We had limited our initial adventure to five days to ensure we would be back in Santa Cruz by the weekend. For us, this trip was taking place over summer vacation — but in Bolivia and most of South America, July and August are wintertime. School is in session, people are working, and it’s not easy for far-flung family and friends to get together with us during the week. So weekends are a must.
For Bolivians, this would be a three-day weekend celebrating 6 de Agosto — the dia de la patria or independence day — so our family was planning get-togethers and parties.
After an intense trip to Uyuni and back, though, first we needed to rest and shower and do laundry. We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning getting that under control.
Another important thing was to determine our food options in the neighborhood around El Jordán. There seemed to be more stores and restaurants and fewer home-based kioscos than during our last visit in 2018. Yoli headed out Saturday morning to look for fresh bread, and a lady directed her to a bakery called Panadería Victoria on Avenida Alemana. It was a nice bakery, which we visited a couple more times over the next week. One of the great pleasures of being in Bolivia is the wide variety of fresh-baked breads to eat — pan de arroz, cuñape, empanada and more.
For lunch, Yoli’s sister Sara invited us to eat lunch at La Casa del Camba, a famous open-air restaurant that celebrates the heritage of Santa Cruz. Servers wear cruceño or camba clothing, and a band plays traditional music. This restaurant is an important place for Sara. She had always wanted to bring her father, Don Hector, but he died before she could make it happen. So we greatly appreciated Sara and Cesar for treating us to such a wonderful a meal of grilled steak and sausages with yucca and arroz con queso.
In the evening we went to share tea time with Yoli’s family at their home on the corner of Dr. Aquino Rodriguez and Dr. Napoleon Gómez Landivar. The property has changed a lot over the years since my first visit 20 years ago. Yoli’s sisters built a large two-story home behind Don Hector’s old home, and built a large patio along one side.
Of course this was our first family visit since Don Hector died, and we missed him. I always enjoyed talking with him, or watching movies or games. He was an avid sports fan, and tried to keep up with the St. Louis Cardinals (though there wouldn’t have been much good to say about the Cardinals this year). I wish we could have shared with him our excitement for our new St. Louis soccer team, City SC.
We visited Doña Lucila, cousins Leya, Yessy and Raquel, and the rest of the family. We looked through photo albums, played Uno and chess, and eventually had tea time. Boris and Eliza live upstairs, and they brought lots of little pastries and made coffee and mate to drink.
But the big day was Sunday. Yoli’s sisters were insisting on hosting a birthday party for Ludi.
A kind-of quince
A little history: In Latin American culture, a girl’s 15th birthday, or quinceañera, is a very special event. Yoli, me and the kids had attended quinces for my nieces Leya, Yessy and Abi in years past. And as our own daughters got closer to that age, we had wondered what we would do. Ahead of Jadzia’s 15th birthday, she told us she wanted a quinceañera. But then came the pandemic and quarantine and everything else. It became clear we wouldn’t be able to go to Bolivia, and it looked increasingly uncertain we could host any kind of party for her in August.
But then, the real tragedy struck. Jadzia died in June, exactly two months before she would have turned 15. She never got her quince.
Last summer, Ludi found herself facing the same pivotal 15th birthday — and now the idea of a quince carried some baggage. Ultimately she decided she wanted a small family-only birthday. So we went bowling as a family, then later Ludi, Joseph and I went on an epic bike ride along the River Des Peres.
Over the years, Ludi has often found herself on family trips on her birthday, situated as it is near the end of the summer. This trip was the ultimate example: We spent her birthday in airports and on airplanes, getting from St. Louis to Miami to Santa Cruz.
But our family in Bolivia didn’t forget. They all showed up the airport, some bearing violins and guitars, to serenade Ludi when we arrived. Then they brought cake and goodies to El Jordán to share with us. It was a special surprise, a and memorable way to celebrate Ludi’s 16th birthday after a long and tiring day.
Still, Ludi had never had a quince — and this bothered Yoli’s sisters. So six days later they put together a bigger party for Ludi on the dia de la patria.
Almost the entire family was able to make it, and this was our first chance to meet some new family members — Melany’s husband Ariel, and their new son Adrian.
Fancy dresses are a must. So Yoli’s sisters took care of it. They provided a silver dress for Ludi. For themselves and Yoli, they bought a set of matching dresses in different colors.
But there was another event on the calendar — Our niece Abi had rented a house where she was going to host a “cousin’s day” sleepover for our kids and the rest of the cousins. In order to accommodate that, the birthday party was supposed to happen at lunch time.
But the food took a while to cook — Boris had prepared a wonderful parillada of grilled meat — and we didn’t sit down to eat until 5 p.m. Still, we greatly enjoyed this amazing meal. And after dinner, Boris shared a nice red wine, and later made a specialty coffee.
There was music, there were stories, and there was cake. It was a wonderful celebration.
Dia de los primos (Cousins’ Day (night?))
But, for the cousins, the night was young. Eventually our kids and all their cousins packed into several vehicles and made their way across town to the AirBnB that Abi had rented.
Here’s what Josie and Ludi had to say about the sleepover:
Cousin’s Day is a tradition that can only truly be enjoyed by cousins. Therefore, if you are reading this and are not a cousin (aka, literally ANYONE who was not present) then there is no point in telling you what took place. No, there were no sacred rituals or animal slaughtering of any kind (except for delicious bbq pizza), but rather, sentiment, friendship, love (except for when we are playing Uno, where it is a cuthroat world, and everyone must do what it takes to survive).
We spent the evening in not-so-hushed conversations, arguing over movie choices and pizza, and belting out our beautiful, angelic, melodic voices in a karaoke queue. We did strange things — Ludi and Genesis communicated solely with the archaic device known as Google Translate. We proceeded to binge all three Shrek movies (English, Spanish subs) that night, with very few persons awake to see the last minutes (Josie and Joseph were such. Ludi, surprisingly, is an avid snorer).
However, unfortunately, one cannot fully disclose all the events that occurred, as that is a breach of contract (the possibly nonexistent contract of Cousin’s Day).