The Best Day of the Trip So Far...

Today has been the most relaxing days of the trip. So of course it is Sunday, so I wanted to go to church. Fortunately, there is http://www.mormon.org/, where you can look up the times and places of any congregation anywhere in the world. So I looked up La Paz. There were 3 pages of information, and I asked the guy who runs the internet place which of the addresses was the closest. Pretty soon everyone from the whole cybercafe was crowded around my computer telling me to go back to the first page, then to page 2, then back to page 3 and after about ten minutes and much deliberation, the consensus was that the one on 20 de Octubre was the closest. Then I went back to my new room (a whole $2.50 a night) and went to sleep.

I woke up extra early and got ready; I felt pretty sheepish sneaking out of the hippy lair in a white shirt and tie, but it was Sunday morning so not very many of the wild things were stirring. The walk to church was great, gone was the madness of the Saturday market and the only other people about were a few older couples out for their early morning (8 am) walk. I love older people in Latin America, because when you say, ¨Buenos días,¨ they act as if you had just given them a million dollars. They smile and say ¨good morning to you, young man,¨ and want to shake your hand and may God bless you and we hope that your family is okay without you and all of this happens while each party is still walking past, so it´s quite the intense experience.

After a Bolivian breakfast (a piece of bread and a coca tea) I was hoping that no one would see me walking from the coffee shop to the mormon church, but sure enough there were some guys in white shirts and ties that I pretended like I didn´t see. When I got to the church I was talking to some of the members there and it turns out that the guys in the white shirts and ties were also gringos, and also from BYU. This piqued my interest cause Nate, remember, my friend doing research in Sucre who I was going to see but didn´t, was with a big group from BYU. So maybe these guys were from the same group. We went up stairs to one of the meetings going on, and lo and behold, there was Nate! So everyone was surprised and happy, except for the Bolivians until I explained to everyone that I wasn´t with these other gringos, but that it was pure chance that we met up. It turns out that Nate´s internship in Sucre fell through, and he is waiting in La Paz until tomorrow, when he´ll go to another city.

Church was great. The guy who taught one of the lessons is a professional teacher and asked the most amazing questions that really made you think. Someone played the guitar in the Sacrement Meeting, and afterwords a guy with a pin on his jacket that said ¨Don´t Mess With Texas¨ came up and wanted to practice his english with all the gringos, which he most certainly needed. But then we started speaking in Spanish and he was very very articulate, in fact, it turns out that he writes for the Associated Press. So that was cool.

After that, all us gringos went back to the apartment that they are staying in. It´s right in the middle of the most busy street in La Paz, on the eigth floor. That would be like living on Times Square in New York or Center street in Provo, or next to the Pony Express in Ten Sleep. They have a great view of the whole city and carpet and a washing machine and mattresses that aren´t made out of straw. So we went out to eat after that and had a great time.

I hope that you are all well! Thank you very much for the comments, by the way. It has been more lonely than I thought it would be (I don´t know what I was thinking, man I miss my little wife) and it is nice to know that you guys are following along. Colleen (Brian!)- sorry, but I can´t help you out with the Titicaca fishing info. I did stick my fingers in the Lake, and it seemed warmer than I thought it would be. Is that something that fishermen do? One more piece of info about Titicaca- one of its islands is Isla Del Sol, or the Island of the Sun, which is where the Inca creation story supposedly took place. Matt - glad to see you here too, I will definitely call the Solers.

Today really has been a good day. Tomorrow I will get an early start so that I can do all the paper work at the Brazilian and Paraguayan Consulates, and I will probably post again tomorrow because the Brazilian consulate supposedly takes all day to do its thing. Then tomorrow night - the bus to Santa Cruz. Ok, bye!