La Paz

We returned last Tuesday from an awesome trip to La Paz. The people in Santa Cruz seemed very concerned about us going to La Paz. We were repeatedly told how dangerous it was and to watch out for thiefs and fake police and taxi drivers. We were also warned that the people of La Paz don´t like gringos so to not be surprised if we were treated badly. Fortunately we encountered none of these problems, though we were in very touristy parts of La Paz the entire time. While I can´t say for sure (its really hard to gain insight into the political situation of another country), it seems like there are a lot of tensions in Bolivia right now between the indigenous people (predominately Evo supporters) and people who live in the ¨half moon¨ (eastern side of Bolivia, predominately anit-Evo). While I haven´t been able to get anyone to articulate clearly why they are for or against Evo, people on both sides are very passionate in their beliefs. It seemed that some of the warnings about La Paz were arising from tensions between these two groups.

Buttttt, back to the trip, it was awesome! We met up with my friend Howard (from Wake) who is currently traveling through South America until December. The first day we visited the various museums in La Paz, including a really interesting museum about the Coca leaf. We also took a half day trip to the Valley of the Moon and visited the witch market (got a lot of Christmas shopping out of the way).

Some of you hardcore blog followers (surely there are a few) may remember me mentioning that most dangerous road in the world is somewhere in Bolivia. Well we found it and we biked down it! This trip was by far the most exciting thing we did in La Paz. The trips starts out on a pavement, but after about 30 min of biking the road becomes completely gravel. The entire ride was about 60 km with drops off the side reaching 1000 meters at some points. Needless to say, we (and by we I mean Maya and myself) were riding very very slowly. The rest of our group was apparently professional mountain bikers who rode down at incredible speeds. I did feel better about my biking abilities when we passed three other groups on the way down, I think we just had a ridiculously fast group. The guides also took incredible pictures of the scenery (and us) which we´d love to upload but continue to have trouble with the computers/cameras/something. The trip ended at a hotel where we ate lunch and swam in the pool.

Our guide told us 17 people have been killed doing the road on bikes, but apparently most of those accidents occurred with cars before Bolivia built a new road about 3 years ago. Since the new road, he said only one person has been killed on a bike. The new road was the most expensive road in Bolivia to build, but since our guide said that tour buses and trucks would fall off the most dangerous road almost monthly, I´d say it was worth the cost. I tried to confirm these facts without much success, so take what you will from them. (I did find an article stating ¨at least 13 people¨ have been killed biking).

Montero, Montero, Montero

Though its been a while since the last blog post, we are continuing to have an awesome time in Montero. As I mentioned in the last post we have settled nicely into the Bolivian way of life and have even made real Bolivian friends. This feat may seem trivial, but trust me its no small task. Between the language barriers, the cultural differences (not everyone here likes gringos), and the general difficulties that go along with meeting new people, I am very satisfied with the network of friends we´ve created. We´ve gone jet skiing (never expected to do that in Bolivia), out to eat, to school parties and taken drives around town with the people we´ve met. One of our friends also has a pool, which has proven crucial as temperatures have reached over 38 degrees (100F). Sadly though, our first friend Daniel left for the States last weekend. So if you see him, tell him we said Hi!

While it may seem like all play here (its just more fun to write about), we´ve also been working everyday, including Saturday (and people think Americans work too much). Its been fun though, and we have really gotten to know and enjoy the people we work with at the clinics. Most days we are either working with their filing system, visiting houses, doing construction or making cotton balls and gauze. The home visits are really interesting and apparently this method of community outreach (pioneered by CSRA) is now being imitated all over the country. The main goal of the visits is to check on the health of children and pregnant women. We also vaccinate dogs, cats, and monkeys (?!?) against rabies. Maya and I have also been helping with inventory, which includes painting a number on basically every single thing (chairs, bookshelves, computers, etc) in the three clinics. Sometimes the numbers are declared ¨feo¨ (ugly) and we have to write them again. Its been a pretty funny process.

In addition to working with the clinics, we´ve also continued to visit the two orphanages in town regularly. At the all girls orphanage, we´ve been helping with homework (mostly math) and playing with the girls. We even swam with them one day in their ¨pool¨ (more like a giant bathtub). The other orphanage is an all boys orphanage funded by a Rotary club in Highland, North Carolina. Only fourteen boys live there so we´ve really been able to get to know most of them during our visits. With the guys we´ve mostly been playing futbol, I think I´ve even started to get my touch back.

Tonight we are taking a break from work and going to La Paz for a couple of days. We´ll take a bus ride overnight for 13 hours, but after Argentina that seems like a walk in the park. La Paz is the capital of Bolivia and is supposed to be beautiful. Its higher than Cochabamba, but hopefully we won´t have issues with the altitude. We´re packing our coca leaves just in case.

We have a lot of pictures to post, but due to slow internet and risk of electrocution when connecting the camera, we´ve been falling behind. Hopefully it will happen soon. Nothing else for now, eat a bagel for me!