Sapa Collo (Sleeping Lion) Hill

Yesterday I took Bryam Sardon up on a previous offer to accompany me and we climbed to the top of Sapa Collo hill. All during the climb up and down we talked of gospel things. He is a really deep thinker and loves to delve into scholarly gospel subjects. He is in the process of submitting his papers to serve a mission.

It was a hard climb for me, since the altitude is about 13,000 feet. I had to stop and pant a number of times, but Bryam was patient.

When we got to the top I took pictures and two videos that I want to share.

This is a picture of Sapa Collo taken from Collo Bartolo (St. Bartholomew Hill) that I took a month ago when we took a taxi to the top of that hill.

I took this of Sapa Collo from the city pier the same day

This shot of it is from our living room window.

This is from the top of the hill, looking east.

This is looking southeast over the north half of the city.

And this is looking southeast over the south half of the city.

This is northwest towards Ilave.

And this is looking north. Beyond Bryam, across the bay of the lake is the farming community of Pilcuyo, which is politically part of Ilave. If you enlarge, you can probably see the tin roofs of the farmhouses shining in the sun.

And heading back, this is the road at the base of the hill, looking towards another hill I want to climb--Cara Collo. But I will save that for another time.

Finally I took two videos panning from northwest to southeast...

... and then southeast to north.

Monday 12
We spent the morning working on the form letters. We both revised, and I translated.
Bishop Oscar Ribera, the handyman, told us about Juli and Yunguyu and Aymara.
President and Sister Davis arrived late. They were both sick with colds.
And they gave a policeman a ride, which meant they had to go the speed limit (90 kph/55 mph).
They traded cars and headed to Juliaca, but that car didn’t work right.
They came back and traded, but this car’s windshield wipers were worn out and rain is promised.
They canceled the trip and rested the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Jackie and I continued to revise form letters.
FHE—Jackie—Farkle.

Sunday 11
I read the priesthood manual, Lesson 25, on the internet.
I worked on putting my diary onto my blog, covering since we left home.
We walked to church. It was only a few blocks away, but required a lot of stair climbing.
We arrived in plenty of time, were warmly greeted, and enjoyed the meetings.
Sister Davis called twice about when they are coming home.
They will spend the night in Tacna and come home tomorrow morning.
We watched Music & the Spoken Word.
We are back to spotty reception, but it was still very good.

Saturday 10
We spent most of the day revising mission form letters per President Davis’ request.
We had lunch in the back yard patio and watched birds.

Friday 09
At 1430 we called the office elders to see if they needed us.
They came and got us with Panchito, the other mission driver.
Jackie copied their office form letters onto a memory stick to work on at home.
Panchito took me to get my hair cut.
I helped Elder Garcia figure out an Excel problem.
I helped his comp by calling moribund elders/sisters’ families and stake presidents.
Moribund means that their mission in Peru is almost over and they are about to cross over to the other side.

Thursday 08
President Davis assigned us to work in Juli on Lake Titicaca.
We go there in two weeks after we get our residence permits in Lima.
He and Sister Davis took us to the office en route to interviews in other cities.
Jackie and I installed their new photocopier and their new temple recommend scanner.
Mission driverr, Obispito, drove us to Franco (a grocery store) and to the mission home.
I had a long talk with Bishop Oscar, the gardener, during his lunch break.
When a missionary, he and his companion were taken by terrorists. Quite a hair raising tale!
We took a long nap.
We set up our laptops in the president’s office and caught up on diary entries, facebooks, etc.

Wednesday 07
President Davis interviewed us so he could make the decision of where to assign us.
Sister Davis drove us to the mission office, gave us a tour, then to her favorite grocery store.
We rested the rest of the day.
President was going to tell us our assignment, but he got home too late from his interviews.