We took a journey with Hermana Michaela to Santa Cruz to pick up a vehicle and keep her company as she drove it back to Cochabamba. We left Thursday night, April 14th in flota (bus) and the sister drove us back Saturday, so really just spent all day Friday at the hogar in Montero where there are 2 lovely Salesian volunteers. We visited the market and got supplies for a party for the girls (ie piñatas, toys, candy, balloons and confetti), got to experience the coveted moto taxi ride, ¨side saddle¨in a skirt i might add. I like how Melia was like ¨I can only go with one of you,¨ as she slid towards Angela, calls the moto coming right then and pushes me forward as she quickly babbles directions to the driver. thanks a lot haha! but it was exhilerating.
People of Santa Cruz I have realized are obsessed with birds (of all kinds) and many aren´t even in cages (like the one resteraunt had a bird hanging near the kitchen just on a perch, free and the hogar has a few free ones as well as caged)...Also they love to shower (well it´s pretty hot there so that´s understandable), they love hammocks (even Andrea got one to bring home and they are hanging all over in the few resorts we passed on the road), and they have a great selection of fruits (so does tropical chapare, where basically all the banana plantations are). Also, the gente seems more calm and laid-back. We didn´t go to the city of Santa Cruz, but the market of Montero was definitely not as crowded and crazy as the cancha could be here.
It was nice to hang out with Andre and Melia and see a bit of their job. It was also nice being there on a Friday during lent. We went to their chapel for Mass and walking stations of the Cross around their neighborhood, each family set up an alter or algo with pictures, etc. a lot of people were there at both Mass and Stations so that was really nice to see. Then we found Laura and her hubby (2 other volunteers there from st. louis that I met at my SLM weekend in April last year!!) and went out for Ice cream (thanks Melia for a tasty birthday treat!) and visited their plaza. The following morning we surprisingly saw Susan in the plaza (SLM´s popping up everywhere), so she joined us for salteñas (thanks again, bday treat number 2) at Snack Karen (my mom´s name) and another interesting tidbit was that Ang and I ended up staying Friday night in room Santa Rosa de Lima (angela´s confirmation saint) and guess what room was right next to it?? Santa Monica!!
What great 24 hours, didn´t seem so short and we did a lot.
The trip home was tranquil, the ride is so pretty and there wasn´t a lot of traffic. Stopped in chapare for lunch with community of sisters and Hermana couldn´t stop herself from stopping mulitiple times to pick up fruit for the hogar! haha so funny, but hey we are now stocked with Mandarinas galore, oranges, bananas, plantains, and a little star fruit, tiny bananas (sweeter) and cacao (you can eat around the seed that makes chocolate it´s actually really sweet and a little fuzzy) for us. I think I´ve just about tried every fruit in the world at this point! yumm. I rather enjoy traveling for work, says Angela and I agree.
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