that this is the tip of the iceberg. Here goes:

1. For folks with flushing toilets, toilet paper goes in the trash can, not in the toilet (so that pipes can be smaller).

2. Where there are buses, there are no defined bus stops, and no pull cord in the bus. You just have to say (loud enough to be heard, but not so loud as to be perceived as shouting at the driver), "Pare, por favor!".

3. Meat is sold outside in the open, not from your grocer's freezer.

4. Hair color is not something people talk about (over 99% of the people here have black hair, after all).

5. In the campo, animals are fenced out, not in. We've heard of men being gone from home for two days in search of a cow.

6. There are fruit trees everywhere. Mmmm.

7. Often, the bigger the store, the more expensive things are. The equivalent to Wal-Mart in Santa Cruz is where you'll pay the most for just about everything.

8. Goods are transported to small stores in plastic grocery sacks, not in nicely packed boxes. We helped a woman unload at her tienda a few weeks ago, and she had 200 pilfruit (little single-serve bags of yogurt mixed with juice) tied up in plastic sacks.

9. Instead of dispersing themselves like in the states, stores of one variety are all concentrated in one area of the city. (For example, there's a street full of pharmacies followed by a street full of photographers).

10. In the campo, if you visit someone's house, instead of offering you a snack (or nothing at all) like at home, you will likely be offered a large meal.

More to come!

First month in Bolivia

Here are a few photos taken along our journey in our first month in Bolivia. If you notice that my cheeks get a little rounder as we go along, that's because Bolivians are very hospitable and generous with their portions.

Day 2 in Bolivia (MCC Headquarters, Santa Cruz): making lemonade. In the city, fresh fruit of all varieties is abundant and delicious. In Moro Moro, there are few fruits during much of the year, but Sunday's market will shine a little light on our kitchen each week.

Day 3: Traveling to Moro Moro. We're getting ready to cross this river for the second time. This was the unofficial detour around what could have been an hours-long construction delay.

Here are just a few of many livestock we saw on the road to Moro Moro (and just about every other road we've traveled so far).

Day 4 in Bolivia, Day 1ish in Moro Moro: Hike to a nearby high point. Here we're overlooking our little pueblo, Moro Moro.

Tomato and cheese sandwich with a view:

Is he carrying a sack of potatoes? Oh, nope, just a sleeping 2-year-old.

Day 7 in Bolivia: first real day of work (actually, watching Brian work): pouring concrete for dry latrine parts.

Day 9: settling into our host-family room in Moro Moro. Those are two kid-sized beds filling up most of the room. We slept quite comfily though, I must say.

Day 11: Visit to Pampa Negra, a community about 40 km from our pueblo. Pampa Negra is home to another family in the MCC Moro Moro team, where there's a large project underway to help collect drinking water from roofs of homes. Pampa Negra was hot, dry, dusty, and windy, but the people there produce some spectacular crops of various fruits, vegetables, and herbs by channeling water from the river.

Visiting the river in Pampa Negra was a great relief from the heat. It is also a likely place to find one's pig if it goes missing.

Fishing in Pampa Negra. The guys are each holding down a portion of a long net with their toes. Can you find the gringo?

The spoils of the guys' fishing efforts. Tasty!

Day 12: Wrapping up Pampa Negra visit. These trucks (camiones) are common people-movers around Moro Moro. This one is hauling a group of weekend visitors from Pampa Negra back home to the Moro Moro pueblo.

Going for a walk in the black hills around Pampa Negra. Walking on this volcanic-rock stuff must be similar to walking on the moon.

Day 14: Dry latrine workshop in La Tranca, rural community just outside of Moro Moro. These women cooked lunch and dinner for all the folks at the workshop. When they were taking a break from their full day of cooking, some of them also carried loads of adobe bricks to help build the base of the latrine.

Day 15: Birthday fiesta in La Senda, rural community about a 45-minute moto ride from Moro Moro pueblo. The woman in the middle was celebrating her 87th (or 96th, not sure which) birthday, and we happened to be in the area to enjoy a chicken and potato soup with them. The two guys are her sons.

Day 18: Visiting ValleGrande, larger town about 2-hours by camion or car from Moro Moro pueblo. Brian and Krista showed us around as they bought supplies for our next water project.

Something like Day 21: Commencing spring capping in Duraznito, rural community about a one-hour moto ride from Moro Moro pueblo. It was cooooold this day, and Sylvia, whose house we were visiting, is a wonderful cook. We arrived at about 9 am, and about 15 minutes later she served us our second breakfast: fried eggs, tomatoes, boiled potatoes, and noodles cooked in some kind of oil that makes them taaaasty. This particular day we visited several families, and each fed us this much food.

Andrés, very proud to be hauling a large board on the back of the moto, made me take this picture before I climbed on. We made it all the way home without knocking over any burritos (baby donkeys).

Day 23: El Alto Veladero, rural community just a 15-minute moto ride from Moro Moro pueblo. These folks recently requested we visit them about a new water system project. The day we arrived, they were drying pork on their clothesline. Andy was so fascinated by this that he asked (in halting Spanish), "Can I take a picture of you and your meat? It's beautiful!" They not only allowed the picture, but also sent us home with sausage, some dried meat, and some skin (not really my thing, but supposedly it's good fried).

Thanks for looking! We just arrived in Santa Cruz today, and will live in the city for over 4 weeks studying Spanish. Our next month's photos will be something totally different!

Life in Moro Moro, Bolivia

Moro Moro is both a town (pueblo) and a district. We live in the pueblo, which has a population of about 500 people (although we've heard drastically different numbers than that). In town there is a high school and an elementary school and a health clinic with a pharmacy, nurse station, doctor, and dentist. There are two churches: one Catholic church, which resembles small Catholic churches you might find in New Mexico, and a protestant church. Services in the protestant church are held in a room that fits about 10 8-foot benches and a little stage and pulpit. Like many buildings here, the church has a dirt floor and adobe walls. Roofs are variable - we have seen many people replacing their mud roofs with red clay tiles, while other folks have tin metal roofs. There are also multiple tiendas (small stores) in Moro Moro. In fact, there are two just on our block, two on the block where our hotel room is, and one down the block in the other direction. The tiendas are basically living rooms of people's homes that have been stocked with basic food items, bathroom and kitchen supplies, and a few toys and tools. We are told that the same supplier stocks all the tiendas, so you can walk up to any tienda and find basically the same items and brands. What's even more interesting is that you do not walk into these tiendas, but instead stand at the door and ask for the items you want. This is particularly a challenge for those of us with limited Spanish vocabulary, but so far we've been able to manage. For the next few weeks, the couple we're replacing is still living in the house we'll move into, so we're living in a hotel room. The owner of the hotel and her daughter serve us lunch and dinner every day. Moro Moro Bolivians eat more than we're used to eating: lunch is usually a large bowl of soup and another large plate piled with food. Yesterday the second plate had a mound of rice, a mound of lentils, and a small pile of tomatoes and onions, all topped with a plate-sized piece of breaded chicken. For most folks, dinner is very small--perhaps just bread and fruit--but until a few days ago our hosts fed us as much at dinner as at lunch. We finally realized that we couldn't keep eating so much, so I asked our hostess if we could just share a plate. I was worried that would be rude, but she just laughed and said that would be fine. She and her three children have been very patient with our Spanish. They speak no English, but each night we've managed to sit and talk with them for two hours or more. I'm afraid we're getting spoiled, because they all speak very clear Spanish, while many of the folks we'll work with speak less clearly and with many more Quechua (an indigenous language) words mixed in.

The district of Moro Moro has, I think, around 3000 people, many of whom live in "communities" of different names. These communities might only have 3 or 4 homes, and the homes might be fairly isolated from each other, but the area is given a name and called a community, I'm assuming so that people know how to describe where they live. Life in the campo, or the area outside the pueblo, is fascinating to us. Last Tuesday we drove to a home in the campo to start work on a latrine and finish up some work on a spring-fed water system. The house was 45 minutes from the pueblo on dirt roads that would be called 4X4 trails in the U.S. We got there in a small Toyota station wagon. Driving through the campo, we were surrounded by mountains on all sides, but instead of being places where only wild animals and trees live, the mountains here make up the homes, pastures, and farm fields of many people. It is a strange sight to look up the face of a steep, rugged mountain and see potato fields on the slightly less steep parts and fence rows running straight up even the nearly-vertical mountain faces. We often encounter cows, horses, and donkeys on the roads that we've traveled. Last Saturday we hiked to the top of a ridge that had spectacular views of the surrounding valleys. However, even the ridge top had a small wheat field and half a dozen cattle. I can't get over how weird it is to encounter farms on the tops of what to me are huge mountains.

People in Moro Moro are quite reserved. Most speak softly and don't go out of their way to introduce themselves or start up a conversation. However, no one ever passes you on the street without saying hello, good morning, or how are you. Andy and I and the couple who were here before us (who are leaving soon) are the only foreigners in Moro Moro, and so we attract a lot of stares. This has been pretty unnerving to me, but after just a few days the folks on the couple streets we walk down the most have already become much more friendly, and they smile and say good afternoon instead of staring. Kids stare the most, but as soon as one of us says hello or good afternoon, they immediately smile and say something back to us.

So far we've filled our days with work on latrines and water systems, spanish studies, conversations in spanish, and meeting the folks in town that we'll need to know to carry out our work. We usually finish dinner and chatting with our host family at about 8:30 at night, then we have a little time to read and talk to each other before we crash at 9:30 or so. Sleep comes easily when you have to concentrate intensely just to talk to people.

Andy got a good introduction to the motorcycles this weekend. One broke, and our boss drove another up from the city, just to have it also refuse to start the next day. There's a "mechanic" in town, but he appears to know maybe slightly less than Andy does about engines. Andy and Brian, our friend here, spent an entire day Sunday working on the moto, and finally got it working perfectly in time for a busy work schedule this week. They're awesome! We had our first ride together today. There are lots of hills so steep that we both have to lean forward to get up them (or, we could "use our feet" as Brian put it today). Tomorrow we'll help with a workshop on building and maintaining latrines, and the rest of the week will be full of water systems work. We're getting a great introduction to our work, and our Spanish is coming along nicely. We still feel pretty out of sorts physically and emotionally, but everyday it gets better. We miss lots of people and things already, and are already looking forward to family visits! Thanks for all who are thinking of us and praying for us. It's difficult to contact you all directly, but just know you're appreciated. Peace!

Here, safe, and only a little bit confused

We're here! For now, we're in Santa Cruz, the big city where MCC has its Bolivian headquarters. We arrived yesterday morning after an exhausting flight, but very few troubles. We made it with all our luggage, my guitar and Andy's trumpet all in one piece, and having gotten at least some sleep on the overnight flight. Andy was delayed for a while in the immigration office. He paid his entrance fee too early, and the official didn't remember getting it and had to recount all the day's money to make sure he had enough money for the number of visas issued. It took a long time, but he finally made it through without having to pay another $135!

Our first impressions of Santa Cruz were that it's a very bustling (read hectic and confusing) place. There are no lines between lanes, but somehow all these thousands of cars manage to avoid bumping each other. The rule when merging or turning is "bumper first," meaning, if you can get your bumper in front of the guy next to you, you have the right-of-way. Supposedly this will make sense to us eventually.

We will only be here in Santa Cruz until tomorrow morning, when we'll be driven by other MCC workers up to Moro Moro, which is the small town (about 500 people) where we'll eventually settle for good. However, this time we'll only be there for about a month before returning here for language training. We are going there now to get some overlap time with the folks we are replacing, who will return to the states in early October. Apparently they have lots of interesting things planned for us, including a day of fishing in a river that's so muddy that you only have to hit the fish with sticks to catch them. Sounds like fun....I guess :).

We're not sure about our internet connection for the next month, but hopefully we can post pictures of our house and the town at some point after we arrive in Moro Moro.

We may have been overdoing the communication since we got here because we were so excited to have a reasonably fast wireless connection in the house where we're staying, but that might change soon!

Twas the night before departure...

Cassie here:

Sleep? Nah. Let's update the blog instead.

Tomorrow is the big day. We depart from Tulsa at 9:50 a.m. We've said a lot of goodbyes already and have a few more to go. I've said goodbyes to all my family, and so the past 48 hours have felt like one punch in the stomach after another. It's amazing, though, what a major life event can bring to your attention. I always knew that my family was a ton of fun, full of love and support (along with a healthy dose of sarcasm, competitiveness, and constructive(ish) criticism), but our leaving has, of course, made all of those things seem so much more precious than ever before. And is it possible that, just in the last few days, all our nephews and nieces became about 2 ounces sweeter and cuter than just a few months ago, all our siblings more wonderful, and our parents wiser and kinder than ever before? Well, perhaps not, but I will say that I am grateful for the new insights into our relationships here that this move has brought.

Anyway, enough mooooshy. Here are the facts: we will (Lord willing) land in Santa Cruz, Bolivia around 8 a.m. on Wednesday. Some very competent people, who have planned our first days in Bolivia, will pick us up from the airport, and we'll spend two days in SC doing basic orientation, meeting folks, and getting used to being in a foreign country (during these few days we expect to have access to reliable internet, and should be able to post and inform you all that we're safe, sound, and not experiencing any culture shock, adjustment anxiety, or homesickness of any kind...right?). Then, we'll pack up and be driven to Moro Moro on Friday, where we'll meet Brian and Krista (the couple we're replacing), and possibly be placed with a host family. For the following few weeks, we'll be learning our trade from the folks who have been doing it for the last few years, as well as learning the basics of life in Moro Moro (where to find food, how to go to the bathroom, where's the bumpin' night life, etc. etc.). Oct. 7 is the beginning of a retreat for all MCC service workers in Bolivia. We'll attend that, then go back to Santa Cruz for intensive language study for some undefined period of time, before settling in Moro Moro for good.

Here's a photo to give you some idea of the cuteness we're leaving behind. This doesn't even include all the wee ones, and doesn't include our wonderful siblings and parents.

Thanks to all who have given us words of love and encouragement. We absolutely could not handle all this change without you.

Less than a fortnight

Andy here:

So many updates! I spent the last two weeks working literally 18-22 hour days hammering out a master’s thesis, and got it turned in last Friday. I didn’t think I was on a trajectory to finish, but a lady I respected but had never met had the courage to lecture me for 10 minutes at our garage sale about how I WAS going to get it done, and lit the fire under me to make it happen. I owe her a debt of gratitude – truly a God thing!

We had a garage sale and got rid of most of the stuff in our lives. We packed up our remaining belongings, and besides our heirloom dining room table and chairs, everything fit on a palette four feet high. Part of this journey is letting go of some of our security, and this has certainly been a test, but we’re already a couple weeks on the other side – no bed, no dishes, no car, nothing to maintain and hold on to, we’re feeling very free to look outward.

All is set for leaving for Bolivia on Sept. 8. We are enjoying our last 2 weeks in the U.S. spending time with family and friends. We’re trying not to let our desire to spend as much time as possible with everyone stress us out and ruin the time we have left, but it’s not easy.

Palabras (Cassie speaking)

Grateful...filled...blessed...ready...anxious...

These are a few of the words our group used to describe our feelings today, the last day of our orientation with MCC. We've been here two weeks, and I can't describe the blessings we've received from the people here. Many are in similar positions in life as us, and others have had more experience with overseas work, mission work, and/or life in general, which means we've had a lot to share with each other and a lot to learn from each other.

I've been on the verge of tears most of the day because I am constantly in awe of the love I feel radiating from all the people around me. It makes me think that just by sending these people out into the world, MCC is creating a better world. However, a dinner conversation brought me back to reality, and to the fact that, for most of us here, this may be the last time for a while that we're in a place that feels so safe, and we may be moving on to places where war, poverty, and oppression have stripped people of the luxury of loving openly and vulnerably. I am grateful for stories that describe people who, even in the midst of such circumstances, show great love to others, and I can only pray that I would have the strength to look outward in the midst of war, poverty, and oppression, rather than holing up to ensure my own survival.

On a more informative note, we're leaving Akron, PA tomorrow (Saturday) to go back to Iowa. Andy has a lot of work to do on his thesis. He's hoping to have a solid draft done by the time he leaves Iowa in late August. There's been so much fun to be had here that he hasn't gotten to do much here, but he's got a good 5 or 6 weeks to plug away at home. I've got to wrap up some last minute details on my thesis and turn it in next week. I'll be working on things for my professors until August 15th or so, then heading to Oklahoma for some family time. THEN, September 8, we go! Our plane tickets were purchased today. That means, my friends, that this is official.

Welcome

Hello friends.

As many of you know, we'll soon set out for a three-year term of service with the Mennonite Central Committee in Moro Moro, Bolivia. The more we talk and think about what's to come, the more excited we become, and the more we look forward to experiencing whatever is about to come our way. That said, we're also growing more and more aware of the deep connections we have to family and friends in Iowa, Oklahoma, and other places where life has carried us/you, and we hope those connections do not get broken as we build the next phase of our lives in another hemisphere. Hopefully the stories we will share on this page will help us keep those connections strong. Thanks to our friends and family for the many ways they've encouraged us in the process so far. Much more to come...

Peace.