Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cochabamba (4-21-11)

I slept poorly.  It seems that without Flexoril, I only get in one good sleep cycle from 3:00 to 6:00.  Last night I thought I was tired enough to not need one.  I was wrong.  I hate being dependent on a drug.  Sigh.  I think I have enough left to get me through the rest of the trip.

I finally figured out what Doña Celia has been asking for a few days--do I want some clothes washed?  I was able ask her quite nicely if she could do some today.  I think I'm OK regardless, but it should help my room smell better!

We spent the morning at La Villa.  The first thing was a foot washing ceremony in the chapel.  Douglas gave a good reflection on the meaning and the story of Jesus at the Last Supper.  Then people invited others to wash their feet.  Escarlet washed mine.  It was very touching.

We spent much of the rest of the morning in preparation for the big festivities at lunch.  Each house brought their table and chairs into the gym and they were all set up in a big U shape.  It seemed like everyone was calling Guillermo to get me to sit by them.  I sat with some of the older girls.  There were a total of twelve dishes, but I only had three that folks felt were safe for us gringos: a sort of cornbread, a pasta dish and rice with milk and cinnamon.  All of them were good. 

A boy sat down across from me and played games on my iPhone.  Escarlet looked through the pictures on my camera.  As Friday would be Amy's birthday, they sang to her and presented her with gifts.  Again, there were lots of tears.

The bus took us to a restaurant downtown called Casa de Campo.  We relaxed with Lila and had a light lunch.  As soon as we ordered I noticed that it was three o'clock, so I had Lila call and cancel my Spanish lesson.  We returned by cab which was pretty crowded with four people in the back seat!

We had a relaxing evening.  Diego showed up at the last minute with his wife, Reysa.  Doña Celia had to quickly switch things around for two more people, but she is very good.  We had a good dinner with leftover birthday cake for dessert.  I let Mike have my iPad until morning so he could finish up his game of Civilization before leaving.

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