Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Nuestra Casa

Ok...so we have officially as of today, been in our "new" house for a full month. I cannot even begin to express how this place has changed our existence here in Bolivia. This is our third place in 3 months, and by far the best. Amelia's entire demeanour changed when we moved into this house (which may be a result of our renewed emotional state) and we immediately felt like we were home.
One of our living rooms...the previous renter bought the couch set at El Alto and the taxi driver strapped all of them to the top of his car.
The other living room where we spend most of our time...hippy living. Amelia loves sitting on the floor. 

Dining room.
Hallway lit with skylights. 
Our kitchen...it's rare to see a full-sized fridge.

The office. This is the warmest and cosiest room in the house.
Our bedroom.

Amelia's bedroom.

We took this place over from a couple from Spain. It is spacious, completely furnished, shares a garden with another Spanish family (who have kids), is incredibly quiet, private and safe, and has fruit trees ripe for the picking. When it rains, the beautiful aroma of the citronella tree wafts through the yard. The entire house is lit with natural light due to the skylights that run the length of the flat. Being that we are in rainy season, we have the pleasure of daily listening to the drops hit the plastic skylights, creating a cosy, romantic feel. We are a mere 4 blocks from the Centre, live directly across the street from a convenience store (and when I say convenient, I mean convenient...toilet paper, eggs, wine, beer, diapers that you can buy individually, chips, noodles, the best banana bread...EVERYTHING), live next door to a SalteƱ
aria, and a place that sells "almuerzo familiar" (familiar lunch...for 10Bs ($2) you get soup, meat and rice, and a dessert).

Plums. I made plum jam out of them. I don't think Bolivians have ever tried it. They were very surprised when I told them. 
The garden. Our house is on the right.
Cherries. 

Purple plums. 

Tumbo. Looks like passionfruit on the inside, but tastes like nothing I've ever had before. Really sour...used mostly for juice. 

Anyone want to come over? We'd be happy to have you!


6 comments:

  1. I would LOVE to visit!!! Your new digs look fantastic! Will you stay there for the rest of your time? Our renovations our well underway; we ( Lyle, John and I ) have temporarily moved to footwear... A sad tale. The renos are looking good. Embrace your fantastic experience ; I love reading about it!

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  2. Deb...thanks for reading and following! We love hearing from you! We WILL stay in this house for the rest of our time here...thankfully. We were all pretty tired of moving and love this place so much. Looking forward to seeing the changes at the Abilities. Haha! Footwear! Love it!

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  3. You have no idea how much we long to visit u 3 there!! Thank-you SO much for the pictures and description.. HUGS!!!

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    1. Judy! How fun it would be to have you guys here! Amelia talks about Papa having cows and hay all the time! We can't wait to come to the farm to see you!

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  4. Hippy? Hahahaha! It’s a wonderful home, nonetheless. I love your skylit hallway, too. Ever thought of having skylights in the bedrooms or maybe in the living room, too? There’s a lot to love about skylights. On a cloudless, starlit night, it will really put things in perspective for you. Trust me. But we don’t have a skylight in our house so I just settle for going outside and sitting (read:brooding, as some of my friends like to call it) by the curb.

    Roxie Tenner @ WindowTreatmentsPhiladelphia

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    1. Thanks Roxie! There are skylights in both the bedrooms and the living room. We are in Bolivia and this is not our place. We are merely renting! Thanks for checking in though!

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