the krols came to town

when i sat down to write this blog, i had to look at my pictures from the past week to believe that my family had been here. we went to the airport last night at 10pm and that already seems like years ago. but they did come and we had a great time. it was so wonderful to laugh over things that only we think are funny, to tease my dad, punch (in a very non-violent way of course mcc) my brother, hug my mom and sing with my sisters. doesn't matter where we are, we have a good time :)

friday...
their plane arrived on time (pretty unusual) at 11:50pm and i went with some friends and family members to pick them up. i ended up pushing my way to the front of the crowd and stood right by the door to the terminal becasuse the glass was only one way and you can only see in when the door is open. since i was one of the tallest people in the airport i was kind of blocking the view of everyone else. whatever my fam was on the other side of that door! they had a little trouble purchasing thier visas because of some less then perfect US$, but they made it out! we loaded up into 2 vehicles and had the adventure of trying to find New Tribes Mission, where we were going to stay. we ended up driving around a plaza about 5 times, but arrived after 1am. we stayed up for an hour or so talking and exchanging gifts. big chocolate payload for me :)

saturday...
super hot and humid day. welcome to santa cruz! we sat in the shade all morning because it was too hot to move. then went out for lunch with a missionary who was also staying at NTM. He kept telling stories of political blockades, money scams, etc. niceguy, but he didn’t understand that my frantic hand gestures and glaresmeant to change his subject matter. The afternoon was more of sittingin the shade. I introduced drinking terere. I think everyone but Dana likes it :) At 5, when the sun wasn’t so brutal, we took a first ring micro to MCC. It was fun seeing my fam on the micro, especially whenit got crowded. Gave a quick tour of MCC and then we walked to plaza24 de Septiembre. We went to a rooftop restaurant next to thecathedral to enjoy the cool breeze and watch what was going on down atthe plaza. Around 8 there was a pre-carneval parade with hundreds of dancers. I didn’t know that was planned so it was a good surprise toshow my fam. Then we flagged down a taxi and squished all 6 of us in.Did this a few more times during the vacation, so we got pretty good at it.

Sunday…Started the day off early with dad by walking through torrential rain to buy futbol tickets. Bought them off a scalper, felt kind of proud i managed it in spanish. We went to my church for the morning service. Papi gave them a welcome speech and during our “welcome song” everyone came over and shook their hands. After church I gave them a tour of my host family’s house and then my whole extended Bolivian family came over for churasqua(cook out!). it was a real typical Bolivian meal of grilled meat,sausage, cheesy rice, tomato salad and ahi (hot sauce). My family really liked it, especially the ahi. The weather had cleared so we ate outside. It was really cool for my 2 “families” to meet and for my fam to see what my daily home life is like. We did some artisan shopping in the afternoon. The girls and mom found some good turquoise jewelry and other little souvenirs. Then it was off to meet Anita (my hostsister) for the big soccer game. It was a crazy game. The tournament was sponsored by an airline that was offering free in-country flightsfor a year to the winner, so I think that added extra craziness to thealready crazy fans and competition level. There was plenty of drama,yellow cards, and fireworks shot from the stands. Awesome.

Monday…We left New Tribes Mission, left our stuff at MCC, and headed out to Samaipata, a small town in the foothills of the Andes about 3 hours outside of Santa Cruz. Our taxi driver was very chatty and would point out different mountain formations and stopped for pics. The farther we drove the farther behind we left the hot, sticky weather of SCZ and felt the cool climate of the hills. Hallelujah. We stayed at LaVispera (means ¨the eve¨ in spanish and also ¨the awesomest¨ in whatever) a hotell/café/garden/ owned and run by a Dutch couple in their 60s. They had moved there 20 years ago because they “found paradise” and I have to agree. Their gardens, buildings, and scenery were beautiful. The perfect place to just relax. We ate a late lunch and then explored Samaipata. There are a lot of vacation homes in the hills and plenty of European tourists, so we didn’t really stick out.We found the park that overlooks the town and has an airplane, the plaza, and a market where we bought fresh fruit. Then we walked a trail behind La Vispera that ends at a stone throne perfect for takingin the scenery. It’s just amazing the diversity of Bolivian geography.We loved Samaipata!

Tuesday…We went on a guided 4 hour walking tour of Parque Amboro. Our guidespicked us up and drove us up and around some hills (ok to people from Michigan they look like mountains) to get to the park. There had been a heavy rain 2 days before so the roads were not in the best conditions. And it was my 17 year old driver´s first time ever driving those roads. Like we kept telling my family, here in Bolivia anything goes. The hike was amazing. We saw waterfalls, swung on vines, saw trees 1,000 years old and I actually understood about 90% of what our guide was saying! huzzah! Then about 2 hours into the hike it started pouring. That felt good at first because we were so hot, but it turned cold real fast. made walking really slippery and we all took some falls, but grace always managed to stick the landing with some fancy twist. we made it to the peak of the mountain hill and it looked like we were in the clouds - couldn´t tell where the fog ended and where the sky began. got back to la vispera cold, wet, muddy, but had had an amazing time. had some hot showers, cafecito, wine, fanta and cards. early bed time.

ok i´m getting sick of writing :P i´ll add pics and the rest of the week later!