The Arrival…

8:30 flight from Washington, DC to Miami, then a 1:15 connection from Miami to La Paz, Bolivia. Due to unforeseen travel circumstances, I had to change my travel itinerary and got bumped up to first class/business class. It was definitely a strange experience being pampered – having extra leg room, a warm and moist towlette, and getting free wine (a Chilean red, very good). I felt like I didn’t really belong (because I certainly wouldn’t have paid several thousand extra dollars for this). I really realized how out of place I felt when some passengers from the economy class needed to put their luggage in the first/business class area and the flight attendant got mad at them, saying “These people paid for this space, I’m sorry!” And then the flight attendant turned to me, after I offered to move around my luggage around, and she said “No, really this is your space, you paid for it.” And then I just got uncomfortable and looked out my window, avoiding the stares of the unhappy people.

The scenery from my window was gorgeous, and I kept wishing there was a better way to take pictures of it. As we were passing over what I think was the badlands of Brasil, I kept thinking of La Guerra al Fin del Mundo and The Backlands from my Vargas Llosa class this year (books about Brasil), and I had the urge to call Kelly (my teacher) up and talk with her about the geography. There was also a nice little bug that somehow got caught between the two window panes, so we hung out and commented on the view.

When I got to the airport I was really nervous and anxious, which resulted in my not really understanding the customs guy when he was telling me to push the button on the metal detector. I also remembered to go to the currency exchange only after I’d found a taxi to take me to La Paz, which was kind of embarrassing and caused a bit of a scene (not a big one, just enough to make me feel like an idiot). But driving through El Alto was an amazing sight – roughly paved roads, random traffic patterns (in fact I haven’t seen a single stop sign or traffic light in Bolivia thus far), dogs and people wandering everywhere, couples making out on the streets. And then the drive into La Paz was breathtaking. As the taxi drove down possibly the steepest road that I have ever seen, I looked into the canyon and saw the entire city illuminated against the night sky. There were little houses perched (rather precariously) all over the hillsides, and all along the sides of the street there were tiny stalls, literally holes in the wall, selling food and drinks.

I gave the tax driver the directions to the store of the landlady, and we finally came to the road. I was a bit confused as to where it was, when suddenly this little old aymara woman was poking her head into my taxi. I started asking her if she was, in fact, Doña Emma, and just she rushed me into her store (after I quickly paid the taxi driver) and told me to sit down in the back. She proceeded to have my count some invitations she is selling for the festival this weekend, and then she rushed me back into the street and into another taxi. I was having a bit of trouble understanding her Spanish, so I wasn’t really sure where we were going (although I hoped to the apartment). We finally got there, and I met Ben, a really nice guy from London (who actually plays Frisbee!) and was shooed up to the apartment. It’s not in the location I thought it was, but that’s a good thing. I don’t know exactly what I expected it to be like, but it’s definitely really nice - big, clean, has some character, lots of windows.

[my room]

[bathroom]

[living room]




[kitchen]



And now I’m sitting in my new apartment – I hooked up the internet and sat down to have some té de coca (which tastes like really grassy green tea). I think I’m too excited to be here to even think about trying to fall asleep. I haven’t really felt the effects of the altitude yet, although it’s hard to separate out the Sudafed (which makes me feel like I’m having an anxiety attack), the tiredness, and the fact that I’m at 12,500 feet. There are a lot of noises in the neighborhood, but even though I’m a light sleeper I expect that I’ll sleep like a rock.

And now…the time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things: Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings…