Christmas, the Bolivian way

Christmas in Bolivia is always a challenge.  Tank top weather and palm trees, no matter how hard I try, will never help me "get in the spirit" of Christmas.  We tried going to one of the main plazas a few days before Christmas to see the lights, but the magic was overrun with gimmicky Santa hats, high-pitched Christmas toys and WAY too many people.  Sigh.

On Christmas Eve, we were able to maintain some of our own Christmas traditions by doing an advent calendar with Matias.  He loved it and learned some new numbers (11-24).  Most of the concepts he seemed to grasp, except that Mary was just a human (See Mary up in the sky with the angels, placed more in Catholic than Protestant position).

We also did an advent wreath each Sunday leading up to Christmas, which has always been one of my favorite traditions growing up and holds lots of meaning for me.  Matias loved the songs, repeated much of the Scripture passages, and when we were done lighting the candles, he'd say, "We're waiting for Jesus?"  Below is a video from the last advent service:

And nothing says Christmas more than a burnt pumpkin pie, right?  Matias mixed all the filling, so I suppose I could blame it on him...  I swear I've made half a dozen pies that have all turned out much better than this one.  The part of the crust that didn't sink down into the pie was burnt to a crisp, no matter how hard I tried to wrap it with aluminum foil.  I blame it on my finicky Bolivian oven.

Christmas morning, we had a Stewart sibling/Matias tradition of Austrian pancakes called Kaisershmarm, which Matias pronounces perfectly.  I'd even saved a handful of the precious few blueberries I'd found in a store here a month ago, and we mixed them in with powdered sugar and strawberries.  Yum!!

The fun continued when we opened our stockings and found a creative use for sticky notes.  Matias took his "elephant nose" seriously and wore it for a good part of the morning.  We even got Nana and Poppy to play along when we skyped with them!

Now THAT'S flexible family fun!

Liz and Maria, our two little neighbor girls, came over mid-morning to give us Christmas hugs, and then it was time to hand Matias over to Brianna and continue our own Christmas celebration.

Despite a smashed in door, broken windows and a slightly bent wheel hub, we were still able to go for a drive in the mountains Christmas afternoon.  We ran out of brake fluid from a leaky cap (had extra in the glove box!) and went over a pothole that knocked a connection loose, but both were fixable and we had no major problems.  It almost seems like getting hit by a dump truck stopped the streak of major car problems every week or two.  Who'd've thought?!

There are lots of lakes and reservoirs tucked up in the mountains behind my house and endless roads to explore them.  It was nice to actually feel cold on Christmas, even though the snow was far away on peaks on the horizon.  It's the first time we've really been able to explore the mountains since we got the car and it felt SO good to get out.  On our way back, a couple Quechua ladies and their kids flagged us down, needing a ride from their community into the city to sell potatoes.  They piled in the back, and Collin and I practiced our Quechua with them, evoking lots of laughter and confused looks from the women.

 After our ride we went over to Collin's friend's house for a grill out.  It felt more like a summer celebration than a Christmas one, but it was a pleasant way to end Christmas.  I miss the snow.  I miss the traditions, the turkey on the table, the short days, the collective sense of celebration throughout the surrounding community instead of business as usual on Christmas Day, the caroling, the yummy Christmas cookies instead of dry, dry Bolivian fruitcake...  But I'm here.  So I need to learn to make the most of it.

Flexible Family Fun! (as we say in my family...)

greeting Poppy at the airport

From washing clothes to playing in the sandbox, my dad's visit made our daily chores and activities more rich.  Matias was beyond thrilled to have almost 2 weeks with his Poppy.

My dad and Matias came up to my work one day (courtesy of our newly working car!)

My students promptly gathered 'round to teach Matias how to color better. 

He made some new friends, gathered flowers in a basket the kids made for him, and had a great time.  Meanwhile, my dad engaged with the students, encouraging them in their work, and took some invaluable pictures of the work we do at The Center.

Thanksgiving was the last day of classes with my kiddos, but we still managed to eat a somewhat traditional meal, sans the turkey.  My dad even brought down cranberry sauce from the States to top it off!

After dinner, we didn't waste any time decking the house out for Christmas.  We decorated my 4 year old Christmas juniper tree, got out the advent calendars for Matias, and had our first advent service together as a family a few days later.  Advent is one of my favorite times of the year, and it was so special to celebrate the first day with most of my family.

sticker advent

pocket advent

And what's a family vacation without flexible fun with Bolivian policemen?  On our way to a much anticipated camping spot with Matias, Collin, my dad and I, we were hit by a dump truck who tried to overtake us as I turned off onto a side road.  Any further, and the car would have wrapped around a concrete post just feet from where we stopped sliding.  Any faster, and the car would have flipped.  Any lighter, more modern car, and the impact would have been much greater, injuring my dad and I (on the impact side).  And the glass, which we thought was tempered, broke into big pieces and flew through the air without leaving more than a scratch on my dad and brother.  So many "what ifs" and "could haves", but all leading to SO MUCH GRATITUDE that we're all ok.

The most stressful and upsetting part of the accident was the aftermath.  We were shuttled to two different towns, looking for a place where the police could do a blood alcohol test on both drivers.  The second town, Punata, was a good 30+ minutes away and was able to give us the test, but left us 30+ minutes away from our impounded car with all our gear in it.  I was asked to return a few days later for an informal "reconciliation" meeting, which turned out to feel like an ambush where I was treated poorly as a woman and a foreigner.  Collin backed me up, but I still left feeling shaky and wondering how the truth got so twisted that an accident I was a victim of suddenly became my fault.  Ambiguous laws were cited, although not one policeman was willing to actually show me or read me the law I'd broken, and after tears and much frustration, they let me take my car and hoped to wash their hands of me, passing me off to insurance.  Over two weeks later, we're still in limbo, waiting for answers and some form of justice.

By the time the police rigmarole was over, it was already late afternoon, we didn't have a car and had all our camping gear with us.  We decided to make the best of it, hired a taxi, and drove a short ways out of town to pitch our tent somewhere where we could at least have a fire and sleep in our sleeping bags.  It wasn't half bad!  Certainly not the remote and wild camping experience we were hoping for, but better than being at home.

Plus, streams in Cochabamba are definitely NOT clean enough to wade in, let alone have water wars!

 My dad also got to visit both of my parents' Compassion kids, one of whom just graduated from the Compassion program and we got to say goodbye over a yummy meal of corn, potatoes, fried cheese, hard-boiled eggs and fried beef jerky.

Matias learned so much while his Poppy was in Bolivia, and still pretends to make his plastic butterflies fly over to real flowers to get nectar, as he learned from Poppy while studying snapdragons.

Thanks for coming, Poppy!