peace from la paz

i´ve traded in my bathing suit for my trusty wool cap.

after fifteen hours of travel and a run in with bolivian immigration that involved a 5:30 am call to mom and dad in the states, a subsequent fax of immunization records complete with forged yellow fever vaccination, 100 dollars and a little sweet talking with border patrol officers, i arrived legally in la paz just in time for the final day of carnaval festivities. mom, dad, i OWE you. more than the usual eternally indebted daughterly kind of way.

sportin the bolivian visa

all of that behind, it feels good to be back in the andes. well, it does now. despite the fact that my lungs have endured ecuadorian altitudes without blinking over the past two years, yesterday morning as we aproached la paz, they were like WHAT IS GOING ON?!?! and i puked in the bus bathroom. only once. after an asprin and a few bottles of water i felt solid and ready to go.


it feels like i´m much closer to ecuador. indigenous women with their long braids and dress walk down the streets with babies strapped to their backs in bright colored shawls. yesterday, wandering down the streets, i dodged waterballoons that came from building windows, passing cars, and children roaming in packs around every corner. music blared from cracked doorways and the back of trucks while people danced in groups on the sidewalks. fire crackers were lit randomly, but went mostly unnoticed, even to the old woman who made her way down the street with bits of confetti paper stuck in her pinned up hair. streamers, balloons, and flowers everywhere, from the gutters to garbage cans, buildings, cars. carnaval is alive and well.


until later, paz from la paz.