Tinku

This dance is called "tinku" and apparently is actually more of a symbolic battle between opposing groups. As the dance goes on you can see where the mock fighting comes in, but unfortunately I did not capture that on this video. The dance comes from the Potosi region of Bolivia. I like the costumes, because they're so outrageously colourful!

Caporales

So this dance is called Caporales, and it's one of my favourites. Lucas danced it last year at his school's Bolivia Day, so I even recognized the music. My favourite part is the bells on the guys' boots, which make a wonderful (and loud) accompanying jingle. I feel sorry for the girls who have to dance in such short skirts, though!

Traditional Dances

Hello Everyone,

On Wednesday I was invited to a special presentation at my friend Jimena´s high school. Every semester, as part of their grade for physical education, the students learn one of the traditional dances of Bolivia, of which there are many. I like seeing the dances and the fantastical costumes, so I was excited to go.

Jimena´s class was performing the dance called "tobas," which, as you can see, has pretty amazing costumes. The shaking noise that maybe you can pick up from the video comes from the shakers that are around all the dancers' legs. The dance requires a lot of energy, because it's full of jumping, and it's really beautiful.

I'll post a bunch of different posts over the next few days, with more videos of the different dances. Bolivia is so culturally rich! Every "department" (like a province or state) has its own dances, traditional dress, dishes, music... I mean, really, what would you say if someone asked you the traditional dance of British Columbia?? I get faced with this kind of question pretty regularly.

Love to all,
Rachael

Breaking News

Really big prayer request!

Jeremy has broken his foot. His class went on a hiking/camping trip last weekend on one of the Inca trails, and since this is the rainy season, it was raining for part of the time. He slipped on some rocks and fell, and the result was a broken foot. But he had to keep walking for another day, because once you're on the trail there's no way out except to keep going.

The doctor isn't sure yet if this is a simple break or a complicated break. Please do pray that it's a simple one and will be all right in a few weeks! If it's complicated, there could be surgery involved, and with the trip to Canada coming up so soon, we DON'T want that!

So for now, Jeremy has a huge cast on his foot that goes up almost to his knee, and isn't supposed to walk on that foot. Needless to say, not the most fun. If anyone has any suggestions of fun things to do while not moving a lot, post a comment! I'm sure Jer would love to hear an encouraging word.

(and sorry for the pun :)

Love to all,
Rachael

Rainy Season

Hello Everyone!

So as I mentioned before, it is rainy season. I haven't yet managed to have my camera on me when the river is raging, but coming home today the roads were flooding a bit, water overspilling the foot-deep channels on either side of the road. So I got my camera and took a video for you all. The location is just down the road from our house.

Elisa and I had quite the Rainy Season Adventure yesterday - we went shopping in the open-air Alto market, which is huge and mazelike, and all of a sudden it started hailing like the dickens. The whole morning had been sunny and too hot, but within 15 minutes the ground was covered in an inch of hail. And as it melted, and as the hail turned to rain, the streets turned into rivers of muddy water. Elisa and I got totally soaked, especially when we had to walk down a huge twisting flight of stairs which had a creek pouring down it suddenly! Water splashing up to our calves. We should have remembered our umbrellas, but that wouldn't really have helped our legs at all.

In other news, complete recovery on my bug bite, praise the Lord! And also, I would just like to say that I am so blessed by people sending me mail. At the end of my bug-bite-bed-riddenness, I went to the post office and there were five things for me! A letter from Beth Goh, two letters from Katherine the Great, a card from my mom and my grandma, and a package from the amazing Walsh family!! And how cool is this: four out of those five letters contained stickers! You guys are all so awesome!

Love to everyone,
Rachael

Hold the Phone!!

Hey everyone,

I just had to share this story of victory!

Last night I answered the phone and it was Jurgen Schulz, but I didn´t know it was him and he didn´t know it was me. We exchanged a few sentences, in Spanish, and then suddenly he said, "Rachael, is that you?" You see, he didn't realize it was an English-speaker on the phone, because my Spanish had been so good! Isn't that awesome??? Jurgen has been a missionary here for over 20 years, and his Spanish is fantastic, so this is a real compliment!

It's nice to know that there is progress being made!

Love to all,
Rachael

English Classes and Recovery Times

Dear Everyone,

First of all, thank you all so much for all your prayers. My foot is now almost completely normal - not swollen anymore, nor red, and only a little itchy. Praise the Lord! It was the second shot of penicillin that did it, I think. I'm so grateful that now I can actually walk on it without causing pain, get out of the house, and actually do dishes and cook again! In celebration of my recovery, I made a triple batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies yesterday! And they were the best I've made so far - I think I finally have the trick of making them in the altitude.

Also, we had our fourth English class last night, and two more students showed up! I just love teaching English this way. It's so comfortable and cozy - we have tea together, and whatever baking I've done that day, and then have a great time laughing and learning English.

It's now full-on rainy season down here. The rainy season technically started a while ago, but we were having a drought - very bad for the farmers. But now the rains have started in earnest, and it's crazy! The river is churning and dashing madly, it looks alive, and it's so much higher than normal. La Paz, being such a dry, dry city for 9 months of the year, is just not equipped to handle this amount of water. I'll try to take a picture of the raging river! Meanwhile, here are my English students!

Lots of love,
Rachael