La Paz to Sucre

After reading the first post and a draft of this one, I realized that this sounded way too much like a journal entry. From now on I'll try to keep this to things I think might actually be interesting/informative instead of a minute by minute account of my day. It`s probably going to take me a few more iterations to get the hang of it, so bear with me. If you really want the full deal send me an email and I'd be happy to send you the PG-13 version of my journal. 

To enter Bolivia all foreigners must procure a visa, which costs $145 and is good for 5 years. I could have taken the responsible action and dealt with this back home, but when I discovered that the visa could be purchased on arrival I elected not to deal with the consulate in SF. Buying the visa was easy enough, I filled out one long sheet of paper with standard questions and handed over the cash. This part was a bit unusual -- the officer closely examined each bill I provided and deemed 3 of them faulty due to miniscule rips. I could understand if I handed over two pieces of a $20, but these imperfections were so negligible that I doubt that half of the bills currently in your wallet would pass. Fortunately I had enough that passed and was on my way. 

I admittedly did not put much research into the trip. I knew the directors of my Spanish school from a previous connection and read enough about Sucre to know that I wanted to come here. Since the school provides the host family and has plenty of information resources there, that was the extend of my research. El Alto airport in La Paz is something I probably should have looked into.

El Alto was actually quite pleasant - free high speed wifi (Miami made you pay) with incredibly clean bathrooms and fully manned ticket counters. The problem is that it sits 13,300 feet above sea level (about 2.5x higher than Denver). I have never dealt with altitude well, especially since flying causes such an abrupt change compared to driving. But usually I don't start to feel sick until nighttime. About 90 minutes after landing I was lying in a bathroom, projecting the contents of the bottle of water I had so responsibly attempted to rehydrate myself with. I'm not sure if knowing quite how high El Alto was would have helped, but it would have been nice to not have been blindsided by dehabilitating sickness immediately upon entering the country.

Fortunately the flight to Sucre was only an hour. While the immediate euphoria of purging my stomach had started to wear off, I did have this guy to keep me company:

Air Sickness... or Mushrooms?

Take-off actually helped me by injecting a nice boost of adrenaline — despite having flown hundreds of times taking off still makes me nervous. Other fears that I have not been able to shake since childhood: bathrooms with the shower curtain fully closed (I still always check behind), being alone in a dark house, and roosters.

Terrifying

I had arranged for my host family to pick me up at the airport, but I was a little worried after I had not

received any confirmation from the school director when I informed him of my updated itinerary.  Those fears proved to be true as none of the smiling Bolivians outside the airport were holding a sign for Mr. Hale. The payphone did not feel like cooperating and I was beginning to lose hope, when a 5'0'' Boliviana savior came to my rescue. A quick phone call on her cell had me in a taxi on my way.  I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but if I do the first 10 beers are on me.  

The house is a beautiful three-story building with a large terrace outside the third floor. I am situated on the third floor with a bathroom and one other bedroom that is vacant but could potentially house another student. I'll have more about the family later when I can provide additional pictures, but first impressions are that I could not have landed a better 6-week residence.