Corn and cats...

We were driving home from our visits one day last week - in town and in our area - and we noticed HUGE piles of corn at every fruit and vegetable stand.  So we stopped and bought 4 ears.  They cost about $.25 each and were humongous.

Looks pretty big, doesn't it?!

We had 2 elders over for lunch and enjoyed sharing the corn with them.  But...I do have to say this:  the flavor wasn't as good as at home.  That part was disappointing.  Nevertheless, it sure was fun having fresh corn-on-the-cob!








Now look at these darling cats I just found out in our backyard!  The one in front is just a little kitten.  That was a fun find this afternoon!  I was sitting in the kitchen reading my scriptures and having some study time online when I looked up and saw some friends in the backyard.  They look pretty comfortable so I'm guessing this is a fairly frequent thing they do.  It beats our coming home one P-day and finding a dog in our backyard, barking away frantically.  Later that week I saw a dog up on the back wall and decided that's how the other one came to be in our backyard.  At least cats can jump fences and leave whenever they want.

A Grand Birthday Party

Little Anita Ledesma had a birthday party for her 9th birthday and we hopped in to wish her a Happy Birthday.  They had a jumping castle, face painting for the girls, tons of food for everyone, and party favors.  This is the fanciest birthday I've seen down here.

The face painting table.  Girls like this no matter where they live.

Margarita Ledesma, Carlos Verandi, Nildo and Silvina Ledesma - family and a friend to help Anita enjoy her day.

Lucila Ledesma, Bianca Hammon, and Camila Ledesma enjoying the evening and helping Anita with her party.

Matias Quiroga hurrying to jump in the castle.

Goodbye Elder Gossling!

Elder Gossling has been in Catamarca the entire we've been here, arriving 2 days after we did.  He finished his mission this week and now we miss him.  Thanks for all your hard work, Elder Gossling!

          This picture was taken outside the bus terminal as he began the final leg of his journey home.

More views of Catamarca from above the city

Here's a picture of the El Jumeal Dam which is on the west side of Catamarca, just as the Ambato mountains begin.  It's hard to see but it's filled to capacity.  The city is beyond the dam.

On Monday we drove up to the mountains, the Ancasti's, on the east side of town and here are some pictures from that side of the city.

First of all, shrines to El Gauchito Gil/the little cowboy Gil are alive and well all over the area.

This little town on the right is on the road we took to drive up for the view.  It's so green and lovely.  Below is the road to Túcuman, a city about 125 miles north of Catamarca.

               It was quite a windy road to get to our destination!

We loved the view!

There's Catamarca - doesn't it look rather small?  We sure thought so!  We live down there, visit members down there, deal with their crazy traffic down there, enjoy our time with the missionaries and members down there...  That's our home for now!  And that big mountain range beyond the city?  That's the Ambato mountains.