How we make cups.

We were having a severe lack of cups and glasses to use. Especially glasses to drink water that were not the size of a thimble. ( they have no idea what it's like to get a glass of water in the Gibson household) 

So we took matters into our own hands... Things got a little dangerous but a few glass explosions and small kitchen fires later we finally made and or "broke", if you will, our new water cups. 

All you need is a glass bottle, cotton thread and acetone. Soak the thread in acetone tie it around the bottle where you would like to break it, light it on fire then spin the bottle as fast as you can just until the flame is about to go out. Then dunk the bottle in cold water and....

Wah-la! A kinda more normal water glass. That is, after hours of sanding it down to make it smooth and even so as to not cut yourself. 

Samaipata

We decided to take a weekend away to recuperate and see a little bit more of Bolivia. Our sweet retreat was not off to a good start as we got caught in traffic due to this small deluge in Santa Cruz. 

As we were at a stand still we saw this bus, and or "micro" as they ncall them here.  They are usually full but this time the people were literally hanging out the door because they could not fit in. We were so happy to be safe in our taxi with 3 extra seats. Sorry it's blurry...

We finally made it! The historical cobble stoned streets of Samaipata were just waiting to be walked by us.  By historical I mean a few hours further there is a town where Che Guevara died. So, kinda historical... Another great thing about this place is the weather. It is very cool and not sticky weather which is very out of character for Bolivia. 

We threw all caution to the wind when we saw this little eatery. We were craving some good salsa and guacamole.            ( which the brothers and sisters tell us never to eat uncooked vegetables out side of our house because they probably are not washed correctly...) whoops! We ate like kings, burritos and raw veggies alike. It was amazing. 

Earlier that day Kyria found her friends. She was so excited she could hardly keep herself from jumping up and down. The donkeys weren't having any of her childish excitement and made a run for it just after this photo was taken. 

From a rooftop at sunset. 

We went to a zoo which had to be the worst designated animal watching location in the world. Literally all we saw were these two... The cat was neat but it kept hissing at us. The dog was actually more of a body guard. Perhaps he is trained to make sure none of the visitors take any of the 5 animals they have at this abandoned animal yard. 

He was a cool dog though and we got some good excercise hiking up to the "zoo" so the trip was not at all in vain. 

Sadly the next day just after the meeting where we met half of the brothers and sisters from Denmark( it seems that Samaipata is the little JW Denmark of South America) , Taylor got sick. Super no bueno... So the last day was not like a retreat at all. More like Taylor not being able to stand up for 5 seconds with out passing out kind of retreat. Oh well, perhaps the next time in Samaipata we will skip the salsa..

waterless in Guarayos

Last week we had the privilege to help out on construction for 4 days in a small town 5 hours from Santa Cruz

Karen,Taylor and I took a bus(really dirty bus) and as soon as we arrived we were put to work. It was hot hot hot and we worked hard so when 5 o'clock came we were looking forward to heading to our accommodation and having a lovely cool shower.......that's when a brother came and told us that our accommodation had no water we thought "ha ha what a funny joke"............turns out he wasn't joking so we then proceeded clean ourselves with baby wipes I think we used about 40 each. We then tried to sleep on straw mattresses....not itchy in the least. Then the next day perhaps due to our sticky appearance and slight odor a lovely couple offered us to use there shower(one of the only places in the town that had running water) sweet sweet running water. We had an awesome time and hope to go again for the next project.

Karen working even when she is resting

Taylor fetching water(the only water available)for the construction team from a well. she loved doing this by the way. 

As usual Taylor doing the heavy work and I'm made to supervise

Wakako is an inspiration. she is a single sister who has been assigned to the crew for this entire project. Kyria and I are going to try and do the same for one of the upcoming projects. thanks Wakako! 

A blog is for blogging right?...

We are alive. Just busy but very much alive. 

We had our 2 day assembly here in Santa Cruz and it was a long weekend of trying to understand the Bolivian speakers. After the session we helped to put away the 1,086 chairs... Not that we had to count them exactly... Oh wait, we did! Good thing "Strong Man" Isaias was there to get things put away faster. 

After my bird attack I felt compelled to make a slight change to this altoid message. I hope it works for me. 

The outside auditorium. 

This was the bathroom cleaning team. Which meant cleaning up after the Bolivian sisters after they would throw water everywhere while washing their hands and sometimes bathing their babies in the sinks...

Brothers from our congregation and the Paílon group. 

Me, Kyria, a sister from Northern California who serves in bethel, the district overseers wife and a sister who accidentally fell asleep while taking the picture. 

Look out!!! It's a Toucan!

This is Guambe a kind of resort that we visited for a day(the frenchies decided we needed a break from Cotoca)

It was beautiful. It was green(unlike Cotoca) and had big clean beautiful swimming pools(Taylor and I thought we may have forgotten how to swim but it turns out it came right back to us)

It was a great day

This was my favorite part of the day because it's the first time I (Kyria) have seen a toucan they are incredible birds BUT what made even more special is that I think this toucan decided that it wanted Taylor's lovely long hair to make a  bird nest and decided to chase her around the place and attack her twice. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Even if nothing else good happens in Bolivia I will be satisfied.

- Ahem!! I (Taylor)would like to interject here. This being attacked by a toucan was no laughing matter. Imagine that huge beak coming at your head... Thank goodness Kyria came to my rescue and Smacked the thing with her backpack. Toucans may or may not be an endangered species...Don't worry he is still alive. After we got home that night I did some deep reflection on my past bird experiences... Here is why I should keep my distance 1) apparently Kerina says I had an experience in Belize but I can't remember. I must have blacked out...

2) Perth in Western Australia- a magpie dive bombed my head as I was coming home from work...

3) Grafton Australia- I had more unpleasant magpie experiences at the Carroll's house. 

4) Rabid toucans 

 Whoa to me if I ever am around a Condor or an Albatross! At least This peacock was very pleasant. The peacock and I made friends because I apparently know 100 of it cousins in Palos Verdes California. 

Lots of butterflies

Monkeys(Monos)

French butterfly (or papillon)

Karen the hair stylist

Once again here is Karen. She is constantly sitting me(Taylor) down to braid my hair. Kyria as well. She is amazing in what she does with braids. She also cut my hair in the photo above. Karen is convenced that I am not white because I have too much hair for a white girl according to her standards. 

Taylor's hair dryer

Meet the congregation ( some of them)

Karen in the pink( bachata extraordinaire)

Chihoko in the green( Bolivian Toyoko for you Californians who know her)

Maki in the white and Ciho in the purple

( these two Japanese sisters visited the Cotoca for two weeks. Ciho was great to have around... She make me (Taylor) feel like she was not the only giant around town. )

Left to right : Julian in the purple Ariel (the little merman) Elian(not alien) he is doing English lessons with Me(Kyria) Isaias(grey jacket)works distributing purified water around the town needless to say he is loved by all us foreigners who have to drink purified water and finally Michelle Julian's Tio(uncle visiting for 3 weeks from France) doesn't speak a word of Spanish but was happy to teach us French. (Taylor Is now saying oui instead of si)

We just had our CO visit here. Ramiro y Claudia are their names. They were very encouraging to us here in our new assignment. They seemed to have smiles on their face at all times. We had a great week. Next to Claudia is Julia (grey top) then Nina her sister and little Ailene who happens to never look at the camera. 

And last but not least!! One of the newest members of the congregation, Kyria Turnewitsch, giving her first talk. She did amazing. Her Spanish is getting better every day. 

¡Que Lastima!

Here are some pictures of our finished apartment: 

Taylor's room

Living room 

Kitchen

Dining room. 

It WAS beautiful. Great natural light and air flow. Why am I talking in past tense you may ask? Well let me tell you...

We decided to move into this place on a Friday. We went to the city and purchased a fridge and an oven and moved all of our belongings to our new apartment. We cleaned like mad for 3 days straight. Taylor got real sick on Wednesday when we decided to go shopping for more items needed in the apartment. This shopping place is no place to be trifled with. It is called Barrio Lindo. It is huge and very easy to get lost. Anything you want you have to bargain for and fight for a good price. It was probably about an hour and a half in, when Taylor was arguing with a lady about a bed set Kyria wanted that Taylor went green and felt the fever come on. We rushed through the rest of the shopping and when we got home Taylor had a high fever. Kyria forced pills into her and she slept for a long, long time. 

Just as Thursday comes along and Taylor feels better our landlord is showing the upper apartment to some people. We had weary suspicions and knew something was not right. 15 minutes later the land lord comes in and tells us we have to move out... He is breaking the contract and we have less than a week to find a place. He had a better offer...This is when Taylor's illness seems to resurface in full force thinking about how it took us 6 weeks to find a place. Lots of prayers and minor heart attacks later we found another house. The next morning we found a delightful little house right next to the Main plaza which is prime real estate. The owner trusts foreigners so he lowered his price for us and is in the middle of fixing up minor problems in the house. The downside is that it is situated right next the the massive Catholic Church which at this very moment is having some kind of Rock and roll party. 

Positives: we have a better land lord. 

Closer to our territory.

More character. 

High vaulted ceilings. 

Gardening space. 

Doors that almost close( we are trying to make a positive out of a negative)

Things we miss from the other apartment:

Airflow

Natural light

Separate bed rooms 

Hot water.

Super clean with no bugs ( so really it's not that bad. Only minor adjustments...)

The carpenter telling Taylor how bad the wood is in the our new house. You have to fight with the windows to open or close them. 

Taylor is just a few inches taller than this carpenter...

Potential nice garden 

Our first dinner in our new house. Kyria, Julia and Nina. These are the girls whose house we watched for the first month. Kyria made pesto and Taylor made French bread. 

More pictures of the new house to come soon. Sorry for the long wait. Moving twice in one week while being sick was quite the experience. We are sooo glad it's over. 

Ciao amigos!