The Jumping Off Point

My dear friends Anne &Jack MacFadyen now retired and living in South Florida gave me a gracious send off wining & dinning me with some of their Pax Christi friends and Pgh. snow birds Michael & Joyce, then driving me to Miami airport where after a mad scramble rearranged 3 lbs. of cloths from my over wei.ght suitcase, then gave me hugs & kisses and I straightened my back and walked towards the International gates.
The flight to La Paz left on time and I managed to sleep most of the 6 h.ours. The La Paz airport (13000 ft. altitude) was very small and I made it through customs and to the ticket counter of the airline for the half hour flight to Cochabamba ( 8000 ft elevation). Everyone at the airport was very friendly and I managed to convey my needs with my minimal Spanish. No signs of altitude sickness until the plane took off and I broke out in a cold, sweat, nausea and a quick trip to the bathroom (el bano). When we landed I felt better but I must have looked pale because the steward offered to carry my bag into the terminal where Mary &Alfredo were waiting with BIG smiles.
Mary understands some English but speaks none. Alfredo understands more and speaks some. On the  Durham, N. Carolina and has a 2 yr. old boy, the youngest Marcos who isn't married lives at home and speaks fluent English and plays the guitar.
Their home is very spacious with old colonial touches like beautiful parquet floors and very high ceilings. It is one block from Abraham Lincoln Park. My bedroom has large closets, a private bath and small balcony. The kitchen has a GE stove with English labels. They only drink bottled water, even for brushing teeth and they drink coca leaf tea which tastes like green tea.
After 1 PM dinner & siesta Mary's niece came by. She graduated from Wellsley College and went white water rafting at Ohiopyle .
Mary & Alfredo have hosted 10 other Maryknoll students, an American bishop, a retired MD and a student from Harvard.
Sunday morning I walked to the Catholic Church, 10 minutes away. Outside the church there were  2 Indian women begging, one was young with an infant. I could follow the gist of the service. It gave me a renewed appreciation for the universal church. Many people carried in small decorated baskets, statues of baby Jesus wearing crowns and bejeweled royal robes of satin & velvet an.d placed them at the foot of the alter. At the end of Mass the priest blessed all of them. Leaving the church I took a small Bolivian bill from my wallet