Pigeons and Police

We never thought that we would be so afraid of birds like we are here. The other day, while enjoying our extended stay in Cochabamba we decided to go to one of our favorite parks, the same one where we met our little friend Alejandra. The park yesterday was less crowded, definitely less people, BUT WAY MORE PIGEONS. A cute family decided to share the bench we had been occupying and we gladly offered up some seats. But with them they had brought CORN, the object of ever pigeons desire.....as they began dumping the corn on the ground, the birds crept closer and closer to us.... let´s just say we ended up being surrounded by them. Did we mention earlier that the Carnival festivities also involve lighting firecrackers and sometimes even dynomite in the street? Well, needless to say that the birds don´t like this very much and everytime there was a loud boom they flew up around our heads onto the rooftop of a nearby church...but not to worry, they of course returned for the food. Pigeons can never resist delicious corn we have learned.

The situation escalated as the birds became less and less afraid of us and crept closer to the bench. We were partticularly concerned because some seemed to have unusually large snaggle beaks that could surely take us down and /or give us some sort of disease. The first offender merely slapped Jo in the leg with his wing. The situation however quickly escalated with one flying up and sitting on Aly´s foot....then again another slap to Jo´s leg...this time by an angrier flying pigeon. Needless to say, everyone in the park was laughing at us, but really, those birds were out of control...! We finally had to leave our bench...the birds were just too much for us, especially the bird who looked like he was a carnivore. We haven´t returned to this park since, but maybe tomorrow? Actually, we are totally going to go tomorrow.

Now.....today we definitely hung out with the police a lot. Not to be alarmed, we did not commit any crimes, just needed to report Jo´s stolen passport. The day began with going to the U.S. Embassy bright and early..... we actually got in touch with a guy who works there who was super helpful. The first thing that he told us though, was that we needed to go make a police report so that the US government would know that Jo was not trying to sell her identity on the streets of Bolivia for thousands of dollars. What? Who would do this? Well... now we might start up a business.....haha j/k!!

We ended up going to two different police stations. The first one refused to write a report for us.....while the second one on our first try turned us away on the first try. Needless to say it took some deals between the US consulate, ourselves, and the police to get us in there.....it was seriously like a movie. After many hours of waiting inside the police station Jo finally got her report and we made it back to the consulate´s office. We managed to fill out all the paperwork...which is the good news.... the passport will probably take until monday or tuesday though. However, we are thankful for the help that we recieved and for our new consulate homie that went the extra mile for us, it is much appreciated.

So now, we are still hanging out in Cochabamba....we found a whole other side of town today and have to admit that we ate at a Burger King. For reals though, it was the best comfort that we could have asked for since we have been yearning for delicious food and after spending hours in a police station sweet talking officers it was the best thing that could have happened!! And yes, Jo ate a double cheeseburger....the first one in 11 years....it had to be done though!!! We have decided that we never go to Burger King in the states, but tomorrow....we will return for some more delicious food!

This weekend is the actual Carnival celebration in Cochabamba, so we are excited for that. Still counting our blessings, and doing our best to avoid water balloons and pigeons!

We love and miss you all!!! Until next time, adventure is out there!!!