Loving La Paz

Despite transportation strikes, altitude sickness, and not very good food, I love Bolivia. The weeks I have spent here have easily been the best of my trip so far. The irony is that like many extremely poor countries, Bolivia is chock full of stunning natural beauty and is home to an incredible number of natural resources. Of course the country shoulders a long history of colonization and corruption.

I began my time here in Samaipata, a beautiful little touristy town in the mountains near Santa Cruz. After a few days of incredible hikes I headed to Cochabamba to visit my dear friends Sharon and Mike who have been living there and doing volunteer work for about 8 months. I never thought I would say this, but it was great to hang out with Americans again- in addition to having an awesome place to crash.

It turned out that Sharon and Mike were headed to El Alto, a rapidly growing city above La Paz, for a meeting of the Bolvia Solidarity Network (http://www.boliviasolidarity.org/) and let me tag along. The network is made up of foriegners living in Bolivia who are interested in helping support Bolivian social movements and the meeting was held mainly to strategize ways to complete the large body of work they have set for themselves. I had an amazing time learning about Bolivian politics and culture. I plan to write about this more in the future so stay tuned!

From El Alto I headed to Uyuni to visit Bolvia´s infamous salt flats. I spent three full days in a jeep with some crazy folks from England, Australia, and Germany viewing incredible scenery. I hope to post some pictures from that trip here soon. I then came to La Paz, where I am now. I was not looking forward to being in another city, but I have to say that this is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been in (second only to Napoli). Tomorrow morning I head to Cuzco to meet up with Dutch, who is joining me for 10 days in Peru. I am so excited! More news soon...