Well it took a bit longer than I expected to get people's pictures but I finally got them last night. Here's what we did the second day...
We awoke to pouring rain, which was bad news for today's big activity of visiting a jungle-animal rescue shelter. Our guide told us the park would not open when it was raining and we decided to wait an extra hour at the hotel to see if the weather would improve. For me, that ended up being the best thing that could have happened. The rain continued to fall and after an hour and a half we were told that we'd be visiting a museum about the coca plant instead, which did not elicit too many smiles from the group.
Just as we were getting into the van to leave our guide tells us that the president is staying in the cabin next to us. My first reaction was to wonder which president she was talking about... I assumed she meant of some nature society. My second reaction was that she was just trying to make a joke to boost the morale of the group. But then we walk over and sure enough there is President Evo Morales himself standing on the porch. What the fuck is the president of Bolivia doing at what would generously be described as a 2 star accommodation? No idea, but I wasn't about to complain about meeting my first head of state.
He shook everyone's hand, asked where people were from, and posed for a picture with us. He seemed particularly happy that one of our group was Austrian (Austria and Bolivia share similar socialist policies and Austria's head-of-state and Evo are friends), and since there were 7 of us it wasn't incredibly obvious that I just smiled and didn't say I was from the US. I don't think there would have been a legitimate problem if I had admitted I was American, but considering his less than rosy sentiments towards the Red, White, and Blue I didn't see any reason to test that hypothesis.
What I found most interesting was the utter lack of security in the area. I can only imagine what it takes for Obama to stay at a hotel... of course the president of Bolivia isn't the president of the US, but I only saw two security guards that were either unarmed or carrying concealed pistols. Unless the monkeys in the trees had just finished sniper school the president of a sovereign nation was rolling with significantly less security than the mayor of San Francisco.
After our encounter with the president missing the animal park didn't sting too badly. Instead, we visited a coca museum, located in the headquarters of a drug-enforcement police complex. Coca is the plant from which cocaine is derived and is a major crop for Bolivia and Peru. Just the plant itself is harmless: it is an incredibly mild stimulant that causes slight mouth-numbing sensation when chewed, and is often used in tea to help people adjust to altitude. I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I heard we were going to a coca museum, but it certainly wasn't what we visited.
Unfortunately cameras were not allowed inside so I don't have any photo evidence, but the "museum" was a small warehouse filled with various pictures and tools explaining how to make cocaine. Our tour guide was a surprisingly attractive female drug officer dressed in military camouflage who politely pointed out the various methods/paraphernalia that drug dealers had tried to use to smuggle their product out of the country. Hollowed out televisions, bicycles, and children's toys littered one side of the building; another side had 20 jugs of acid that a patrol had recovered on a recent raid. Now I'm sure it would take about 2 seconds to google how to make cocaine, but it does seem a little counterintuitive to have an exhibition devoted to explaining exactly what you are trying to stop.
We ended up trying to go to the animal park but it was indeed closed. We even tried using photo evidence that the president was on our side but the guards would not open the gates. We still saw a few monkeys though, so it wasn't a complete bust.
We made our way back to Cochabamba, stopping a few times along the way for scenery pictures...
We also sampled some of the local beverages.
We arrived back at Cochabamba in the evening and decided to treat ourselves to a fancy Italian dinner. The white tablecloth, candlelit atmosphere was a pleasant contrast to the jungle, and drinks afterwards capped off a great second day.
We awoke to pouring rain, which was bad news for today's big activity of visiting a jungle-animal rescue shelter. Our guide told us the park would not open when it was raining and we decided to wait an extra hour at the hotel to see if the weather would improve. For me, that ended up being the best thing that could have happened. The rain continued to fall and after an hour and a half we were told that we'd be visiting a museum about the coca plant instead, which did not elicit too many smiles from the group.
Just as we were getting into the van to leave our guide tells us that the president is staying in the cabin next to us. My first reaction was to wonder which president she was talking about... I assumed she meant of some nature society. My second reaction was that she was just trying to make a joke to boost the morale of the group. But then we walk over and sure enough there is President Evo Morales himself standing on the porch. What the fuck is the president of Bolivia doing at what would generously be described as a 2 star accommodation? No idea, but I wasn't about to complain about meeting my first head of state.
Whatup E (in the middle, white shirt)
What I found most interesting was the utter lack of security in the area. I can only imagine what it takes for Obama to stay at a hotel... of course the president of Bolivia isn't the president of the US, but I only saw two security guards that were either unarmed or carrying concealed pistols. Unless the monkeys in the trees had just finished sniper school the president of a sovereign nation was rolling with significantly less security than the mayor of San Francisco.
After our encounter with the president missing the animal park didn't sting too badly. Instead, we visited a coca museum, located in the headquarters of a drug-enforcement police complex. Coca is the plant from which cocaine is derived and is a major crop for Bolivia and Peru. Just the plant itself is harmless: it is an incredibly mild stimulant that causes slight mouth-numbing sensation when chewed, and is often used in tea to help people adjust to altitude. I'm not really sure what I was expecting when I heard we were going to a coca museum, but it certainly wasn't what we visited.
Hi kids, follow me to the museum!
We ended up trying to go to the animal park but it was indeed closed. We even tried using photo evidence that the president was on our side but the guards would not open the gates. We still saw a few monkeys though, so it wasn't a complete bust.
It was worth missing you to see Mr. Prez
Sometimes pictures make me nervous
... and some fresh air by a lake. 
Who doesn't like a nice lake?
We also sampled some of the local beverages.
Our guide was very helpful
Cheers!
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