#18 Tupiza Fun in July

Usually on Mondays we wash our pickup in the River
We had extra help from all the missionaries this day!

There are always people at the river washing their clothes
There are very few washers and dryers in this city

This is a narrow passage between the mountains.
Lloyd said they use to ride their horses through one
somewhat like this one on their way to get supplies in Tupiza.
(43 years ago)

We gave this little lady a ride in the Pickup.  She had a hard time
stepping up into the back .Lloyd helped her. Her little old body would not bend.
Lloyd lifted her bundle of firewood. He said it was heavy. They use the wood
in their kitchens to cook over.    We see women
carrying heavy loads like this quite often.  

We found this antique iron at Hermana Luisa's home.
You fill the bottom with hot coals and iron.  I wanted to
bring it home, but it weighed too much.

Elvis Condori hurt his arm. He went to the medical doctor in Tupiza and had it
x-rayed.  He had a hair line fracture in his wrist. This was just a few days
before he was to be baptized in the river.  So we took him and his mother
to Hrm. Luisa in Quiriza.  She walked up the mountain and picked
some green leaves off a bush.  She rubbed his wrist with an ointment.  Then
she wrapped the leaves around it with a cloth wrap.  She told him to
wear it for one month.  He took it off just for a little while when he
was baptized.  His mother would  pick fresh leaves and wrapped it.  It
healed fast.  

Springtime means baby goats.  This bunch was having fun playing of a stack of corn.

We took the Missionaries to visit and teach the Condoris.  Elvis and Mayra
had fun jump roping with them.  This in their front yard.

Rosaria (Elvis and Mayra's mother) gave us a bowl of boiled
corn called mote with a thick slice of goat cheese.  This is
part of her kitchen where she had a fire and cooked the corn.

This is Rosaria in her kitchen.  She is dishing up the mote.  The floor
is hard dirt and she is dishing out of black clay pot.  Somewhat like
a dutch oven.  

The sister missionaries and I went to a Relief Society Meeting
where they were teaching how to make tortillas.  That is what the
women called them, but we would call them crepes.  They found
a couple large rocks and a small black griddle. They built a fired
underneath with a few dry twigs and started cooking.

The two oldest sisters did most of the cooking.  They didn't always
agree.  But they did a good job cooking.
   We are in the back yard of
an investigator named Virginia.

You can see the small fire underneath the griddle.  They
kept the griddle just the right temperature for cooking.

This is the whole group of Relief Society ladies that came.
They also served hot rice milk.  It was like rice pudding with
a lot of milk.  We drank it from cups.  The tortillas and rice milk
were very good.  

This is a very different looking building in Tupiza.  They
are still working on it.  There is a small restaurant on the
first floor.  It looks like it belongs in Russia not South America.

This is Hermana Patty.  She is a member of the church.  She makes a living
for her family by making cakes, doughnuts and different pastries.

This is her kitchen.  Her bakery items are very tasty.  They aare
a little different than in the US but we really enjoy them.  She
has two daughter and a niece that help her.  She also has
two lare Kitchen Aid mixers ( which you do not find here)
Patty has 3 sons that live in Virginia in the U.S.  One son owns
a restaurant.  She is moving to Virginia in February to help
them cook Bolivian food there.

Our land lady, Theresa. has a row of beautiful flowers.
They have been blooming the whole time we have been here.

When the missionaries are transferred or leave to go home,
there is usually a small crowd of members and  people
they have baptized that come to see them off at the bus
terminal.  Elder Bertola is going home to Utah.
He was a great missionary and Zone Leader.