Yesterday was Pedestrian Day in La Paz. This means that from about 6 - 6, the roads were almost traffic-free. Yes, you read correctly! Pedestrian Day is the day when it is illegal to get into you car and drive somewhere. There are a few taxis, buses, and other vehicles that may have permission, but they are few and far between. This means that no one can really get anywhere without walking. The concept is kind of nice to encourage, but I was surprised that the country could make it illegal to go somewhere in you car. (It also meant that Saturday was CRAZY because everyone was trying to get things done.) We ended up going to the park, letting the kids have two rounds in the huge bouncy slide, and then trying out a new restaurant a block from our house. We had lamb, lechon/type of pork, chicken, peanut soup, and wonderful juice. Great prices and great food, and they brought us the soup for free, I imagine as an opening tactic to bring us back... :) But the coolest thing about the day is the fact that people are walking, biking, and skating in the middle of the roads. The sidewalks here are notoriously uneven, so when I saw a group of half a dozen skateboarders, one with a video camera, cruising downhill in the middle of the road, I thought that this must be one of the best days ever for them.
Life has been super busy lately. Jason has been out a lot to investigate potential new communities for SP to work in, and budget season is coming up, and some of his bosses are coming soon, and SP has their retreat, and etc. etc. etc. Even though it means things are pretty hectic, he's loving it.
Alex is back in school and loves her class. She comes home exceptionally excited if she has gotten purple on the discipline chart for the day. (Purple is the highest, and she gets a sticker on purple.) She's seems to be doing well academically and socially, and she does some additional reading work at home, too, with Studydog, an online reading program that she likes a lot. Micah is jealous that Alex gets to go to school, but he also enjoys having time by himself at home when she isn't monopolizing everything! They both really enjoyed going on vacation with my parents in July. We went to Lake Titicaca and had a wonderful time. The drive was stunning. You could see the Andes on and off throughout the drive, and when we got there, it definitely looked like we were at an ocean, not a lake. The town of Copacabana was really cool, and we ate tons of really fresh trout. I think the kids' favorite part was when we went on a boat ride and the fish came straight from the lake and flopped around spastically after caught. I don't know that I've ever heard them both laugh so hard! They did lots of climbing and hiking, and we saw ruins, and Jason and I climbed Calgary Hill, and we toured the church where people lined up for hours on Saturday morning to cover their cars in garlands and plastic decorations and spray wine or beer on them and have them blessed by the priest. (It was a little weird to me.) Overall, it was a great time with the family. We had a wonderful time while my parents were here and got to see a number of things around the city and eat good food and play lots of Catan!
It's also hard to believe that it's already September. I'm already actively thinking about Christmas. I know, I know, that's crazy. I've been somewhat homesick lately, though, which I think is perfectly natural. However, don't let that fool you. La Paz is wonderful, and I feel incredibly blessed to be here. I'm finally in regular Spanish classes, which is very good for me (Alex came home from starting school again using a ton of Spanish phrases). We've also been trying to get some things fixed around the apartment, so our lights should be better now, and they are doing MAJOR work to the roof right now. Hopefully that means we can get the walls in the apartment repaired sometime soon from all the water damage. Being on the top floor means we have a warm apartment (wonderful) but also got the majority of the water damage (not so wonderful). Slowly but surely, though, and anytime we talk about possible moving, we think about how perfect the space is for us and how much we love the location and decide against looking for something new.
It is starting to warm up some more, and in a few months it will start raining some more, which will be nice. The sunshine is great, but I, of course, miss rain and clouds and overcast days. It's nice to to feel like I need to wear two sets of flannel pajamas to be warm enough when sleeping, though!
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