On May 5, my friend Andrea, from Michigan, arrived in Bolivia to visit for ten days and see some of the sites in this beautiful.l country. We spend the first couple of days in Okinawa, so she could see what life was like here and visit the schools where I teach. We also celebrated Katie's 23d birthday. We set out on May 8, traveling first to Sucre and then to Torotoro, a national park famous for it's dinosaur prints. I did some of the most difficult hiking of my life here, and there were time when I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it back Our 19-year-old Bolivian guide offered to carry me on his back over the the huge boulders and steep cliffs, but I have my pride, right? Bless his heart! And I know he could have done it. He jumped, climbed and ran around those rocks as though it were the easiest thing in the world. In my defense, we ere at 14,000 feet. Our next stop was Lapaz and from there we headed to Lake Titicaca. A three hour bus ride took us to the island Copacabana. So amazing. It reminded me of pictures that I've seen of the Mediterranean.
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| From left to right: Sor Nora, Sor Gladys, Sor Eli, me, Eric, Sor Sandra, Sor Nancy, Katie |
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The following Saturday, we had a farewell party for Eric. It was so hard saying goodbye, and we will really miss him. We do have an addition to our group, though. Katie's younger brother, Tony arrived a few days ago and will stay with us for two months. It's nice having him here and I know Katie is very happy having her little brother here. I've been in Okinawa now for almost three months. I'm very content here and love country life. I am very involved in community life here and feel very much a part of everything. Sunday we celebrated the Bolivian Mothers' Day and we were invited to a home where we were treated to a real feast....baked chicken, duck, steak, Bolivian sausage, rice, potato salad, corn, and cake for dessert. I ate until I thought I would explode. Lot of fun! More soon... Teecher Judy
