la paz and cochabamba...the saga continues

Not really...it´s been surprisingly uneventful after the craziness of the amazon. Other than fainting in la paz from the altitude and getting ill at lake titicaca, things have been pretty smooth.

It´s been pretty amazing...we visited the lake titicaca region around copacabana and the early pre-aymara ruins of tiahuanaco, which were really interesting. we had a very long bus ride (8 hours) to cochabamba and arrived starving about 11 pm...mauricio had ordered pizza, which we devoured in about 10 minutes flat. we´ve been blessed with comfy beds and hot showers for the entire trip, so we are in pretty good moods...

the last couple nights we have gone to incredible concerts of local folklorico--i actually stayed up until 2:30 am last night, a miracle. The bands were incredible, I got some CDs to share back in the states.

Today was a free day for the students, but I spent a lot of time grading quizzes, which they were none to happy about taking. Definitely the low point of their stay! We have a series of lectures tomorrow and then we are off to rural towns the next few days. Apparently there is a problem with the road to the amazon, so there is a chance we won´t get to go the amazon on friday, but we remain hopeful that we´ll get to chapare and parque machia for the last part of our trip. we have a lovely flight back to la paz saturday night and then we fly out of la paz on sunday morning early ( ie 6 am). It´s hard to believe I leave in just a week....just when I was getting settled in.

The group is great this year. Very diverse and definitely a bunch of troupers! It´s been quite an enjoyable experience. The program directors in Peru and Argentina also have study tours right now, so I¨m looking forward to comparing notes after we´re done!

Hope all is well in the U.S...I´m off to eat italian food with my host family.

Best,
Alicia

snakes, night driving through the amazon, and other fun tales

Well, my bolivia trip immediately turned into quite an adventure. After about 30 hours of traveling, I finally touched down in Ixiamas, on the edge of the amazon. I was there to visit Stella and Franci, the founders of esperanzalibertad.org, an amazing endeavor to fight against animal trafficking, provide rehabilitation to animals to be released back in the wild, and provide a sanctuary to those that cannot be released back to the wild.

It is an amazing project...from nothing, they have created the beginnings of something amazing. On tuesday we went out to the land they purchased (more than 100 acres). They have already built a house. Next is the rehabilitation center and a water system. We planted trees and hiked through the forest. I had my first near death experience when I nearly stepped on a very dangerous snake. Luckily I saw him at the last second and avoided him.

On wednesday, after coming back to Ixiamas from the land (about 12K out, but nearly an hour on the bad road), we called to confirm my flight back to La Paz. They informed me things had changed and the flight was now leaving from Rurrenbaque, which is a town about 4 hours away, at 8 am the next morning. We looked for a bus, truck, ride to Rurrenbaque, but there was nobody going that way....so we jumped in chickitita (their little car) and took off on a drive that began at dusk and was mainly in the pitch black darkness of the amazon. After being nearly washed away by a rather deep river we had to pass through, we continued on the long journey singing purple rain and other songs by cyndi lauper, madonna, etc. It was a little surreal (okay a lot!). We made it to rurrenbaque for a very late dinner.

At 7 am, we showed up at TAM, the airline office, as ordered a day earlier and waited with the other travelers...and waited. About 8 am, they said the flight was delayed and to come back to the office around 10. We spent a couple hours wandering around this beautiful town, going to the river banks, the mirador above the city, and calling home.

At 10 am they said the plane had mechanical difficulties and so they were sending another plane, a larger one that couldn´t land on the grassy airstrip of rurrenbaque, so we had to go to....you guessed it....Ixiamas. So, I got on their bus and spent another 3 plus hours traveling down the same road back to where I started from...it was an incredibly frustrating day.

But I got to La Paz and met up with FSD´s country directors from Bolivia and Peru. I had a great veggie burger and carrot cake and although my head ached from the altitude of La Paz (12000 feet), the day ended nicely.

Today we did FSD work and then did a little SHOPPING (okay, a lot). We are off to see Da Vinci Code tonight and tomorrow, my class of 16 arrives in La Paz at 6 in the morning...so we have a full day planned.

Hope all is well in the US. Greetings from Bolivia!!!

Abrazos,
Alicia

Off to Bolivia!

So tomorrow I'm off to Bolivia. First on the agenda is to visit Stella and Francie in Ixiamas. They have started a wildlife sanctuary up in Northern Bolivia. I'll be there for a few days, returning to La Paz Thursday to meet up with Marco and Mauricio, our program direcots in Peru and Bolivia respectively. My class arrives Saturday morning and we'll spend 2 weeks traveling around Bolivia studying indigenous movements and economic development. It's a graduate class from St. Mary's University in Texas.

Should be fun! Let's hope I don't find any more animals to bring back to the U.S. We have a full house back in Marin!!