Good Sunday Morning. I know it has been awhile since I have written anything, but there is a very good reason. Normal, everyday life has taken over here in Bolivia. School is out for the Summer Break (actually it is Winter Break) and we have not done any traveling in weeks.

I go to work at 7, leave work at 12, come home, eat lunch, take a nap, play a little poker online, watch a movie, go to bed and start it all over the next day. Now, how many times do you want me to write that in what is supposed to be an "adventure" blog?

It is really relaxing time for us. We walk or drive around town every couple of days, strolling the streets and buying things. Buying what? you might ask. Well, let me see, last time we went Joeline bought a pair of leather books, a blouse, some pants, a wrap of some kind, and a nice jacket. Oh, and on the way back to where we parked the jeep, she found and bought a second pair of leather boots - I will admit they were a different color from the first pair!
Then on the way home we have to stop at this dress designer's, that Joeline knows personally of course, she has made Joeline two dresses already, but Joeline had to check on a pair of pants the lady was making for her.
I bought a bag of popcorn type stuff they make here. Had to keep up my energy.

It is really enjoyable walking the streets and talking (?) to the locals. We smile, point, but we always seem to get the idea across.

When we take Evita with us, which is most of the time, we are constantly stopped by people who want to pet her and try to buy her from us. The local natives, in native dress - they wear the big skirts and black hats - anyway, they are simply enamored by Evita. They maintain a very stoic, Apache like, countenance until they see the dog, then they beam from ear to ear and have to pet her. Sometime they simply take her from Joeline and I and proceed to show her to all their friends.

The dog is literally known all over the city. A few days ago a friend of Joeline's was on the street outside our apartment, she had been to the bank on the corner, she notices another lady staring at our apartment building when she goes into the bank. The lady is still staring up when she comes out of the bank, so she stops and asks the lady if she can help her in any way. The lady, says, oh no, unless you know if that is where the little white dog lives. True story!

She how ordinary our lives are right now, talking about a dog! I have made all the plans and reservations to meet Jody and the kids in LaPaz the middle of next month. Jody and I will be biking down "world's most dangerous road". I have some tours for Joeline and the kids for the day we will be gone. Then we all travel by bus to Copacabana, for one night. Then we all fly into Cochabamba.

By the way, the airport in LaPaz is supposed to be the "highest airport, in elevaton, in the world." I know LaPaz is the highest capital city in the world.

Maybe we will have some "adventures" to write about when we get back from there.

This is an interesting picture.  The road to the jungle is

the main road from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and

therefore heavy traffic.  However the condition of the

road is very, very bad.   For one thing it goes up and

over the Andes, lots of rain washes out the road all

the time.  In fact the bookkeeper at the school and

her husband were involved in a landslide on this 

very road 3 mo.s ago and had to hike over the land

slide.  They were stranded 3 days before they got

out.  Let me tell you it gets cold up there at night,

and the facilities are few and far between and very 

primitive at best!  Anyway, this truck was coming

down the grade, and it is steep all the way with

no safety pull out for run away trucks.  Evidently

his truck got away from him and the trailer got

in front of the tractor and jack knifed.  Didn't

look like the driver was hurt, but bet he had a

heck of a time getting out of that cab.  Luckily,

it happened at one of the wider stretches in the

road or it would have taken hours to get traffic

around the wreck.  Notice it was on gravel!  The

dust was terrible.  Had to wait a few min.s just

to get a clear picture.  Had to say a thanks prayer 

for the driver because the other side of the 

road was a drop off to a deep gorge with a

river at the bottom.  The outcome might have

been very different if the truck had swung the

other direction.  Notice the sign under the

truck cab, it is a no passing sign!  A little

satirical don't you think!

Just have to brag on Carl's school a little.

Every Senior is going on to college, with

about 80% of them receiving scholarships.

One of the students received a scholarship

to Stanford, which will pay approx. 

$60,000 of his tuition.  They are great

kids and we are so proud of them!  Many

of them will be going to the states to

college, then they come back here as Dr.s, 

Engineers, Lawyers, professions that can

really help this country.

Squirrel Monkeys!

What wonderful fun little creatures.

It was lunch time and they came running from everywhere.

This is a very tiny baby Squirrel monkey.  There was a

clearing in the sun with lots of fresh new growth that

they were eating.  It was the nursery.  I sat very still

for about 30 min. and they came out in the open and

were very comfortable.  Squarrel monkeys are very shy

and do not interact with humans in the wild.  I was

very careful, as I could feel the eyes of the mothers

watching me.  There were about 20 babies I counted

and I am sure there were more than that.  I did

not want 20 mad mother spider monkeys coming

down on me.

How cute is that!  They are very tiny, about 4 inches tall.

They were just everywhere but would hide at the slightest

movement.

This is Tabatha.  She loved to pose.  I think she worked

for Playboy at one time.  She was really wonderful and

so much fun to watch.

Tabatha and I bonded.  She was surprisingly heavy and

did not want to be put down.  Really love to be groomed.

Now since I had grown up with a monkey I was experienced

at monkey grooming.

No we did not give her a Coke.  She found

the caretakers bottle and was very

disappointed it was empty, look at that

face!!  That is exactly how I feel when I

run out of Diet Coke.

Now I know there are several pictures on the blog of 

Carl taking a quick nap, his favorite thing to do.  He 

was once again taking advantage of a bench and the 

monkey was taking advantage of him.  It went thru 

every pocket he had.  They are so smart.  Jiggs, our 

monkey we had when I was growing up was so smart, 

kept him in trouble all  the time.  Jiggs gave us many, 

many funny stories to tell.  Keeping in mind that these 

monkeys have very sharp teeth and this particular monkey  

on his chest was one of the most  aggressive breeds, Carl kept

pretending he was asleep and whatever the monkey

found in his pocket were his to keep!

Jody & Tomey, meet your new little sister.  I really could

have brought her home with me.  

We had a wonderful dinner.  Carl was really

mellow after a full bottle of local wine and

a full tummy.

Carl order my dinner for me and I was not to sure what

I was getting.  It was Trucha, a trout with pink flesh

that is really wonderful.  Like most of Bolivia eating

is usually done outside and the weather was perfect.

We even had a full moon!

The resort had acres of beautiful grounds and this huge 

pool.  Swim up bar, hot tub, and this great slide.  Can't wait

to bring the kids here and hit the slide.  I will be the

first one down, or my name isn't GG.

Yes those are coconuts hanging from the trees.  There

were also papayas, well the resort was really cut right

out of the middle of the jungle, what did I expect.

Carl came in early Fri. and said pack a few things we are going to the jungle, Villa Tunari. So I packed a couple suitcases (never know what you might need) grabbed Evita and within an hour we were on our way.   It was supposed to be a 2 1/2 drive, however it is just a 2 lane road, up and over a pass in the Andes, paved some of the way, cobble stone some and gravel some.  No passing lanes even though it is the main, (only) road between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.  As a result all of the trucks travel this road, and did I mention it goes up and over the Andes.  You can only imagine how slow those trucks go up that steep grade and how they go even slower down the other side, in low gear and brakes being applied the who way.  It is the Grapevine in Calif. only higher and like it was 75 years ago as far as condition of the road goes.  But the scenery was breathtaking, and around every turn something new.  

We got there at almost dark and my introduction to the jungle was indeed DARK.  I could not believe how dark it gets under a triple canopy.  Carl had talked about how dark the jungle was in Viet Nam, but I had no idea.  The resort was great, and as everywhere in Bolivia dinning was in the open and it was beautiful.  Great pool with a huge water slide.  Can't wait to get the kids here, we are going to have a ball on that slide, even if it will be winter here, in the jungle in the middle of the day it will be hot!

The next morning we headed for a park/wildlife refuge.  There are lots (!) of monkeys, some pumas, ocelots, lots of parrots, well it is open jungle (no fences or cages) so who knows what all is in there.  It dropped off on one side to a beautiful river, that was perfect for tubing.  We must bring inner tubs with us when the kids come.  Bolivia doesn't have piranha I hope!

It was such a treat to be right in the midle of the jungle with the animals running 

loose and wild all around.  Nothing like a zoo.  Just a few of the monkeys were friendly and they warned you constantly that they were wild and would, have and will again bite!  Now I have been bit by a monkey before and it does hurt!   We had a monkey as a pet when I was a kid, and as he got older his teeth especially the side fangs got really big and long.  He was usually pretty good natured, but if you crossed him, he did not hesitate to bit the holly heck out of you.  But he was wonderful fun, very smart and gave us lots of stories to tell about him.  I could have stayed there all day and just watched the inner action of the monkeys, it was fun to see the different personalities.  W

hat wonderful creatures they are.

Most of the workers there are volunteers, from all over the world.  They were really interesting to visit with.  You can volunteer there and work with the monkeys for 2 weeks or more.  However if you work there for a month then you get to work with the pumas and ocelots.  I am really thinking about doing that while we are here.  To be honest the only hesitation I have is 

you have to stay in a hostel for a month.  

I can be in the jungle all day and work with any animal they have, but I really am not sure about the hostel bit!  But for the chance to work behind the scenes with the animals and get to see and do things tourist just don't get to do, really thinking seriously about it.

I took so many pictures it is hard to decide which to post, so enjoy and I will post more later.

This little guy stole a brush from the caretaker.  Then took

it to the creek and started washing rocks.  The when the

caretaker tried to retrieve his brush he took to the trees

and started washing the tree limbs.  I wanted to take

him home with me, how handy would he be, he could 

get to all those place you can't reach!

Carl found black palm that he had 

experienced in Panama.  It is not

a nice plant, thorns that will seriously

hurt you!

 

 

Look close, it is a Mother with a baby on her back.  Notice 

the look she is giving us.  They warned us to be very careful

taking pictures.  Sometimes they feel threatened by the 

camera and will attack.

This is not the jungle, this is a palm grove on the grounds 

of one of the resorts.

This was a beautiful river, perfect for tubing.  Lots of 

rivers along the way flowing into from the Mountains. 

We watched it start out as a creek high in the mountains 

and grow into this.

Carl gave a wonderful graduation speech, (as always).  He is such a good speaker and received so many compliments!

A few pictures from the H.S. graduation.  The school has a wonderful place outside for events and the weather is always perfect so it is wonderful to get to be outside so much.  The picture is of one of the graduates and his parents.  The mother is my Doctor, and she is wonderful.  Never had a female Dr. before, but she is great. 

This is the Kindergarten graduation at Carl's school.  How cute are these kids!  They all took it so seriously, and their parents did everything possible to make it an important, very special day for them.

Mother's Day is on a different day here in Bolivia, but Jody found out when it was and I received this unbelievable tray full of goodies.

A full breakfast, 3 deserts, juice, fresh fruit, a basket of pastries, a tea pot full of warm milk, tea, yogurt, saltinas, a newspaper, a balloon, plus the wicker tray, coffee cup, etc.  What a great surprise!