#50 Makiing Goat Cheese in Quiriza

On our way to Quiriza we stopped to visit the Alcazar Family in Monte.
Ronaldo and Jona were sliding down this hill on 2 liter plastic bottles.
Who said you need snow to have a sleigh ride down the hill??

We had the Zone Leaders with us.  Of course they had to try it.
Elder Mitchell made it in one piece.  

Elder Avilla made it down the hill without a scrape too.  

These children do no have a lot of fun toys and bikes to play with, but
they are happy with this life and were pretty smart to think of this to
have some fun.  

We slept at the chapel in Quiriza and the next morning we went
to milk the goats so we could make goat cheese.  

Elder Mitchell trying to milk  a goat.  The goats were in a coral
and they would hold them by the head while we milked them.  

This billy goat was not real happy with us being in the herd.
He had great looking horns.  

We all had a turn milking.  I did pretty good. My aim at the bucket was
not very accurate and squirted the milk
all over Mabel Flores's leg.

Lloyd had no problem hitting the small bucket.  

Marlena Flores showed us how to use the goat milk to make cheese.  

First she strained and cleaned the milk.  

She then added just a few grains of  cuajo and a couple tablespoons of salt.. 
 This makes the milk jell.  

The milk is then put on a few hot coals for about 1 to 2 hours. This
is the kitchen area where  Mabel does a lot of  her cooking.
Mabel also had a small nice gas stove, but I think they use
this area more. 

Mabel checking the milk.  

Marlena brought two molds for the cheese.  They are round and made
from a special grass.  They are each setting on a plate.

When the milk looked like jello, we put our hands in it and slowing
gathered the solid milk into balls.  

We then pressed it into the molds.  The grass molds allowed the
excess water to drain off the cheese.  

We worked right on the dirt floor.  Bending down like this is
not easy to do.  The women in Bolivia seem to bend better
than I can.  You can also see Marlena sitting on a small
wooden stool.  They have these everywhere.  They are not easy to sit
on or get off of.  

Liliana Catacata cut up the lamb for the barbecue. We are in Mabel
Flores's kitchen.  You can see her gas stove.  We made brownies
for dessert.  Liliana had to light the oven.  I don't think Mabel has used
this stove too much.  She said she bought it a year ago.  It looked
brand new.  

Mabel grinds some herbs and garlic on a stone to
put in some tamales.

They cooked the lamb on a grill over some wood coals.  

A pan of tamales we made.  We cut the corn off the cobs, ground it  in
a meat grinder.  Then wrapped a spoonful of corn and a slice
of goat cheese and wrapped it in the corn husk. They steamed
them in a pot over the wood fire.  

This was our meal.  Barbecue lamb, tamale, corn of the cob, rice and
a boiled potato.  They heap their plates with food.  We could not eat
it all.

The members of the Quiriza Branch on our last sunday there.
We were very sad to say goodbye.  These good people
will always hold a special place in our hearts.  

This was our Relief Society Meeting our last sunday in Quiriza.
.  We sat outside under a large palm tree located in the Church yard.