Je ne comprends pas français, parlez-vous anglais?

"Pardon me, I don't understand french, do you speak english?"

I spent much of my plane ride to Stockholm and then to Paris memorizing that phrase. I ended up using it on the cab driver that dropped me off at my dorm. But we'll get to that later. Let's start at O'hare.

Yesterday I got to O'hare and, after being charged $200 for an extra bag and an overweight bag, I had 3 hours until my flight. I took my time in the bathroom, then dilly-dallied in one of those stores that sells candy, nuts, magazines, books, neck pillows, and converters. I sneezed while looking at the book titles and someone, from what seemed to be the corner of the store across from me, said "bless you." I looked around to thank this person and noticed no one was looking at me, and there was only one guy in the corner that I thought I'd heard the voice from, and he was looking at the wall with his back to me. I decided to declare my "thank you" to the room at large and when I turned back to the wall of books I heard a "you're welcome" from the same voice. But still no one was looking at me! It was odd.

I moved on to security and picked one out of the 5 lines that I thought looked the fastest and the shortest. I am always wrong about security lines. As soon as I commit to a line, some other line seems to be on fast-forward while mine is in slow-motion. The large Indian family in front of me was not helping anything; they didn't understand english very well and kept needing to take more things out to put on the security belt. I still had two and a half hours so I wasn't in a rush but I still didn't want to be in the losing line! I just had to wait patiently until I finally saw my crate enter the x-ray box thing.

After finding my gate, I chatted to Rachel for 40 minutes before hanging up and beginning to read a book for school called "French or Foe." It's a guide to understanding French culture and systems so you don't automatically consider everything rudeness. I found it really helpful and I read it on my first flight, at the Stockholm airport, and finished it on my second flight.

On my first flight I sat on the aisle in the middle section next to a family of three, the child was about 2. She was fussy and cried on and off during the flight which was really obnoxious. Poor kid. I'm sure she was tired. Anyway I overheard that they were going to Helsinki after they reached Sweden. The video screens on our seats weren't the kind where you can start the movie whenever you want; they all start at once and you have to time it just right so you can catch the beginning. I watched Valentine's Day, which I like less and less each time I watch. I read my book and when the lights went off I tried to fall asleep. The problem was that it was FREEZING on the plane and everyone had their blankets up to their necks. I could not get comfortable due to the cold. The woman next to me was shifting non-stop like I was for a few hours too. Finally, I settled into a position that might keep me the most warm and the most comfortable. I looked over at the lady next to me and she too seemed to have found a good position for she wasn't moving around anymore. Just that instant the lights went up as they woke everyone for breakfast. The meals on Scandinavian Air were pretty decent. I was pleased.

Pulling into Sweden was sort of bleak because it was cold outside (10 degrees celsius is what the pilot said), it was grey, and it was wet. I was disappointed because I pictured Sweden sunny. As I walked through the airport I noticed it looked EXACTLY like the set up of the Copenhagen airport. So much so that for a moment I thought, "maybe when I thought I was in Copenhagen I was actually here.." But then I noticed that the store/food/lounge area was much bigger and much more substantial. That airport was so cool. It was clean and shiny and there were wood floors just like in Denmark and there were tons of shops selling really expensive things and also a really cool home ware store who's stuff looked kind of like IKEA. (Duh, Sweden!)

The airport didn't just rekindled my desire to visit Sweden, it cemented it.

On the 3 hour early afternoon flight to Paris I continuously nodded off but tried as hard as I could to stay awake so I could beat jet lag. Once I had my bags in Charles de Gaulle it was 1:30pm. I was supposed to meet up with some other NU study abroad students landing around the same time I did, but I only found one. She and I traversed the airport looking for the shuttle pick up stop and then waited a while for the others. Once 2:45 hit we hopped in a taxi.

At my dorm I was greeted by the residence manager and some other official guy. They went over some stuff with me and gave me my ID and my key. As I walked into my room I saw that my roommate had already moved in completely and she was sound asleep on the bottom bunk with one foot sticking out of the covers. I began to unpack and right as I was almost finished her alarm woke her up. After a quick hi she put the phone on snooze and went back to sleep. I went to the grocery store a block up the road and bough soap, shampoo, and a couple snacky items.

At the check out the cashier said in french how much the total was, but I looked up at the register because I didn't understand her. It said 24.50 and below that it said 154.48. I assumed the 24.50 was the last item she rang up, and the 154 was the total. I was completely content with this and went about paying. She shook her head at me and pointed at the 24.50 instead of taking my 160 Euro I was passing to her. I immediately understood and handed her 25 euro, fully aware that all the people behind me were wondering aloud where I was from (though I can't be sure since I didn't understand them..). As I walked out of the store I realized that this is phantom Bolivia stuff. Food in Bolivia was expensive because lots of it was imported, and the prices were high looking because everything was 7 to 1 to the dollar. So a bottle of syrup could easily be 25 Bs and a box of cereal 43 Bs. Therefore a charge of 150 Bs is no biggie. But, I must remember I'm in France now and things are different.

That's all for now folks! Tomorrow I'm going to try to find a flat iron and Wednesday we have orientation!

Love,

Hillary

Home, Sweet Home

Hey everyone!

I've been home for a few days now and it's been grand. I got off the plane (2 hours behind schedule) in O'hare on Friday and felt so relieved to be home. I had gotten about two hours of sleep in 48 hours and I had been fully awake for the journey home, but as soon as I saw my family I let myself get tired. My flight was delayed leaving Miami and we were re-routed due to a storm in Chicago. If my flight hadn't been delayed I would've missed it- when entering the U.S. you have to go through customs at your first port of entry and that meant I had to wait 30 minutes for my luggage, and then go through customs, re-check it, leave it in a pile of luggage, and walk to a separate concourse to check in and go through security again. I was lugging around a really heavy bag and that, combined with the mugginess of Miami and me running all over the place, got me really gross and sweaty.

When I got in the car with Mom, Dad, and Mo, I was like "Hey! This is the first time I've used a seat belt in two months!" Needless to say Mom was not amused.

Oddly enough, the hardest thing to re-acclimate to is throwing toilet paper in the toilet. It took me so long to get used to throwing it in the trash and now I can't shake the habit. Since I've been home I've gone shopping with Mo and Mom, met up with Tom and the rest of the guys at Gurnee Mills, watched It's Complicated with the fam, saw Morgan perform her monologue in a showcase, spent an entire day watching movies and eating junk with Rachel, and eaten all of my favorite foods. Oh, and I can't leave out the multitude of mosquito bites I've acquired since my return. Everyone is telling me this is the summer of the bugs.

I still have a week and a half until I leave for Paris and I plan to spend that time eating more of my favorite foods and catching up on my movies.

Until then!

Hillary

Huelga!

Hey folks!

I'm writing to you from La Paz! I thought I'd write and let you know about some of the political stuff going on in southern Bolivia right now.

Remember how there was a taxi trufi strike a couple of weeks ago and I explained that strikes are the most common practice for citizens in Bolivia who want something changed? Well, there is another strike happening. This one is in Potosi; the mining region of the country. Bolivia produces silver, zinc, tin, and lead. For the last 12 days mines have been minimizing

their output and it is looking like several mines have now shut down completely! Miners and other citizens in Potosi have shut down all road traffic in and out of the city and have disrupted air travel as well. Some news outlets are saying that rioters cut the railroad line to Chile early this morning. The mines are owned by Swiss, American, and Japanese companies. Several Bolivians have been on hunger strike since Saturday (the Governor just joined it too)! They are asking for Evo Morales, the current president now famous for giving more rights to certain indigenous groups, to come down and negotiate with them.

There are some tourists who have been able to get out but many are still stuck there. One of the demands is to deal with a border dispute with nearby Oruro. It's been over a month since I was in Oruro- but phew! I'm so glad I'm not down there for all of this. I doubt it's going to get too violent, the government wants to negotiate peacefully and I think I heard a woman on the radio say that negotiations were going to happen in Sucre (judicial capitol) sometime very soon. They are telling tourists to avoid the area as the region is in complete control of the rioters and tourists will receive little or no support from the government.

News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10949160

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100808/twl-bolivia-protest-france-6b0205e.html

Con amor,

Hillary

Last Day in Cochabamba

Hey guys!

This is my last full day in Cochabamba- tomorrow at 5 am I head to the airport for my flight to La Paz. I have one night in La Paz and then I'm on my way home!

At this point I'm pretty much packed- minus the stuff I'm going to need until tomorrow. I got my laundry back this morning at 11 am after I went over and pleaded with them yesterday morning to have it before 6pm tonight (which is what they first told me). Devan, the volunteer coordinator, found it in her heart to let me print off my hotel reservation for La Paz, and my flight info, off of one of the office computers. There is a new girl from Chicago that arrived today! Of course she gets here right as I'm leaving.

The only thing I have to do today is meet Sarah and Dave for dinner! Since all of my entertainment is packed away, I'm just sitting here waiting for 7 o'clock to get here and reminiscing about my past 72 days in Bolivia.

It has been such an amazing summer. I've made friends from all over the U.S. and from all over the world. I've learned so much from all of these people and I really hope to stay in touch with many of them. You don't truly know a place until you've lived there, and I feel like I've lived in Bolivia. I've been all over this country on buses and trains and I've met the people and heard what they've had to say about politics, family, and food. It has been a wonderful trip and I'm so happy all of you have followed along with me. From spiders attacking my shack and having an emergency move to a room indoors, bagged milk, and all of my weekend excursions, to practicing a language and making great friends- I couldn't ask for more.

Stay tuned! I leave for Paris in just over two weeks! We've almost reached the Europe side of my Bolivia and Europe 2010 blog! I'll most likely post while I'm at home as well because I'm predicting some reverse culture shock that I want to write about (like actually throwing away your toilet paper IN the toilet..).

Love always,

Hillary

La Última Fin de Semana en Bolivia

Hi everyone!

I've been having a fun extended weekend and I finally found time to sit down and tell you all about it!

Wednesday:

Thursday was my last day of work. The head doctor and director of the clinic, Dr. Romero, came back from his 6 week vacation on Wednesday, just in time to take me and the head nurse to La Cancha to spend my mini-grant on necessities for the clinic. Wednesday we hopped in a cab and spent a couple hours at La Cancha buying office supplies, kitchen supplies, a space heater, thermometer batteries, and a modem. After buying the office supplies we had a huge bag full of heavy things like hole-punchers and staplers. The head nurse is almost 6 months pregnant and she'd been carrying this bag so I tried to take it from her but she switched hands to her other side so I couldn't take it. Every time we bought something the doctor would take the bag from the saleslady and hand it to the head nurse. All he was carrying was a bag with 3 hand towels inside. The head nurse was carrying all the office supplies, all the mugs for the kitchen, a space heater, and more. And she is 6 months pregnant! I couldn't believe how chauvinistic the doctor was being. I'd already known that I didn't like him because he's sort of creepy but this was too much. Bolivia, and lots of South American countries, tend to operate in a chauvinistic manner. There are campaigns to foster equality of gender that I've heard on the radio and seen on billboards, but they still have a long way to go.

Thursday:

Thursday was the day before Bolivian Independence Day. Most people got work off on Friday and some also took off Thursday. Thursday afternoon I walked around the Prado (main road/ city center) with a friend to watch the festivities. There were chairs lining the streets, lots of sunglasses and food venders, rides for kids, and a parade that lasted from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. The parade was made up of marching bands from almost every school in Cochabamba, military bands, and children dressed up as famous Bolivian historical figures. All the girls older than about 10 and all of the women in the parade were wearing ridiculously tall heels. Most of them were also wearing heavy looking marching band costumes or pants suits. When I watched the parade around 1:00 pm it was scorching hot. The parade line was directly in the sun and most of the kids looked flushed, unhappy, and uncomfortable. I wanted to give all of them water so badly. As I walked around my neighborhood Thursday there was no one around- it was as if the entire city was either in the parade or watching it.

Thursday night I went to a goodbye dinner with a bunch of friends and then stopped by a cafe with a few people for a drink. I was really thirsty and tired so I just got water but the owner of the cafe sent over a shot of maple whisky or something that was ridiculously sweet that we all passed around and sipped to be polite. I mentioned this in an earlier post but at midnight the music was turned off and the national anthem was sung by everyone present. Firecrackers were set off and a few Bolivian women started dancing traditional scarf dances with napkins in the center of the room. It was a great feeling of national pride and community that we all commented on as lacking in the states.

Friday:

I assumed Friday would be even more chaotic in the Prado, but to my surprise there was barely anyone outside no matter where I was on Friday. Apparently, Friday is when all Bolivian families have huge barbeque lunches and everyone spends time at home. I had heard something about a parade happening Friday but I never saw anything all afternoon. No stores were open Friday and the few restaurants we tried were sold out of everything on the menu.

Saturday:

My airport friends and I had been planning for awhile to hit up this "hot springs spa" we'd heard about that was supposed to be very close to Cochabamba. Saturday we finally did it. Clara had to purchase tickets ahead of time at the place's sister hotel located in the Cochabamba. Tickets for one day including lunch and afternoon tea cost 70 Bs a person. Saturday morning we met up north near Sarah's apartment to grab breakfast and then catch a micro for 2 Bs to Quillacollo, a city half an hour outside of Cochabamba. I was starved and so for breakfast I ordered donut holes from a donut shop and then a pastel and jugo de durazno (pastry and peach juice) from our breakfast place. I also hadn't had a salteña yet (it's like a strictly Bolivian item that Bolivians eat as breakfast and is an empanada with soupy goodness inside). I had avoided eating it because I've seen people eating them and everyone makes a huge mess due to the soupiness of the inside. Being a messy eater, I decided it would be wise to avoid it for as long as possible. My airport friends couldn't let me go any longer without having one so we ate salteñas for breakfast as well. I only spilled once and it was only a little on my sleeve!

After breakfast we caught our micro and got off 30 minutes later in bustling Quillacollo. After a 20 minute ride in a separate micro we were let off on the side of the highway across from La Cabaña. It turns out La Cabaña is less of a hot springs spa and more of a crowded country club with a pool and a couple of jacuzzi tubs. We were as happy as could be because all we wanted to do was lay out in the sun, chat, relax, and maybe read. We found a spot on the grass and settled in. I lathered on the sun screen because I've seen too many episodes of Oprah where they show sun spots under people's skin and how much older people look when they didn't protect their skin against the sun when they were young. I was also thinking about skin cancer but as a secondary concern. Anyway we sat and chatted for a little while and several times an older man in his 70's or 80's with socks and sandles and a polo shirt kept coming over to us to tell the other two to put on sunscreen. As I french-braided Sarah's hair he came over and began to braid a tiny braid in her hair too. He was harmless but a bit too friendly. He said he'd traveled a lot in the U.S. and knew a bit of english but spoke to us in spanish. He also told us that the tiny braid he'd made was called Ernesto (his name I assume..). Sitting in the sun bores me pretty quickly so I got up and did a little bit of exploring before lunch was served.

Lunch was really cute, they had all reservations marked on little name cards to indicate who was sitting where. We were served a little salad, an egg-drop soup, and then a plate of chicken, potatoes, and rice. Sometimes being out in the sun for awhile zaps my appetite, so I was full before the soup came out. I barely touched my main course and the manager was worried that I didn't like it. If I thought I could force myself to eat a few bites without throwing up I would have, but for some reason I was really full. Maybe it was our big breakfast only 2 or 3 hours earlier.

After we ate we did some more exploring together. We found a really cool suspension bridge and crossed it to find railroad tracks that ended abruptly on both sides after about 100 feet.

As the sun moved in the sky we came back to find out little area halfway in the shade. We moved our things over to the empty soccer field and spent some time there reading. After half an hour a gringo girl that I'd been seeing all day came over and asked if I knew Becky. It took me a second but I realized that this was an SB volunteer who I'd met very briefly through her friend Becky who was in the "Yale" group from the Salar that we kept running into during our tour. We talked and she said her name was Dina (good omen!). She spelled it just like my mom. We chatted and it turns out she's going for her masters at Michigan and just ended an internship with Direct Relief, which is an organization based in California that I'd considered applying for this summer! I got her e-mail address and plan to contact her if I decide to apply to Direct Relief in the future.

Earlier, as I'd been doing some exploring of the grounds on my own, I'd spotted a zip line across the small man-made lake. Before we left Clara and I decided that we had to do it and so we wandered over there. After seeing a fully-grown man cross the lake on the zip line, we were confident that the line was sturdy and that it would hold us.

Can you spot me on the left in the air?

On our way back to Cochabamba we had to stop in Quillacollo again. We picked up some ingredients for dinner and got back to Sarah's apartment around 5:00 pm to prep the pizza dough we were going to bake later. I'd never made pizza dough by scratch before but it was amazing to see yeast working on sugar and water. I also didn't realize it had to sit for a couple of hours to rise. After we prepped the dough we all split up to relax before returning to Sarah's to bake the pizza at 8:00 pm. I made a huge fruit salad and Sarah had made a really good pizza sauce. By 9:00 pm we were tucking in to our meal and it was superb. Around 10:00 pm Dave (Sarah's boyfriend) took us to a swanky club for a drink to celebrate Clara's last night in Bolivia. Walking up to this club felt like being in Vegas. There were brand new BMWs parked outside and inside were the most beautiful Bolivians I've seen yet. I don't know where the BMWs are during the day, or the well dressed Bolivians, but I know where to find them at night!

Everyone was very dressed up and we were a tad underdressed but we had a nice time chatting over our drinks.

Sunday:

After sleeping in and relaxing all morning, I met Sarah, Dave, and Clara at the soccer stadium for a game between Cochabamba (the reigning champs) and Oruro. The game was a lot of fun and went quickly.

We left after one half (45 min) because we wanted to get something sweet to eat and say goodbye to Clara before she left to catch her cab to the airport. We split a chocolate sundae dessert and hugged her goodbye as she got into her trufi to go to her house, grab her suitcases, and leave Bolivia. It was sad to say goodbye because we 3 have gotten close over the summer, but we made plans to meet up sometime early next year.

Today:

I took all my clothes to the laundromat this morning for the last time. I had to bring a backpack and an empty cardboard postal box in order to get everything there. When I got there he raised his eyebrows and asked if this was all for one person. At first he said I could come back tomorrow in the evening, but as I left he said "Wednesday in the evening!" So, I'm going to try tomorrow anyway to see if they're ready so I can start to pack because the last thing I want to do is pack at the last minute. Not to mention that the only things I have to wear until then are a few dresses that never got worn due to the cold at night, and a soccer jersey. Oh, and laundry guy called me niña (little girl) which I'm not sure how to take..

Anyway that's it for now! More on my final few days soon,

Love,

Hillary Quinn

Sucre Weekend

Hey folks!

I'm sorry it's been several days since I've posted something but this week has been crazy busy. Here is the long awaited update about my trip to Sucre last weekend!

(Last) Friday:

Not being able to find a semi-cama (cama=bed) or full-cama bus for our ten hour overnight bus to Sucre, we boarded a normal bus at 7:25 pm and were on our way by 7:30 pm. The ride to Sucre was really bumpy. It was less than comfortable and I didn't sleep the entire time. The view of the sky at night was well worth it- I could see the Milky Way and what I was told was Venus. We stopped exactly half way for a bathroom/rest stop. We got off and walked into a little restaurant sort of place and the first thing we saw behind the counter was a lamb curled up on what I thought was a blue dog pillow. It was 1:00 am and this seemed like the most absurd and hilarious thing we had seen in awhile. We got up the nerve to take a picture of it and it immediately started baaa-ing loudly and incessantly.

When we got back on the bus we started talking about the lamb and I was informed by my friends that it wasn't sitting on a blue dog pillow but instead on a white sack of grain. I think my head formulated a dog pillow because it was what I expected..? Except maybe with a dog instead of a lamb? I'm not sure really but I swear it looked like a dog pillow to me. At some point on our drive our driver pulled over and picked up a couple of Cholitas who stayed up in the front of the bus behind the door to the seating and partied with the bus driver until we arrived in Sucre. They were even playing loud music! We had chosen the company that has an accident-free record so we were surprised by this behavior.

Saturday:

We pulled into Sucre around 5:00 am wearily grabbed a cab to take us to our hostel. We had to wake up the lady who worked there and explain to her for about 30 minutes what our reservation had been. Eventually she understood, or just gave up, and we all relaxed for an hour or so before getting up to search out breakfast.

Walking around the "white city" we took a few pictures. I think you'll understand how it earned it's name from these pictures:

At this time it was almost 8:00 am but no restaurants were open. The only place we found open before 9 was a place called Joyride whose slogan was "no solo para los gringos (not just for gringos)." The place was full of gringos and gringos alone. It was delicious though and after eating I was feeling much more awake and ready to explore. After breakfast at Joyride we walked up to the mirador (I can't remember this word in english but I think it's called a 'look out point'). To get there we climbed up through this market full of tiny, doll-sized things. They had everything from tiny houses and tiny washing machines to tiny cereal boxes and tiny fruit. At the top, at the mirador, there was a little plaza with little kid merry-go-rounds and trampolines.

After the mirador we grabbed a long and relaxing lunch on the patio of a hotel. After lunch we made our way to two museums. The first was half modern art half history of Bolivia. They had some pretty cool old and sometimes bloody war materials and other old portraits of famous military leaders. I learned that Bolivia used to be lower Peru and ten years after Argentina gained independence, Bolivia fought for their independence as well and had help from Argentina. Most of the portraits and paintings we saw in the museums were really old and nothing was being done to preserve them. Some canvases were warping out of their frames and there wasn't any glass covering the canvases in their frames. Our next museum had a ton of old artifacts from the B.C era. We saw lots of pots and jars and bowls, not to mention a few preserved human bodies of adults and babies from this time. On one of the children we could still see toenails! There aren't any pictures from the museums because it cost extra to take pictures.

Around 5:30 pm a couple of us went back to take showers while two others went to buy our bus tickets home. I tried to take a nap but was only sitting down for a minute or so before they got back. As they opened the door the dog from the hostel came in and made itself comfortable on the end of my bed.

After sitting down at our hostel for a short while we left and stopped at Para Ti Chocolates (famous Bolivian chocolate store) to taste some chocolate and chat. We ended up talking about the dangers of Venezuela and shared horror stories of unfortunate travelers. After we'd scared ourselves enough we ventured back out into the main plaza and found a promising looking pizza place. There was literally no one in the restaurant when we arrived so we stood by the door deliberating whether or not to go in. Immediately about 20 people shuffled in past us and by the time the hordes parted enough for us to enter, there was one table left. We went in right away and grabbed the last table. The pizza was delicious and after we ate we found ourselves returning to Joyride for a drink. This time, mixed among the gringos, there were several Bolivians. We felt a little less touristy.

When we returned (a little after midnight) fireworks were going off somewhere in the distance. Two young guys were ringing the bell to the hostel constantly so the other two girls I was with went down to the gate to tell them that the lady they were looking for was not around. They didn't get the message and we didn't let them in so they rang the bell until after we all fell asleep. One of the girls woke up in the middle of the night really sick (we think maybe she ate something bad back in Cochabamba because she'd been feeling not great for several days) and she ended up laying low all day Sunday.

Sunday:

The rest of us got breakfast at Joyride and then we split up for the afternoon. As we walked through the plaza making our plans we saw a chess tournament! Or, if it wasn't a tournament it was a lot of people playing chess in the plaza. There were old men sitting on benches reading newspapers and little kids running around feeding the pigeons. It was really nice.

That afternoon I went with a friend to the dinosaur park just outside of the city while my other friend (who had missed the mirador Saturday due to being under the weather) went to check out what we'd already seen the day before. We took a cab to get to the dinosaur park and halfway there we were stopped by a cart race that had caused our road to be blocked off. People were lined along the roads to watch the race for as far down as I could see. We took a detour and made it eventually.

This is the large dinosaur replica outside the entrance to the Parque Cretácico:

These are the many goats we saw grazing around the foot of the dinosaur:

After getting tickets we watched a little video about dinosaurs and went on a tour through the park to look at replicas of dinosaurs and their skeletons. The friend I was with is Cátalan and he translated the tour for me. The park exists because not too long ago, as excavation for minerals to make cement was underway, they discovered dinosaur footprints in the rocks. We could see them on the wall in the distance in the picture below:

We could see dinosaur footprints going up the wall all over it. This is the 3rd place in Bolivia I've heard of that has found dinosaur footprints. The other two are Potosí and Toro Toro.

When we'd arrived at the park we had made a deal with our cab driver to come and pick us up at 1:30 pm because this area didn't seem to be getting a lot of traffic. While we waited for him we watched the goats and watched the Cholita on the hill who was controlling which way they went using a rope and a stone.

This is the Cholita controlling the goats:

Spot the pig! Hint: It's in the center of the picture (below).

We also saw sheep and a couple other pigs across the road roaming around through the grass and garbage. Our driver was over ten minutes late so we hopped a bus and headed back to town to meet with our other friend.

We had decided to meet up at the gazebo in the plaza. As we walked up to her I saw that she was talking to a homeless man who was asking for money. As he reached up to take her coins I saw that his hand was green and almost plant like in some parts and badly deformed. Apparently it was leprosy. I've never seen it before but it was pretty shocking.

We strolled around and grabbed a late lunch at a different restaurant near Joyride. The gringos that had been in Joyride next to us for breakfast were now eating lunch at this place. Gringos of a feather, flock together! We talked for awhile and then walked around to see the Supreme Court building before heading back to meet our friend in the hostel and to pack up to catch our 7:30 bus. In the cab ride to the bus terminal something really strange happened. One of my friends mentioned that the people on the motorbike behind us were really young. I turned around from the back of the cab to see a 14 year old girl driving and behind her on the bike was a 6 year old boy who, as I was watching, lifted up a gun, pointed it at us and turned it sideways. I immediately ducked down in my seat without thinking. My friend who had seen him didn't even flinch because she was sure it was a toy. Nothing happened to us but I stayed ducked down for another minute or so because I wasn't so sure it was a toy. It was a really weird sight.

The bus ride on the way back was extremely cold but this time our driver made two bathroom stops and didn't pick up any Cholita party girls (at least not that I know of). Somehow I actually slept a little and by the time we all got off the bus at 5:00 am in Cochabamba, we were exhausted. The four of us split up into two cabs to go to our separate areas of the city and didn't even say goodbye. It was a really fun trip and I had a blast with the friends I was with. Sucre, as you can see by the pictures, was really quaint and the feeling of community was so strong! There were several tourists but it was a quiet town that I'd go back to if I had time.

Today is Bolivian Independence Day!

No one had work today and yesterday there were parades all morning, afternoon, and night. Last night I went out with a few friends to a café and at midnight they turned the music off and everyone sang the national anthem and women started dancing with napkins (improvised scarves) in the 4 foot open area of the café to traditional music. Yesterday the center of town was a madhouse but today the center of town was dead. There were tons of vendors out selling street food but very few Bolivians. Nothing was open and the few restaurants that were open were out of food. Apparently today was family day so everyone has huge lunches at home and barbecues.

I hope everyone is enjoying their August! I'll update again soon!

Love,

Hillary

New Addition

Hey folks!

Things are getting kind of hectic down here now that everyone I know is leaving. I'm going to update with my trip to Sucre ASAP but I want to write it well so I have to wait until I have a couple of free hours. I did add a new section to the blog- if you look to your right you will see "Links to Live By." Thanks to all the amazing people I've met down here, I have tons of new websites from international news in French and Spanish to Robert Redford's Sundance company that sells products to empower artisans globally. This section will get longer but for right now I've included my favorite human rights news page "Global Poverty," a website that ranks the environmental and social responsibility of companies (from J crew to Sam's club) called "Better World Shopper," and a few shopping websites that sell goods made from artisans all over the world.

¡Hasta Luego!

Hillary