This is Baby, an African Grey parrot. Baby, Flitter and Flutter (finches) are in our charge as Bill and Sharon fly off to Hawaii today to learn variations of the hula on different islands.
Nancy and I went on our first driving adventure in La Paz. We decided to shop at the local markets as often as we can. "Local" means you find someone at the market who speaks a few words of English, and can tolerate you butchering the Spanish language. So far we have been received very politely. Today we went to the Bravo Market, a collection of permanent booths where you can buy fish, pork, beef, vegetables, lunch, great power drinks and a host of other items. We were able to buy vegetables and shrimp with lots of pointing and help from our phrase book. At least, we won't starve!
A highlight today was the arrival of the water truck. The tap water here is very drinkable, but is high in minerals. Most residents who can afford it opt to buy 5 gallon plastic jugs of filtered water. The water vendor travels the neighorhoods, broadcasting a song from his truck like the ice cream man. For a mere 10 pesos per container, he will bring in full water jugs and take away the empties.
After a cooling dip in the pool, we ate our shrimp and a huge salad topped with the most flavorful avocado - purchased this morning. What a life!
