Thursday, November 29, 2007 Going to Bolivia!
Got into Arica at 3 am, found a taxi to take us into town to find a hostel.
Had no plan, no idea what to do except we knew we wanted to go to La Paz asap (despite warnings not to go from our program director b/c of protests in Sucre over silver mining and the fact that US citizens need a visa to enter Bolivia starting Dec. 1. So are plan was to go the 29th and leave for Peru the 30th before we needed the visa!)
On the way into the city, pass a bus headed for La Paz, taxi driver turns around, waves it down. Nick talks to drive, 3 seats left but 4 of us. We nearly got on a random bus to La Paz at 3:30 in the morning!
Went to hostel, slept for 4 hours. At 9 same taxi driver brought us to bus station, get on bus to La Paz.
Bus to La Paz, 7 hours
Delcious lunch with wine
Meet Chilean rapper traveling with wife and son to La Paz then Lima to do concerts
Chile/Bolivia Border- nearly leave Natalie and Chris
Lots of crappy movies, really load
Make book list
Beautiful scenery, two huge volcanos,
can obviously feel increase in altitiude.
Get to La Paz around 7 pm, incredibly city in a valley shaped like a bowl, nearly overflowing. But this bowl is above (way way above sea level, so no worries about flooding!)
Buy ticket to Puno, Peru for the next day at 2 pm.
Ask taxi driver to take us to a hostel near the center of town. Brings us to hotel, pay 3 dollars each for the night.
Walk to art museum, awesome
p.s. with all the walking, the altitude is very obvious. I felt winded and my toes and fingers tingled like they were asleep. And we were all a little giddy. We decided to skip wine at dinner.
Walk to dinner to restaurant called Bella Vista (Beautiful View) on top of Hotel Presidente, with 360 view of city, recommended as best restaurant in La Paz in Frommers
Ate delicious, huge trout from Lake Titicaca, salad bar, water and dessert for about 10 USD$. Boys had huge steak for same price.
Walked back to hotel (slowly) and went to bed exhausted but happy
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 The adventure begins!!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007 The adventure begins!!
Getting a cold sore from stress
Finish the paper (sort of), Olga bought me Diet Coke to celebrate!
Interview for senior staff position at Tulane residence life
Almost found a house for Emilio and his friends in NOLA
Talk with Trevor=intense
Hurriedly pack
Meet Natalie, Nick and Chris in metro, take bus to airport
Take altitude pills on the way, looks like drugs
Get through airport without showing a single ID
Waiting for plane, meet couple from San Francisco traveling all of Chile
Randomly sit next to the San Francisco couple, talk with the woman the entire flight about life after college, marriage (they just recently got engaged), changing your goals/dreams, expectations etc.
Had a beer on the plane b/c they encouraged me to!
Getting a cold sore from stress
Finish the paper (sort of), Olga bought me Diet Coke to celebrate!
Interview for senior staff position at Tulane residence life
Almost found a house for Emilio and his friends in NOLA
Talk with Trevor=intense
Hurriedly pack
Meet Natalie, Nick and Chris in metro, take bus to airport
Take altitude pills on the way, looks like drugs
Get through airport without showing a single ID
Waiting for plane, meet couple from San Francisco traveling all of Chile
Randomly sit next to the San Francisco couple, talk with the woman the entire flight about life after college, marriage (they just recently got engaged), changing your goals/dreams, expectations etc.
Had a beer on the plane b/c they encouraged me to!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Almost done!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Almost done!
Again I spent almost all day working on my paper. I went to mass and had to say goodbye to my new friends since they were heading home the next day. I worked until about 8 pm, then met up in the swanky part of Santiago to have a beer and relax with some friends. It started out just being Courtney, Hannah, Matt and I but by 10 pm there are well over 20 of our gringo friends!
When Nick finally showed up he told us his funny story about getting robbed in the park by a man with a 12 inch kitchen knife. Luckily no one got hurt and he only lost $30 bucks, so we all had a good laugh. Everyone else was staying out all night but seeing as I still had to write about 8 pages, I headed in early.
Again I spent almost all day working on my paper. I went to mass and had to say goodbye to my new friends since they were heading home the next day. I worked until about 8 pm, then met up in the swanky part of Santiago to have a beer and relax with some friends. It started out just being Courtney, Hannah, Matt and I but by 10 pm there are well over 20 of our gringo friends!
When Nick finally showed up he told us his funny story about getting robbed in the park by a man with a 12 inch kitchen knife. Luckily no one got hurt and he only lost $30 bucks, so we all had a good laugh. Everyone else was staying out all night but seeing as I still had to write about 8 pages, I headed in early.
Monday, November 26, 2007 Just a little bit more work, you can do it!
Monday, November 26, 2007 Just a little bit more work, you can do it!
Today was a dull but important day. I worked all day frantically working on my Poverty Paper. The only breaks I took were to go to mass at noon, where I saw my two new friends and to eat. Took a little break to meet up with some of my girlfriends to get ice cream and say goodbye to my friend Sara who is going home early. But other than that, it was work work work. I got a lot done but still have a lot to go!
Today was a dull but important day. I worked all day frantically working on my Poverty Paper. The only breaks I took were to go to mass at noon, where I saw my two new friends and to eat. Took a little break to meet up with some of my girlfriends to get ice cream and say goodbye to my friend Sara who is going home early. But other than that, it was work work work. I got a lot done but still have a lot to go!
Sunday, November 25, 2007 I’m supposed to be doing my paper, but I’m having too much fun!
Sunday, November 25, 2007 I’m supposed to be doing my paper, but I’m having too much fun!
I woke up and went on a quick run, then went to the Museum Palacio Cousino a few blocks from my house. I’d heard great things about the museum and knew that since time was running short, if I didn’t go now I’d never go. The Palacio (Palace) is a huge house built by an old Chilean family that owned copper mines and wineries. Inside it absolutely beautiful and filled with all kinds of extravagances: 19 types of Italian marble on the staircase, a 2 ton crystal chandelier, tons of priceless artwork, gold trimmed everything, etc. Now the house is owned by the City Government and they use it to host big parties.
Afterwards I came home and had lunch with Olga then spent the afternoon working on homework. That evening Olga and I went to her church because they were having the confirmations. With this sacrament, I was able to see all 7 sacraments of the Catholic Church in Chile! An amazing and amazingly old Cardinal presided and during the homily made a funny comment about parejas, the Chilean word for an unmarried couple who lives like a married couple. He said, “Parejas? Me carga la palabra pareja!” (Couple? I hate the word “couple”!”) Then he went on to say that only animals live “en parejas” (as an unmarried couple). He basically was denouncing the decline in rates of marriages and commenting on how it is leading to the decay of the family and therefore the society. Ok, so I guess you had to be there, but it really was funny!
After mass Olga and I headed home and about a block away we suddenly hear mariachi singers. We turned around and realized that a man was serenading from the street to a woman (his girlfriend I assume) about 7 stories up. When they finished the song the small crowd that had gathered started cheering and she invited him up, a sign of a successful serenade! When we got home I spent the evening working on my 17 page paper, like I should have been doing all day!
I woke up and went on a quick run, then went to the Museum Palacio Cousino a few blocks from my house. I’d heard great things about the museum and knew that since time was running short, if I didn’t go now I’d never go. The Palacio (Palace) is a huge house built by an old Chilean family that owned copper mines and wineries. Inside it absolutely beautiful and filled with all kinds of extravagances: 19 types of Italian marble on the staircase, a 2 ton crystal chandelier, tons of priceless artwork, gold trimmed everything, etc. Now the house is owned by the City Government and they use it to host big parties.
Afterwards I came home and had lunch with Olga then spent the afternoon working on homework. That evening Olga and I went to her church because they were having the confirmations. With this sacrament, I was able to see all 7 sacraments of the Catholic Church in Chile! An amazing and amazingly old Cardinal presided and during the homily made a funny comment about parejas, the Chilean word for an unmarried couple who lives like a married couple. He said, “Parejas? Me carga la palabra pareja!” (Couple? I hate the word “couple”!”) Then he went on to say that only animals live “en parejas” (as an unmarried couple). He basically was denouncing the decline in rates of marriages and commenting on how it is leading to the decay of the family and therefore the society. Ok, so I guess you had to be there, but it really was funny!
After mass Olga and I headed home and about a block away we suddenly hear mariachi singers. We turned around and realized that a man was serenading from the street to a woman (his girlfriend I assume) about 7 stories up. When they finished the song the small crowd that had gathered started cheering and she invited him up, a sign of a successful serenade! When we got home I spent the evening working on my 17 page paper, like I should have been doing all day!
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