Back to Tarija—with suitcases packed to the brim

So if you moved away from home to Bolivia—a country that, let’s face it, has a pretty limited variety of packaged consumer goods to choose from—what would you bring back? Ah, yes. The “desert island” scenario. Interesting to speculate on when enjoying a long road trip with friends, but a painful reality when you have to pack your bags and keep them under 50 lbs each.

Before you take a closer look at our haul, I’ll warn you—most of what we brought back is food-related. What can I say…

Foodstuffs (Clockwise, starting at bottom)

• Seeds for planting herbs and Mexican chiles—you just can’t find them in Tarija!
• Saffron, vanilla, Spanish paprika, herbs de provence, Trader Joe’s chicken stock, and Lindeman’s seasoning
• Trader Joe’s probiotics
• Maseca for making homemade corn tortillas and sope shells
• Mexican chocolate
• Mexican dried chilies
• Jamaica flowers
• Plastic ziplok bags
• Plastic wrap—you get two choices for plastic wrap in Tarija: 1) doesn’t stick to anything, or 2) sticks to absolutely everything and you can’t even dispense it properly
• Loose-leaf tea (from the Loose Teas)
• A bottle of beajoulais from France—thanks Johnnie and Brittany!
• Three bottles of Lillet blanc
• Water bottles
• Yogurt starter
• Spiderman parephanallia (I’m known as “Piter Parker” to the kids in our congregation, had to bring them something)
• Cast-iron skillet
• Gum

 

Dry goods (Clockwise, starting at bottom)

• Mouse pad
• iPad case
• Digital photo frame
• DSL modem
• Telephone
• Door sweeps
• Books
• Monopoly deal
• Candles
• Bath oils
• Ikea wall decals
• Curtains
• Contact lens solution
• Ikea curtain brackets
• Settler of Catan
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (not for me, I swear!)
• The New iPad (yes, for me)
• Airport express
• Toys for Miles (hey, gotta bring the kids back something)

Trip to California recap

So as many of you know, we took a trip home in April and May of this year. Samantha’s dad needed to have back surgery, so we decided to make a trip up and be with the family. Having been away from the states for over five months, we weren’t sure how we would react to coming home. On the one hand, there’s the possibility of falling back into the ease of living in SoCal and undoing the months of “getting-used-to-things” we went through moving to Tarija. On the other hand, what if we had become truly acclimated to Bolivian life and just plain didn’t like the US anymore? Only time would tell…

The first two weeks of our trip were spent almost entirely with family, bouncing around between El Monte and the high desert. We were there when Sam’s dad had surgery, and thankfully, it went well. It’s a good thing we were there too—her family’s car broke down the day before the surgery and we were able to rent a car and shuttle everyone around. While it’s never ideal to come together because of medical reasons, it was good to see our family and catch up. As great as Skype is, it’s no substitute for getting together.

The rest of the trip was quite a whirlwind—hanging out with friends, getting our fill of cultural activities (like going to Dodger games ;-), and I even got to go surfing. Can’t do that in Bolivia! As soon as we got home to LA my mom has asked “what kind of food are you guys looking forward to”—that’s easy: seafood and pinot noir!

Check out the pics below…

A trip to Disneyland is always good… Especially when it’s free! Thanks O&T!

Our friends the Martin’s always have “interesting” pets. This time, it’s a tarantula.  

Paella is a Sunday tradition in Spain, where they say it is taditionally prepared by men. But I suspect that's because 95% of the prep work is done by the women in the kitchen. Nice job, mom!

The night before we left. Beautiful weather, delicious food, and pinot noir…

A blog neglected no longer…

My goodness, how did we let so much time pass without posting anything? There’s been a lot going on the last few months, so surely no shortage of news to tell. Now that we have some down time it’s the perfect opportunity to catch up on the blog. And so away we go…