Salteñas

Hi again! Day two in Bolivia was amazing. After having coffee and reconnecting with the States a bit over the wifi at the cafe, Joyce, Alexa, and I decided to explore Cochabamba for a little while. We wandered for a couple hours and found some plazas, some cute dogs, and a salteñaría. Having heard that salteñas are the best food in Bolivia, we decided we had to go in and get some. We got two filled with pollo semipicante and they were DELICIOUS. Salteñas look like empanadas but are a little different: a savory pastry made of corn filled with a sort of stew (meat, spices, potatoes, one olive, and one quail egg), then baked. I cannot even begin to describe how much I loved my first one (hence the name of this post), and want to try every flavor from every salteñaría in the city. The best news is that the best salteñaría was closed today, so we have even more delicious food in our future!

Here's a cutie I found lounging in the shade:

El Cristo de la Concordia

After a quick nap, I met up with everyone to drive to the big Jesus statue. The road up the hill was a little scary - not wide enough that two cars could comfortably pass each other and full of sharp turns, bu we made it safely! The statue was very impressive; it's made of cement and weighs over 2,000 tons!

The views from his hill were simply unreal - I used the panorama picture mode on my phone for the first time to try to get it all!

There was a really adorable puppy visiting the statue at the same time we were, so of course I followed it around for a while to try to get a picture. 

Here's my attempt at a selfie with the statue (needless to say it went well):

I had Alexa take a better one:

Alternative methods of transport to the  statue were hiking (which was too dangerous for our group) and cable cars! I can only imagine the views from those. 

El Cementario General

After spending some time with Jesus, we went to the city's big cemetery. The place was beautiful and full of family crypts. Apparently, owning a lot for one of the crypts costs about half of a year's wages! We saw flowers and gifts everywhere; people generally visit their loved ones' graves once a month or more. 

Here's the main entrance (the people in view are Johnny from the Oxford group and Alexa, my travel buddy from day one):

Some of the plots:

There are a ton of these walls, each filled with rows of windows where visitors create little shrines for their loved ones:

I thought this was a good quote - in English, it says, "Simply because a person is a conscious being, he has a Supreme Purpose for his life: to be and to do something useful in it."

La Cena Maravillosa

We all returned to the Mano a Mano offices for an amazing dinner prepared by some of the staff (especially Blanca). Everyone mingled and got to chat a bit, although the language barrier was a little tricky. 

Here's a picture of all the meat we had cooked for us:

And here's my plate: (clockwise from the left) yucca, quinoa, cholca (a mix between steamed corn and popcorn) with cheese, vegetables, plantains, and steak. I also had chicken and got seconds, of course! If you've never tried yucca, make it a priority in your life. It's a starch similar to a potato, but with more fibers and a little sweeter. 

Nate gave a presentation giving an overview of the entire Mano a Mano organization, and Blanca spoke to us to say gracias for our time and effort. She also gave us presents!

Day Three Begins

This morning (I wrote this post in two installments), I was awoken by the sound of a marching band playing outside my window! I actually really like waking up when the city wants me to - it feels more authentic than listening to Marimba on my iPhone alarm clock. I got dressed and went to check out the parades on the Prado; here are some pictures:

This is the police band before they began marching. 

Some wreaths that were around the statue of Simon Bolivar. From what I could gather, each is dedicated to a different department of the government. 

I was the only gringa there, so I decided that I should probably leave sooner rather than hang around. I was walking back to the office and, to my surprise, the cafe I wanted to try was open! I got a frappeina (an iced espresso drink - delicious!) and used their wifi to write this post. 

(The journal is a present my friend Nick made for me out of a record - it's very Pinterest and I love it a lot. I've been using it to practice Spanish while drinking coffee...)

Today, we're going to garden at the CEA. Lots of sunscreen will be used. 

Hasta luego!