So, guess who is La Vitamina A?????

The second picture is of a group of kids waiting to putting together a puzzle of lots of fruits and veggies with Vitamin A. The promise of a picture is about the only way I have been able to keep kids in a line and not beating up each other or our toys. It is truly a mad house at these events!

I was thankfully able to get out of the city for a bit this past weekend. I have realized how much I need green, fresh air, and movement on something besides pavement. On Saturday I went to this sweet, tranquil, and beautifully decaying colonial town outside of Cochabamba called Tarata. On the way back I stopped at La Angostura (a little lake with several restuarants and paddle boat rentals) to eat a little fish. While walking around the lake path I met a young couple. They invited me to hang out with them and several of their friends. I ended up spending the rest of the day sitting by the lake with them and hearing their life stories. Its was really beautiful.

On Sunday I went hiking with the couple from Belgium (who live the same house as I do) in Parque Tunari, which is in Cochabamba. It was quite a hike, but the views were fantastic. The third picture above is from one of the lookouts.

Today we have been going around to the schools giving out little parental information forms for the children in the upcoming study. However since tomorrow is el Dia de la Madre (Mothers Day) we have run into a few obstacles since many of the schools do not have classes either today or tomorrow. Excluding Christmas el Dia de la Madre is probably the biggest holiday in Bolivia and quite possibly the most revered including Christmas. People here love their mommas! Evidently the system is that each individual school can decide whether to take off the day before or the day of Mothers Day. Either way the kids get two free days, because whichever one of these days is not chosen is filled by elaborate activities. Every school that decided to have class today had some serious festivity going on. Fancy costumes, coordinated dances, and lots of loud music.