In Chapare

Last week, I (Elsa) spent the day in Chapare which is in the jungle. We have two orphanages there so I was going to check them out. One of them is almost complete and the other is in the process of being built. It was about a three hour beautiful drive in the mountains to get there. It is really hot there and I was sweating just sitting in the shade. There are also tons of bugs and mosquitoes that come out as the sun is going down. One interesting thing is that one of the villages where we are building is the hometown of the current President of Bolivia, Evo Morales. He came personally to the orphanage this year on Christmas Eve morning for a visit.

Anyway, it was a good day even though it was a lot of driving. I spent a bunch of time playing with some of the kids that lived near by. They were very anxious to have someone to play with and they were very sweet. They shared a mandarin orange with me that they had just picked from a nearby tree and one girl held my hand most of the time I was there. It will be fun to go back and see them again.

Oh, bunny ears. I guess some things
are just universal.

In front of the church that is partnering with one of
the orphanages. Sadly, it has been damaged due to recent
flooding. It's right next to the home.

One of the homes in Chapare. If you're wondering why
everyone is gathered looking at the ground it's because
there is a yellow, poisonous snake right there.

This is the son of one of the builders, Alejandro.
I just had to put it in cause he's so cute.

We were playing a game of throw the leaves up in
the air and see how many you can catch. And here are
some action shots.

A big restaurant in the village. Compared to everything else surrounding, this was quite fancy and I was actually surprised that such a nice building was a restaurant. There was a huge river right behind it.

More buildings in the town.