Brrr...

Let´s just say I´m glad I brought warm clothes. Right now it´s somewhere in the high 50´s, low 60´s, but because of the wind and the humidity, it feels MUCH colder than that. In the girls room, our back window is broken, so we´re not able to close it. We did our best to keep the wind out by placing an extra mattress against it, and it´s made the room a bit warmer, but it´s still pretty darn cold. The cold weather set in earlier this week. At first, we were optimistic that it would warm up quickly, but alas, it is not the case. I went for 2 days and 3 nights without a shower because in the girls room, we only get cold water. Yes, believe it or not, I, Stephanie, have been taking cold showers for almost one month. When we shared this with the boys only a few days ago, their reaction was, ¨What? You don´t have hot water?¨. After finding this out, we asked Stephen, the main coordinator here at La Palmera, if we could take warm showers at Lorna´s house (she was one of the founders of the project, and she gets hot water in her house). So yesterday was the first time I had a warm shower in almost a month, and it was divine.

Getting used to the way Bolivian people live their life has been interesting. It seems that whenever it rains or gets really cold, like it has been for the past few days, nobody really works. And everyday, rain or shine, people take siestas which last until 2, and they don´t open the shops until 3pm. It made me realize how my life, even at such a young age, is always on the go. I don´t think either mentality is wrong, I just think the difference is striking and interesting.

I´m sad that our time at La Palmera is almost over. We only have a week and three days left here, and I feel like I just got here. So far, the thing I have most enjoyed has been making relationships with people: the people here in Bolivia, and the people here on this trip. All of the people I have met so far have been so giving and so welcoming towards us. And even though I knew all of the people coming on this trip before leaving, it has truly been a blessing getting to know them and all of their quirks even better. I dread saying goodbyes in general, but I feel saying goodbye to the people of Trinidad will be especially tough. All of them are beginning to ask, ¨Will you return? When will I see you next?¨. And the truth is, I don´t know. It´s all up to God. It makes me so sad thinking that the friends I have made here over the past 3 and a half weeks I may never encounter again. Or maybe I will. Who knows. As for my group, when our time is done here at La Palmera, 2 will be returning to the states, while the other 6 will continue on throughout South America. Things will definitely change when we go our separate ways.

These past few weeks have been so amazing for me. I don´t know in what ways that I´ll change, but I know that I have changed. I guess I´ll see when I get back.

I would like to make a Birthday Shoutout to one of my best friends in the whole entire world, Renee. She´s turning 20 on July 19th, and I wish I could be there to celebrate with you! I know I´m a bit early with my birthday greeting, but I thought it would be better to be early that to be late with birthday wishes. You´ll be glad to not be here in Bolivia, where the birthday tradition is to shove the birthday person´s head in the cake. On July 10th, which was Andrew´s birthday, we were able to witness this glorious tradition and caught the whole thing on camera. That was really awesome to witness. It might be a tradition I adopt back in the states. Or maybe not. :)

As for the week ahead, school will resume once again, which I know we´re all really looking forward to. The school seems so dead without the kids there. They are trying to replace the roof right now, but because of the wind, they had to stop. Now two of the classrooms do have have no overhead protection. Hopefully they´ll be able to fix the roofs by Monday, but I sort of doubt that it will happen. But you never know. I believe in miracles.

Hope everything is well where ever you may be! Know that all of the team members are thinking about you and that we miss all of you guys! Can´t wait to share with you our next big adventure!

Blessings,
Stephanie