Bolivia... Cool!

Hey gang,

Made it safely to Bolivia bom bom.  This place is cheap!!  Lisa and I went out to a super nice restaurant and almost had to pay 7 dollars total.  Crazy since I've become used to spending 2 dollars for a 3 course meal.  But anyway Sucre is awesome.  It reminds us of a mix between San Francisco and Chapel Hill.  I think Sucre has the oldest university in the western hemisphere, but I could be wrong-o since it would be faster to fly to a US library to look that fact up rather than muddle through slow-as-evolution Bolivian internet speeds.  To balance the slow internet, however, they drive very fast and very reckless.  Roads don't have lanes, cars don't have seat-belts, and pedestrians get to practice their car-dodging skills at nausea.  Sucre is maybe also the chocolate capital of the world (again, not gonna look that one up, not trying to wait til the rapture).  But for real though, Sucre  is awesome.  It's like a mix of mountains and tropics, with crazy valleys that seem to change colors at every glance.

The getting here was tough, something like 30+ hours of transportation, but it is so worth it.  Sucre is known as one of the most laid back cities in South America and, coming from someone who tends to avoid cities, it is probably my favorite city that I've been to.  We've only been here for 5 days, but we've already done so much.  The highlight of our time has definitely been a 2.5 day backpacking trip with the organization with which we are going to volunteer, Condortrekkers.  Our group consisted of a Bolivian, two girls from Denmark, an Israeli, an Australian couple, a girl from Colombia and us two Americans.  The scenery was incredible and the days were long.  We crossed wicked mountain ranges filled with rivers, waterfalls (so so so many waterfalls), cliffs, dinosaur tracks, and rural Bolivian communities.  Backpacking in Bolivia is so much different than anything I've done before.  Along the trail, you are constantly passing by indigenous Bolivians herding their roosters/goats/sheep/chickens/bulls/dogs/children through the countryside.  We also slept in local buildings equipped with both comfy beds and showers.  Not hardcore, but hardcore isn't cool anymore.  The only aspect of the hike to rival the scenery were the conversations. Many complex subjects were brought up with as many as 3 or 4 languages flying between the group at one time.  We learned an Israeli card game in which lying was key.  Switching between Spanish and English was fluid and continuous as we attempted to trick and back-stab each other.  We could also stop at local shops along the way and buy candy and drinks for literally nothing.  Beer and wine was readily available at both campsites.  At one of our campsites we were even able to eat figs off of a tree  One highlight was rocking out to Bohemian Rhapsody with my Israeli friend in a Bolivian hut in the middle of nowhere.  Coming back form our hike we took a really rickety bus packed with Bolivians back to Sucre.  What else...  Oh, and the pizza restaurants in Bolivia have trampolines in them, for digestion.  We're eager to begin volunteering more with Condor and the  Australian who runs it.  I've tried to post pictures, but they may not load till November at this rate.


BOM BOM