This is not a particularly easy process for Bolivians. It requires paperwork, making an appointment online with the embassy, and traveling to La Paz. That trip is no trifle: it is an extremely long bus ride, and it is high in the altiplano. Since Yoli's parents are older and because they live in Santa Cruz in the lowlands, we were very worried about altitude sickness.

They left Monday from Santa Cruz, and traveled first by bus to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is higher than Santa Cruz, but not so high as La Paz. They spent a day there sightseeing, in order to help their bodies acclimatize before continuing on.

They had to wake up early this morning (Thursday) in order to make sure they were at the embassy before the 8 a.m. appointment. I understand that Yoli's dad was on his knees praying much of the night! We all had a very real fear that they would be denied the visa. After all, when it comes to the embassy, you are guilty of wanting to become an illegal immigrant unless you can prove otherwise. We have heard many horror stories.

When they got to the embassy at 7 a.m., there were already 10 people in front of them in line. Ah, the benefits of age: the embassy folks moved Yoli's parents to the front of the line. Apparently they were treated well and not asked very many questions during the interview.

Anyway, this is exciting news. We aren't 100% sure when the visas' will take effect. We should know in a few days. Our assumption is that we will be able to have Yoli's parents visit beginning some time in June.

I really hope this isn't true.

What will be the ramifications in terms of Bolivia's relationship with the United States?

UPDATE: Bolivia is forcefully denying the report. Here are some follow-up stories:

• Bolivia denies supplying Iran with uranium
• Bolivia confirms plans to explore for uranium
• Israel to sell 'war on Iran' plans at OAS?

This warden message is being issued to advise U.S. citizens traveling to and residing in Bolivia that for the duration of the month during Bolivia's "carnaval" season, it is common to encounter groups of people throwing water balloons at both pedestrians and vehicles (sometimes frozen which can cause injuries). It is advisable to remain aware of your surroundings while walking and to avoid areas where people are congregating with water balloons, squirt guns, and other liquid projectiles. If you are in a vehicle, keep your windows rolled up while you drive around the city.

I got a firsthand taste of this in January 2005, when Yoli and I were traveling around the country just as Carnaval was beginning.

As we arrived in Sucre, kids began pelting the bus with water balloons. You might imagine that it's no problem to just keep your car or bus windows rolled up. But in Bolivia, January is the heart of summertime. It can be hot depending on which city you are in -- and bus/taxi rides are never air-conditioned.

Our windows were cracked just a little bit, but still I recall my leg being soaked. Some people on the other side of the bus got a lot more wet.

While we were in Sucre, we took pains to avoid kids (or young adult males) while we were in public. They were everywhere with their waterguns and water balloons. We were even blackmailed by a little kid who wanted 50 centavos or he was going to soak us. We pretended not to understand him.

Over on the weblog Barrio Flores, Eduardo tells a great story about an angry taxi driver who has to deal with the mobs of water-wielding teens.

Tonight I finally got to give him a hard time, because Bolivia knocked off Peru 3-0 in World Cup qualifier.

Bolivia is is perhaps best known in the soccer world for its stadium in La Paz. The extreme altitude can give opponents a bit of a problem. But still Bolivia doesn't usually make much noise in World Cup competition.

It might be different this year.

Bolivia's Joaquin Botero scored with two headers in the first 12 minutes of the game. He is now Bolivia's top all-time scorer with 17 goals.

Last month Bolivia raised eyebrows when they held powerhouse Brazil to a draw playing in Rio de Janeiro.

Bolivia has an outside chance of qualifying for the World Cup. They face Uruguay next week.

Well, the girls made it back safe and sound and life is slowly beginning to return to normal. You can see how much fun they had on the plane (above).

Check out the following photos, which are from the last week or so Yoli and the girls were there.

This is Jadzia at her church class. The church is literally right next door to Don Hector's house.

Jadzia watches Don Hector do a little car repair.

Don Hector and Doña Lucila pose with the girls.

Here are some photos of Marco and the boys during one of his leather-working classes at El Jordán.

Yoli's sister Lucy holds the girls the night before they returned home.

Apparently the campesinos are lifting their blockades until Oct. 15 to give the government and the opposition leaders time to negotiate. All the festivities for tomorrow's Dia de Santa Cruz (24 de Septiembre) are back on.

You can read a bit more in this news brief from El Deber (but the translation isn't great)

Anyway, upon hearing this news, she called the airport to see if her flight was still canceled. They told her that as far as they had heard, the flight was still on.

Then she called me. And then I called American Airlines. The person there insisted the flight was still canceled.

So I called Yoli back. We agreed that it was still worth it for her to drive to the airport tomorrow with the luggage and the girls on the chance that the flight would still leave.

After that I continued calling American. It took several calls before they finally told me that, yes, the flight was scheduled after all. Then we got Yoli and the girls switched back onto tomorrow's flight (and there were some hand-wringing moments during that process).

Long story short: Yoli is returning home tomorrow after all. Hooray!

Her flight has been rebooked for next Wednesday, so that means they'll stay in Bolivia another week. Please pray that things will cool down and that they will be able to fly out of there on Wednesday as scheduled.

We are concerned by the "siege" that is taking place around Santa Cruz. Basically various groups of supporters of the government have come down from Cochabamba and other places and are marching on the city. They have established blockades at the major roads out of Santa Cruz. Yoli says that some of them are miners with dynamite.

You can read more at MABB and Pronto

This is disappointing to Yoli, because Santa Cruz has generally been a more laid-back place than the western highland cities in Bolivia. These sort of city-strangling tactics are common there ... but now it is happening to Santa Cruz, too.

Our hope is that American continues to fly out of Bolivia, so Yoli, Jadzia, and Ludi can get home. But also we hope that peace can come to Bolivia without these tactics and confrontations that lead to bloodshed.

Jadzia dancing "B-I-N-G-O" in Spanish.

At the birthday party of Yoli's high school classmate Karina. Also, Carol and Enrique from high school are there.

Ludi and Jadzia playing with the children of Yoli's high school classmates.

Ludi playing in the bed with her cousins Génesis and Raquel.

Jadzia likes going to her "school" at El Jordán, where Heidi is her teacher.

Ludi has become good friends with Corina's cousin Jenny.

Yoli taught a cake decorating class for the girls at El Jordán. They show off the soccer ball cake they decorated together.

And here's another cake they made, a baby shower cake.

Yoli's friend Dora holds her new baby boy, Abner Kenneth.

The Alasitas Fair is opening tomorrow. I would like to go. Maybe I can get some crafts or aguayos, or something to decorate our home. But I'm not sure ... the artisans from other parts of Bolivia haven't come because of the blockades on the roads to Santa Cruz.

I hope I can find some puzzles or brain teasers at the fair, like the ones at the Science Center. But I'm not sure if I'll find what I want. It is usually busy on weekends, so I might try going on Monday.

This morning, Ludi used the potty. So, Jadzia said she was old and big and didn't need the little potty. She climbed up onto the toilet seat (without the adaptor) and was like that almost all day. But eventually, she told me she was going to use the adaptor. I was afraid she would fall inside.

The ironic thing is, Jadzia says she is big, but often she still wants us to help spoon-feed her.

Marco has been very nice to Jadzia. She likes to see him working and when he says "hi", she comes back to report to me that he said "hi" to her. Everything he says, she comes back to me to report it.

The other day, he told her in a scary voice "Jadzia, soy un loboooooooooo" (Jadzia, I am a wolf).

Jadzia laughed loud and came to tell me, "Marco dice que está un lobo, está chistoso." (Marco said that he is a wolf. He's funny.)

Now when she sees him, she asks, "Marco está un lobo?" (she's not using the correct verb, but you get the point)

Jadzia also gets excited when she sees Corina and keeps asking her what she's doing.

She speaks Spanish almost all the time and even asks me to sing some songs in their Spanish version.

Jadzia and Ludi have really had their share of birthdays in Bolivia. Here's a couple of photos from Yoli showing the girls at a birthday party they attended about a week and a half ago, the same Saturday that I left Bolivia. (That's Jadzia greeting the birthday girl in the photo above)

This is a more recent photo of Ludi making a glorious mess while eating some food.

With more time to spend in Bolivia, Yoli has begun teaching cross-stitch to some students at El Jordán.

She tells me that Ludi has been speaking some things rather clearly in Spanish: "No quiero" (I don't want); "Dame" (Give me); "No toque mama" (don't touch, mama); "Coma" (eat! (as a command)).

Because Jadzia has accumulated a couple of goody bags from various birthday parties, she is constantly asking for candy or cookies. In terms of real food, she seems to crave cornflakes and tacos.

Yoli says that Jadzia seems a bit bored and maybe ready to go home. Of course it doesn't help that Yoli was telling her they would be going home in advance of Sunday's flight ... and then it was cancelled. So she had to explain that to Jadzia, who probably doesn't really understand.

Yoli has interviewed her mom on tape for our family history project. She says that her mom surprised her, talking in great detail and sharing many memories from when she was young. There were stories that Yoli had not heard before.

The rhetoric in Bolivia is not ratcheting down. It's getting worse and worse, with president Evo Morales now calling the violence in the country a fascist coup attempt.

He has imposed martial law on the province of Pando, flown in troops to restore order, and declared Pando's governor a wanted man, blaming him for the violence there. The death toll in Pando now has reached 28.

There's a good story on how this is playing out for everyday people in Santa Cruz, which is where Yoli is staying.

I will try to provide more information as I get it. Please pray that Yoli and the girls and our friends and family will continue to be safe ... and that flights will resume as soon as possible.

Well, I'm at Eliza's today. Boris wanted to learn how to make a lemon pie. But it seemed to me he wasn't that interested. I don't know, maybe it's just I'm so tired here. I can't wait to go back home.

My mom cooked "Sabalo" fish, which was good. I made the lemon pie, with little help from Boris, but we haven't eaten it yet. Jadzia and Ludi are napping, but Jadzia has a fever. I brought the video camera, so I hope I can film my mom later.

Things here in Santa Cruz, well in Bolivia don't look good. I saw in the news today that all international flights are cancelled, at least till this weekend. But we'll see what happens. I hope everything goes back to normal. What worries me is that one of Jadzia's medicine might run out if we stay here longer.

Tonight my friend Dora should have her baby delivered by c-section. I'm going to call her home tomorrow and find out how she is and I'll try to visit her.