Initiation

Yep, after being fine the whole time in Colombia, the Hulseys are sick, sick, sick to our stomaches. We thought we may be some of the lucky few that made it a couple of weeks in, but alas we are not so blessed. Sadly, this all stems from one of the best restaurants in town. We were very excited to go to Kabob's last night as it's a team favorite, but we should have known better when we looked around and saw that no one was eating their lettuce and tomatoes. With a Bolivian diet being so rich in starches (bread, potatoes, corn, meat- yep, that's about it) we were overjoyed to dig into our veggies. Sadly, whatever nutritional value those vegetables should have had, I'm pretty sure they left our systems quite awhile ago. Lesson learned.

Sore & Tired but with Full Hearts

Today we had the great opportunity to go with Steve (the construction guy) and two other couples out to two of the orphanages being built about an hour and a half outside of Cochabamba, in a predominantly indigenous village.  It’s a very poor village and one of would love to capture with a lens.  We saw quite a lot of livestock, women washing clothes in the river, and beautiful scenery.  We got to work on the two orphanage homes all day and then took a hike up a steep hill before we left.  The hike was gorgeous and surprisingly we made it up without altitude sickness (it’s at about 11,000 feet).  It was a tough day of labor (the hike didn’t help our legs either), but we came home very blessed that we could serve in this way.  

The sweet lamb grazing on the orphanage property.  

The calf hanging out by the basketball courts...because thats what calves do of course!  

See the full gallery on Posterous

The hill we climbed.  If you look closely, you can see the crosses on the very top.  

The crosses up close (at the top of the hill).

Looking out onto the valley below.  

Pic at the top (really proof that we made it there).

 

The Calm After the Storm

So after such an amazing first day, we were honestly a little home sick today.  Instead of being crazy busy, we actually had the time to think about things and get settled into our new quarters.  We have decided to live at the mission guesthouse.  It’s a great house and it’s where the teams stay who come down on mission trips.  We have a great housemate who is doing her one-year internship, but most of the other interns left after the summer.  The largest downfall of the house (besides the creepy “Widow Maker” hot water system) is that there is no internet (hense, the delayed posts).  As much as we are fine without being glued to our email, we also realized it’s an important way we stay connected with friends and family.  So yea, if you’re reading this, we miss you!

And we’re off with a bang….

After taking almost 24 hours to get here, our first full day in Bolivia was crazy awesome!  We hit up two markets, the first one where there was fresh produce, meats and the basic necessities.  The next market, La Cancha, is a huge market with everything you could possibly need.  We saw everything from Nikon lenses to baby lama fetuses (the witchcraft section…I kid you not) to beautiful textiles.  We ended up buying light bulbs and a transformer for our electronics (we do have our priorities).  After having an amazing sandwich and cokes for lunch for 5Bs (about 75 cents) we headed up to one of the orphanages in Cochabamba.  We met the house parents who were super talkative once they figured out we knew some Spanish.  We got to play and hang out with their 9 orphan kids and the 2 of their own.  The kids were ages 4 to 12 and absolutely darling!  They showed off their dolls, their love of fútbol and the littles hung all over us, begging to be tickled.  After saying our goodbyes, we headed to the Plaza Principal for baby washing…yes, you read that correctly…we just sat in a plaza and washed babies.  Ok, so it was a little more organized, but really, there were 3 tubs, warm water buckets and JM and I were one of the teams of washers.  There was a really good amount of kids that went through, mostly whose moms are street beggers.  After a team dinner of pizza (a Saturday evening tradition) we headed to Cochabamba International Church for the evening service as tomorrow all of the streets are closed to cars (it’s a two times a year holiday of only pedestrian traffic).  The service was in English and Spanish and was a wonderful time of worship and the word.  

And just for you Chris…I feel like I did the first night at summer camp.  When you know you are going to have a great time ahead of you, but it’s not always going to be easy.  It’s just a hope in your heart that the Lord is doing great things and we are so excited to be a part of it.

First Impressions of Bolivia

So after our experience flying AreoSur (see above pic of our crazy tired selves...just keeping it real), we were very concerned that we were spoiled by Colombia and their fabulous airlines Avianca.  However, thankfully things feel familiar.  Typical of Latin culture, the people are very warm and inviting and just like Colombia….no dinking the tap water (yes Dan, we know the exception is Bogotá), cars will try to run you over, don’t pet the street dogs, kisses on the cheek for greetings and goodbyes.
However, I was amazed leaving the airport, how many fellow gringos we ran into, each greeting us in English.  It seems that there are quite a few ministries in Cochabamba, so fellow Americans are easy to run into.  Other interesting things…the native people here have almost almond shaped eyes so if I did not know better, I would assume they were part Asian.  Further, there are many indigenous people (about 60% of Bolivia’s population) and the indigenous women wear pleaded skirts, long braids and a hat.  Other differences….not every taxi is a yellow Chevy Aveo, the buses actually have mapped routes, gyms do not cost 100s of dollars per month and generally, everything is cheaper.  Oh, but the power is 220 watts, not 110 and needs a converter…maybe Colombia is up by a couple of points for that one J

I'm going to miss Colombia

Today after lunch we were enjoying a Colombian delicacy, Choco Discs, and my immediate impulse was to arrange my candy in the form of the Colombian flag. I have also started talking about how WE did in the fútbol match. Maybe if my complexion were slightly darker, they would accept me as their own.

Big News & Updates

So the Hulseys have been slacking on our blog posts for a number of reasons: (1) Upon arriving to Cartagena, we were sick for about three weeks, and (2) ever since then, we've been busy playing catch up.

In new news, after lots of prayer, we have decided to head to Bolivia to work with a program there called International Orphanage Union (www.ioubolivia.org). Unfortunately, because the States and Bolivia are not exactly bffs, there is a crazy amount of paperwork we have to do before we can head down there. Further, it looks as though we have to go back to the States to do so.

We are emotionally mixed on going back as we had hoped to leave from Colombia. However, our time in Colombia has been a fabulous preparation for what is ahead and we will be able to bring back only what we need (vitamins-yes, business suit-no). And of course it will be great to see friends and family. We're not sure of our dates just yet, but it looks as though we will head back to DC August 12th and hopefully be in Bolivia in September.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare for another adventure. Pray that the paperwork would be expedited and that the details would fall into place. Also, start looking at your calendars to see when you are coming to visit us :)