August and September brought us two daughters! We took time for our very most important responsibility as mission president and spouse. OUR FAMILY. I thought it would be fun to post a few photos for tourists in Bolivia. There are many more places in our mission but these are the ones we visited, these two months.
Toro Toro National Park
I need to admit the drive there and back were NOT my favorite parts of the trip. It is almost a five hour drive from Cochabamba, over dirt and cobblestone roads.
Once there we found dinosaur footprints from many different dinosaurs. (no worries, she is not stepping on them . . .)
Caves to explore, crawling through narrow passages, sliding and sometimes rappelling down rock faces, finding the blind fish - fun exploring!
Hiking to the bottom of the canyons finding water falls and swimming holes.
SALAR DE UYUNI - Worlds largest Salt Flat
There is no place this! The largest salt flats in the world, cactus islands, volcanoes and flamingos. Taking photos is always an adventure. Ending a perfect day with a night in a hotel made out of salt just adds to the uniqueness.
High Alti Plano
There is quite a drive to get to the Salar but that is part of the fun. (The roads are good!) This is the high altiplano of Bolivia. We love the mountain geography, beautiful farmland and llamas which make for a fascinating drive
Rain Forests and Villa Tunari
Hiking and exploring time!
Rain Forests ......
Swimming holes
And a place to stay right in the middle of it all, so we can explore. We found beautiful flowers, butterflies with transparent wings and MONKEYS. We had heard they were around, but on this occasion we sat and they came and crawled on us like toddlers. Then at an unspoken signal they simply disappeared again into the forest. 
Cochabamba
We love this varied, always interesting country!
I'm SO happy I stumbled onto your blog, President and Sister Hansen! I served in the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission from 1999-2001. I miss my Bolivian brothers and sisters sooo much, and have wondered often what became of the people I loved and served there so many years ago. I'm preparing a talk in for Sacrament Meeting tomorrow, and was reminiscing on my time serving in Atocha (but splitting our time between Atocha, Siete Suyos, Tatasi and Uyuni), and the amazing experiences we had reopening Uyuni for missionary work after many years with the church absent there. I was hoping I might be able to find out how things there are doing - I was encouraged seeing the photo you posted of the beautiful youth choir from Uyuni! When we first arrived in Uyuni, there was only one faithful family of 4 individuals, who had been pretty much on their own for many years since missionaries were pulled from the region and the church kind of crumbled. When I was transferred, the church was growing steadily and the Gospel seemed to be exciting a lot of people... but I always wondered about the Osorio family that helped us reach so many people there in Uyuni. Sorry, I'm rambling, and I need to get back to preparing my talk, but if you have a minute, I would LOVE to hear from you and find out how things there are doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm so envious of you and the experiences I'm sure you're having there. I love Bolivia, and I love the Gospel!
Sincerely,
David Cheney
Misión Bolivia Cochabamba 1999-2001
Gracias por todo su servicio presidente y hermana Hansen. Que Dios los bendiga. Con amor Elder Valencia 2013-2015
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