Peanut Soup
I find La Paz about the same as last time. Little has changed, names of restaurants have changed but the city seems about the same. I am enjoying having Miguel as a tour guide, he loves to immerse himself in a city and really get to know it, that makes it easy for me to learn the ins-and-outs of the city quickly. I was his tour guide in Santa Cruz, now the roles are reversed.

12-29-2003 Lunch with an Aussie
We had a great lunch. At Gringo Limon we met up with Miguel's friend Daniel's sister. Monica married an Australian who speaks little Spanish. They have a little boy, exactly Novali's age; he was born on April 12th, two days after Novali. It was funny cause I saw the same language struggle as Novali in Benjamin. We exchanged funny kid stories and ate a great lunch. Darrel said he loves Bolivian asado (BBQ), so we became friends right away. Nothing like a big piece of well cooked Bolivian food, yum. Surprisingly though I only ate peanut soup and chu\'96o, no red meat. I will make up for that at dinner I am sure.

Then Miguel and I headed to the bank, the same one I used to change money in Santa Cruz. I was surprised to not find two hot Bolivian girls (Cruceñas) working the door, all the banks in Santa Cruz would have hot chicks there. They usually were just standing around doing nothing, maybe helping someone use an ATM, or trying to give directions, but mostly just beautifying the environment.

Off to the market. Miguel just moved, so we had to restock his fridge. We went to his little neighborhood market to get the essentials, well what Miguel calls essentials. This being yogurt, crackers, jam, granola, you know... all that healthy stuff. Miguel is preparing his kitchen (the only room that actually really has stuff in it) and I am blogging waiting for some coffee. While I wait I will describe Miguel's new place (photo coming soon as well).

You enter into the living room, beautiful hardwood floors with windows lining one wall, and no furniture. That room blends into the dinning room, same flooring and windows, except here we find a small breakfast table, two chairs and a big cardboard box holding up Miguel's comics and a few books. To your left is the hallway; the first left is a nice spacious bedroom and to the right the huge bathroom, down the hall the kitchen and breakfast nook. The bedroom is really nice, big and roomy. Right now just a bed, suitcases and a speaker set (the woofer is Miguel's makeshift desk) fill the room. The kitchen is at the complete end of the hallway, small but has everything a one-bedroom apartment needs, except a working outlet. The nook has the fridge (no outlet in the kitchen) and has cool square windows lining one wall giving a great natural light into the room. Matched with a beautiful view out the front door, close market and internet cafes, pretty much the prefect apartment. ~ Does this sound like a real estate add or what?

We are heading out to explore La Paz a little more and meet up with Darrel. So more pictures and walking up-and-down and then more up-and-down, and then up-and-down through the streets of La Paz. Our first trip was to the Valle de la Luna. Which is high up on the outside of La Paz. Talk about an amazing view. You could see the city and how it is nestled right in the valley, or get a close look at a few houses and how they built them on the edges of cliffs, and finally a great view of the La Paz golf course, which Darrel said is awesome to play.

Then we headed to San Miguel, always the popular spot. We were looking for a place to get some coffee and an afternoon bite. We found a nice place on a corner and enjoyed more conversation. We parted ways and headed home.

Our nighttime activity would be a peña. This is when you get a late dinner, and there is a folkloric show during your dinner. Our Tio Eduardo and Tia Teresa invited us, tio said he called and found a place open on a Monday night (most are just weekends). So we met up with them and headed out. Too bad the place was a closed, so we droving trying to find something else to do, and luckily we found another place.

It was great, the five-man band played songs from all the regions of Bolivia. They played some great songs, and one of my favorite salles. I had the best piece of trout ever and everyone ate like kings. Afterwards we went driving and stopped at this place called las belas. It is a late night food place (it was now 12:30) and they have everything from antecucho (heart meat and potato on a shish kabob) and chicharron (kind like Mexican chorrizo) sandwiches. I got a sandwich, and much to Miguel's disgust even got the lettuce on it. I have no fear on eating street food, maybe that is why my stomach hurts so much here. Either way my tongue is happy and I can say I tried it all!

12-30-2003 Oruro
We got to the bus station at 6:30am. Tickets to Oruro were only 10bs, which means about $1.40, cheap! Martin, Miguel and I slept the entire way on the bus. I love those buses, huge, you can recline nearly all the way back, and kids are in the aisles selling things in case you forgot something. It was a fast 3-hour trip and a brand-new highway.

We arrived and the city was exactly what I expected, not much. The city is an old mining town, of which nearly all the mines are closed and the city survives off of a little tourism and mostly off carnival, which is the biggest in Bolivia there. They practice all year round and have many famous dances, but this is not carnival season.

The museums were cool, we walked through and old mine and saw many ancient artifacts. The old world culture was very evident in the town. The plaza was well kept the municiple building had a long line of people there complaining about something, just like any good Bolivian town. We walked and saw the old buildings and then headed to lunch. We ate a feast. I got lamb ribs, but I swear they brought half of the lamb! It was served with just one potato, meat and potatoes. I was in heaven. Some ice cream to finish the meal and then we headed back to the bus terminal. It was a short visit, Martin had to be back for a dinner and there was not much to see anyways. The trip was well worth it! The stories from the bus terminal, sellers on the bus, goofy tour guides, old buildings, and a hot mom (right Martin?). Too many stories to post here, but pictures will be coming soon.

We got back and relaxed a little and got ready to go out. Daniel called and we met up with him and another of Miguel's friends and went to the coolest little bar. It was like just out of the movie swingers! Slow music playing, nearly empty, bartender knows everyone and tells jokes, no sign out front, and you know you are with good company. The bartender and I had fun making new drinks and trying to stump me on what was in them. I learned some awesome drinks, Illimani, we made a new one called 'Samuel', rusty nail, etc. It was great.

Paola and a friend showed up as well, just after Daniel left. I almost felt like a regular by then, had my same seat as new people came in and cracking jokes with the barkeep. Good times. We finished our drink and went to Cafe Ciudad. It was past 10 and I had not eaten since 1 so I was hungry. A pique machu later we took off. They were heading home, and I was off to meet my primo Martin to see more of the La Paz nightlife.

I met him and a one of his girlfriends at a bar called Green. It was decorated with all old rock memorabilia. Billy Joel, Pink Floyd, Beatles, Elton John, etc. The music was great and they taught me a card came. As usual I had beginners luck and we had a good time chatting. Then off to Mangos.

Mangos is a famous bar here. It was where most tourists go, and the Bolivian girls go to pick up rich foreigners; well that is what Miguel said. I am not rich, and only half foreign so I did not worry a lot about it. The place was different then I expected. Yes a lot of travelers, but not much 'picking up' was going on. We got a table and I tried a few different drinks, a special micro brew, a 'latin lover', and some white russians later we took off. Time for bed.

12-31-2003 Cafe con leche
I got up early today and ran down (you literally run down because Miguel lives on a major hill, you have a to take a taxi home it is so steep) to the local wireless coffee shop. Miguel was still sleeping and I am not sure when he will show up. I like being alone and walking the streets at my own pace and stopping when I want. Right now 'The Lady in Red' is playing, kind weird.

Once he arrives we are off to the San Francisco plaza area. That is the big old cathedral in La Paz, and also the big tourist area. We will hit up the witches market (I need some eye of newt and cat nail), get some touristy things and just chill. Then lunch with more family. Still no defined plans for tonight. We have several options, Miguel runs with a few different clicks here. Either way I am excited for a New Years in La Paz.

Well back to my coffee, waiting for Miguel, and high school memories of the lady in red song. Ah...

HAPPY NEW YEARS to all! See you all soon!

El Alto
When most people arrive in La Paz the altitude hits them and they have a hard time breathing and getting around. The city sits at about 3,700 meters, I say about because it varies. The city is in valley, the high points get to around 4000, and the low parts to 3200. All that up and down wears you out, not to mention I was sick when I got here. I am going to have a tough first few days. Here is the count.

12-27-2003 Dumbos
We arrived in La Paz. I could feel the altitude right away. The beauty of the city, chizeled out of a rocky mountain valley, lights climbing and dropping over the sloped horizon, and our taxi hurling down the windy road hugging curves and mounting speeds bumps... Ah, La Paz. We stopped at Miguel's new apartment in Sopocachi for just long enough to drop off our bags and then we headed to the San Miguel neighborhood to meet our cousin Martin for dinner.

Walking through San Miguel brought back great memories. The small little village style neighborhoods present a unique style of created communities with their own everything. One found memory of this area was at the Dumbo ice cream shop when we ran into some of the Bolivian national soccer team. So when they mentioned that place to eat, I was all for it. Some Pique Macho, and coca tea and now I really am reminded of my previous trips here. Then we walked to Martin's house. Our tio Juan (abuelito's brother) was there and we said hello, he was on his way out. So we grabbed a few of Miguel's things he left there and headed home.

Tomorrow we will move the last of Miguel's things from his old apartment on the Prado. Then an afternoon asado at Martin's and some relaxing. We are planning a Monday trip to Oruro, which is one of the older and more untouched cities in Bolivia, and it is were my dad was born.

12-28-2003 Soroche
We woke up and headed to the Prado, which is the main downtown strip. That is where Miguel used to live and we went to get a few more of his things. Then we went to his wireless internet cafe right there and I had more Mate de Coca cause the altitude was bothering me.

As we started to walk towards the street to get a MiniBus to the San Miguel district we saw clouds moving in. The beauty of being in such a high city was that the clouds were barely above our heads. It was a great site, until it started raining. Then we hussled a little. We caught our mini and made it to San Miguel, from there on foot we went to the house. We hiked pretty fast. On arrival I felt terrible, but I sucked it up and just drank some mate de coca and went on with the day. They cooked a great feast, an asado, grilled meat, coclo (corn on the cob), salad, and little potatoes (seriously the little ones taste better). I, of course, ate a lot and it was awesome.

However the altitude made it worse. My head started to pound and now my chest was hurting. I had to lay down. After a long nap and more mate de coca I started to feel better. Miguel got me some Sorojchi(that is the name of altitude sickness) pills and after relaxing on the couch and talking politics and other world issues I felt better.

We decided to take off and head back downtown. I wanted something light, like soup or something to help get me adjusted to La Paz. We went to another cafe Miguel likes, and there we were met by Miguel's friend Daniel Bustillos. He studied at CMU with Miguel and they have remained friends. I had only met him the one time at our house and Saginaw and he was very nice. He met us with his wife and one year old little girl. It was a nice relaxing light dinner and coffee catching up on things. Then we drove around a little and saw some more plazas (La Paz has a little plaza on every other corner) and he dropped us off.

Tomorrow we will sleep in, the Oruro trip has been moved to Tuesday due to me probably not being ready for the high alto tomorrow. So we will do some shopping, see some sights and relax. My blogs will also be a little shorter, I had been using the computer my cousin Martin bought that I was bringing for him. Now he has his machine, and I am without a computer... very hard for me, but I will survive. I have my trusty jumpdrive and my digital camera and with internet cafe's costing only 3Bs an hour I will be fine.

12-29-2003 Sweater Weather
While Miguel is showering and getting ready I am taking the chance to write from his computer. Today is another sweater day, well actaully everyday in La Paz is sweater day. Everyone wears a sweater in the morning, it starts out about 4 degree centigrade. By afternoon it will be a nice calm 25 degree, big change huh. Then by night time you need the sweater again as it starts to cool down. Such a change from Santa Cruz were it is so hot and humid you wear no undershirt and buy the coolest polyester shirts you can to stop from sweating all day. Now I leave the house in 3 or 4 layers and carry a bag with me for when I need to remove layers. I need to get one of those cool little Bolivia auyao bags.

We walked to get Miguel's mail, all along the way I took pictures. We stopped to eat some tucumanas, which are a mix between salteñas and empanadas, very good. Then we walked some more on the what feels like always uphill terrain. I am quite the tourist with my digi cam. It was a good experience to watch Miguel get his mail. First we went to his post office box, he grabbed his mail and had a slip stating he had a package (comics for sure). Then he had to ask around at which desk to go for his package. They have desks for people with big packages, small packages, medium packages, international packages, etc. Miguel had to go to one desk, pay more money, and then was given his package to take to customs. They opened it, looked at, then stamped his four different forms he had for that package. What fun.

Now we are at the wireless cafe, I am using his laptop and waiting for our coffee. After I post this he will use the computer and I will sneak into the United Colors of Benneton store next door. Then for lunch we are going to this place called the Gringo Limon for some good Fricase. Yum yum.

Bolivian Christmas
I realized it has been 20 years since my last Bolivian Christmas. I completely forgot how they do it down here and it felt great to be part of the celebration here once again. I got to do this more often.

12-24-2003 Xmas Fireworks
Here they call Christmas Eve, "The good night" instead. Everything in the city was open all day. Miguel and I went shopping in the morning to get some last minute gifts for the family and make sure we had everything. Then we swung over to Tio Jorge's house, had some Mate and then went to Tio Adrian's house. Tradition for Christmas Eve is a late dinner. Usually close to midnight or a little before, we had dinner at about 11. The lechon (pork leg) was awesome and the daughters of Tio Ruben got some fireworks. Everyone made phone calls, I talked with my parents when they called and my grandparents from the USA. I got to talk to Novali and Tamara as well.

One of the most fun parts of the night is when my primo Enrique taught me how to ride his motorcycle. He has a big motor-cross bike, and I have never driven one so I wanted to try. I got the hang of it pretty well I thought. I took it for a spin, nearly got run off the road by some cabs and a micro, but the ride was good. I learned to shift the gears and handle it. Good xmas gift from my primo, free bike lesson.

Midnight is show time. Every house in the neighborhood has fireworks, and not just sparklers. Bottle rockets, roman candles, and even big tube shot fireworks as well. It was a non-stop show for about 40 minutes. At this same time everyone starts to do their saludos, kinda like what we do for New Years in the USA. Everyone gets a hug, a kiss on the cheek and told god bless you. We stayed up talking for a while and then off to bed for everyone.

12-25-2003 Christmas Movie
We woke up, had a big family breakfast and then we all went to the house of my Tio Jorge. His family did not come last night, just too many people. But an afternoon BBQ Jorge's place is great. The older male members of the family fought over politics the entire time, and the rest watched SpiderMan. We had some leftover lechon, and some great ribs! It was a feast.

Miguel made plans to take the four little kids to the Movies. He took them to see La Tierra de los Osos, the new Disney movie. While he was doing that the rest of us 'grownups' went to the Picolo (ice cream place) and then I got in line for some Lord of the Rings tickets. It ended up that I waited alone for the tickets. It was a 2 hour wait for the dumb tickets! Here they sell movie tickets by seat number. So after my wait in line the only 7 they had together was the second to front row. At least we got tickets!

We killed time before the movie (I got the tickets at 7, the movie was at 10) going to a internet cafe, getting some food, and just waiting around for everyone to show up. The movie was good. The amount of cell phones going off was insane. Every two seconds, and the entire theater would start with the "sssshhhhh". The theater was also very vivarent, they would clap and cheer many times throughout the movie. The movie went really long, more then 3 hours, we caught a cab and went home. Long, long day.

The girls getting ready to do their fireworks.

Abuelita covering her ears from the sound of the fireworks.

The kids (and Miguel) and playing Nintendo 64.

The lechon... oh man.

The salad and everything else. Got to have llajwa (hot salsa).

The family dinner at Tio Adrian's. Everyone got more then enough, especially me.

Tio Jorge cooking at house on Christmas day.

Everyone getting their full, again.

The meat was so good... I ate too much again.

And then everyone argued about politics. Good ol' Centellas Christmas.

12-26-2003 Trying to Catch a Tan
Miguel and I had planed our trip to La Paz this weekend on a bus. The bus normally takes about 16 hours. However with the bad rain that we had earlier this week one of the bridges gave out (many people died, it was all over the papers here) and now the buses are taking longer. It was already a big expense of my time to be on the bus during my short vacation, and now with the delay we decided to just fly instead. Now it is an expense of my money instead of time, I would rather spend more time doing things and have less money then have more money and have spent nearly two full days of this short vacation on a bus. It is a 45 minute flight.

Getting tickets was an adventure of course as well. We went with abuelito and he had us cut in front of everyone because of the senior citizen law here, but he was not even buying the tickets. It is really cool a law they have, at any place (mostly banks and big businesses follow it) anyone above 65 gets to go to the front of the line. Everyone was looking at us... but I did not care, we had money in had and were in a hurry. Plus we were late to the water park. Side note: those expecting cool La Paz style gifts (llama sweaters, big monolitos, pewter stuff, etc) will be without because of this extra expense on tickets. But no worries, I will bring some coca tea back with me instead, it will make you happy. - News update: we heard buses are taking more then 24 hours to get to La Paz, and some having to stop over night. Good thing we bought the tickets!

My primo Enrique works at a water park, called AquaLand. He is one of the general managers; the place has water slides, fakes waves and lots of excitement. It is one of the things I really wanted to see before leaving, plus a little more sun can't hurt. I need to catch more sunlight on the rest of my body. I am developing a really bad farmer tan from walking around the city all day.

I went with Felipe, Maira, Marcia, Miguel, and abuelito. We had a great time. It started to rain a little, but the sky cleared up and we had an awesome time. I did not get burned! It was Miguel and Abuelito that got the burns, I came out just fine, and more tan. The park reminded me of the Anderson Water park in Saginaw. Except not nearly as ghetto, but surprisingly just as expensive. Tickets were 10 bucks (american) each, and food was about 20 bucks for all of us, and then the rafts and ice cream added another 2-3 bucks per person. That comes to about 120 dollar trip for as family of 6. That is way too much! Good thing our primo Enrique got us free passes!

The park was huge!

Abuelito road the automatic river all day long, and got sun burnt.

In true Santa Cruz fashion... beautiful girls and a bar, even at a family pool.

I stayed back and took the picture of them riding a big inter tube down the slide.

They had a total of 6 large slides.

The gang in the river, Miguel on his way to getting burnt.

Felipe and I rode all the slides, it was great.

Miguel finishing up his burn before we leave.

Afterwards we were beat. The sun has the uncanny ability to drain away your energy. So what was supposed to be a short nap after a tiring day turned into a long ciesta... so I stayed in, had some Paceñas, and watched some Christmas movies on TV with Tio Jorge and Miguel.

12-27-2003 The Curanderos
I am sick, something I ate did not make my stomach very happy. So I am a little bit tired from not sleeping well. All day each member of the Centellas family came and told me what I should be doing to get better. The abuelita had tio Jorge make me some soup. Abuelito gave me some pills he takes when his stomach gets upset. Tio Jorge said I should drink Sprite and crackers, Miguel said no that the gas from the pop will make me worse. Suddenly all the Centellas family is a bunch of doctors. At least I know they all care. Either way, this makes me more glad I am not taking a 20+ hour bus trip!

I am in the airport. Miguel and I arrived early, he just finished his posting and went to get some coffee, I am heading out now to join him as well. Enjoy this post. I will be online even more in La Paz. They have wireless there... YEAH!

Happy Holidays
The title is PC, but seriously I want to say Merry Christmas. I do not know anyone who celebrates anything else. Not that I am not accepting of other culture´s religions, but I don´t know anyone with other religions to accept. At WMU my Fraternity Brother Geo from India... was Baptist. I had a friend from Israel that was Catholic. None of my friends celebrate Kwanza, not even Reymall (well not that I know of). So it´s just a plain out Merry Christmas.

It´s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go... even the hot girls who stand in front of the stores are dressed in little red skirts with white puffy trim all dancing around a very tan and hot (poor guy, it must be in the 90´s right now) Santa Claus in his full suit. Not a white snowy Christmas, but I am okay with that.

Tonight Miguel and I will spend with the family, and also call home. The remainer of the Centellas family in the USA will be at my parents house. I will call my little Novali as well, and the Gomez family in Chicago. Hopefully we will get through fine.

I am done shopping for the family here, Miguel and I just had the fattest (or should I say, PHATTEST) buffet of Bolivian food (I gained like two more pounds I swear!), and now we are running home to grab our Christmas cards and off we go to the Christmas Party.

Commenting does not seem to working well right now. So if your message does not show up post it later again. I can not find out what is wrong, but I can not post to any of my friends blogs on the GVSU Blogosphere either. You all know how much I love comments... being without will be hard. Off we go.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Haircut, down pour and the fire alarm
We got Miguel, I got a hair cut (yes of course they charged me extra), checked out some construction sites, thought about retiring in Bolivia, had a down pour in Santa Cruz, our micro never showed up, and the taxis would not stop for us. Just another non-typical day for me in Bolivia. Read on for pictures.

12-22-2003 Hair cut at rock high gringo prices
I met my tio Ruben at 11am, we had an hour and half to kill before Miguel arrived. So I went to get my haircut. He knew a place that was only 5 bolivianos (about 75 cents american, wow, beat that Master Cuts!). I love Bolivian hair cuts. The lady cut all my hair without clippers, she manually cut it all short. She made great work of my naps in no time at all. Then, she shaved the side burns and neck line with a straight blade razor. Nothing is better then a straight razor shave. Smooth. As she finished up and put talcum powder on my neck I went to pay... and guess how much she wanted? 10 pesos. I thought the price was 5? I just smiled like a dumb gringo and gave her the money. My tio have her a look, and she said, its extra for Christmas. Come on... just admit you charge me more cause you know I got it. Little does she know I pay 13 bucks for my haircuts in the USA.

Then we went to the bus station. As we pulled up Miguel was already sitting there. He got there two hours early and had been sitting waiting for us. Off we went to tio Jorge's house for lunch. We got there in time for lunch... and what as lunch it was! My favorite, chuño, with rice, the tomato/onion salad and saice de pollo. It was so good, I ate way to much and then we sat at talked. After a while we left with tio Ruben and Jorge and we went to some of Ruben's construction sites. Ruben is a civil engineer and he is in charge of some of the larger construction jobs in the city. We visited a few places and talked about the prices of houses. He is working with some places, private gated communities with a pool, guards, nice yards and plenty of parking close to downtown for only 25-30,000 dollars. What a place to retire to right? Hum, got me thinking...

We stopped for some afternoon coffee and relaxation. Bolivian's like to relax, I got to remember that when I get back to the states. We sat, talked about politics, the amount of statues in the city, names of the streets, anything that came to mind. It was great, and as it got later Miguel and I walked to the plaza central and hangout. While we were in an internet cafe we heard some commotion. A police man came and started breaking the glass around the fire extinguisher. So what did I do? Grabbed my camera and followed him, it was just a small fire in a furniture store across the street. I took a few pictures and then headed back to the internet.

After that we walked to my primo Oscar's house which was a few blocks away. He took us to eat some steak tenderloin sandwiches. Man they were good. We walked in the rain some more and then waited for our Micro... but it never came. Over an hour of waiting and nothing. Then we went on a taxi. We got the guestroom ready for Miguel, the abuelita worried if we would be warm enough, and then we went to sleep. Well not to sleep, Miguel is ready the back issues of MacAddict I brought him and I am writing this post. I am about to edit some photos to post with this tomorrow. Look out!

12-23-2003 Picture time!
Miguel likes to sleep in. I wanted to get downtown early to get on the internet and post pictures before we have lunch with abuelito. He wanted to eat duck today, but in typical abuelito style he forgot that they only do the ducks on Monday. So next week when I return from La Paz we will go. I love all the different types of food we have here all the time, too bad not on Tuesday though huh? Not the same dull burgers and chicken we get in the states all the time. Something different each day. Either way, I will post about that meal later. For now, enjoy the pictures, and now I must return home, my Tio Jorge is cooking milanesa.
Pictures!

Another view of the plaza in Santa Cruz.

All the stores have pretty girls that hassle and flirt with you until you buy. This girl told me I was the best looking gringo she ever saw, so of course I had to buy a shirt! First person to not call me fat!.

The gas stations all have cute girls that come out and pump your gas.

This was from the night out, these were some of the models walking around handing out flyers.

The flamico dancers.

They were so good.

There were bands and entertainers all over. The place we ate had a jazz band there.

The avenue was just full of people.

The bar owed by DC United Star Marco Echevarria.

The Centellas gang at dinner. It was so good.

The abuelitos before the birthday party.

The clown was great, Maira is the one in the yellow shirt by the window. Over 40 kids showed up.

Cutting the birthday cake, they sang happy birthday in English.

Fernando and I on the way to Samaipata.

The views from the road were awesome, the highway was right on the side of the mountain the entire time.

Here is a picture of the crash, crazy huh?.

A wooden rope bridge that my primo Oscar wanted to cross. I felt like Indiana Jones, just without the indians chasing us. Well actaully the indians were chasing us, but instead of spears they had their hands out asking for change.

The gang again. You can tell we spent a lot of time together. My tio Jorge´s kids showed me around the most so far.

On top of the mountain. Behind us was about a 500 meter drop.

The fort, built at over 2000 meters above sea level.

Our crazy Samaipata eating experience.

At a worksite of my tio Ruben. In the picture from LEft to right, Miguel, Ruben and Jorge.

The down pour in Santa Cruz.

Dinner with Oscar and Miguel.

Busy
I am on vacation, but on the go more then ever. This weekend was the best. I did a little and a lot of everything. Miguel gets into town today at noon, I got up early to come and post and catch up on email. Here is my weekend recap.

12-19-2003 Flaminco
The office of my primo David is in the new towers here, Cainco Towers. He works for Campus Crusade for Christ and his office is on the 12th floor. It was an awesome view and a great building. You can see the entire city from his window, amazing. We talked, check out his new car and the Sony Xplode stereo he bought for it. Nice little turbo Toyota. Everyone has Toyotas here.

Then of course, I walked more. I love walking now. I must walk like 10 miles a day right now. I went downtown, checked out a few things, bought some CDs and clothes to wear out for a night on the town. While sitting in the plaza I saw the most disturbing thing. Quick story.

At all the corners of the plaza are street lights (not many in Bolivia), and little kids are out there asking to wash windows. Most people wave them off as a problem and say no. Some kind people give them 50 centavos (about 6 cents american). This nice Toyota Land Cruiser pulled up, pretty new with a rich looking guy in it. He asked the kid to wash his back window. Quickly the kid ran back there, washed the window and just then the light turned green. As the kid comes around the side of the car he drives off. The poor kid is yelling for his coin and the man drives off. Who robs from the poor? A man in a big truck, robbed a poor little kid who is out there trying to make enough money so he can eat. This country is corrupt, the police steal from the people, the government embezzles tax dollars, stores don't pay taxes... but for a rich man to steal labor from a poor little begger boy trying to make a living. That is ridiculous, and it broke my heart. I don't own a Land Cruiser, but I called the boy over, who was very angry, and I gave him what was owed to him. If the people who are able to help don't, then how will we ever get better? Let me put my soap box away...

I then headed home, and got ready to go out. The night was awesome. The hot dry air of the day, turned into a calm crisp night with a slight wind to keep you cool. It was perfect to say the least. We headed downtown. It was Oscar and his wife Bilma, Fernando and Ivan (Darcy, Ivan's wife met us a little later) and we stopped for a quick show in the plaza. Some dancers and folkloric performances (they danced Malambo) for the Christmas season are having shows on the plaza. Then we waked to one of the streets with some night life.

Before settling on a restaurant we soaked up the Santa Cruz nightlife. On the boulevard they had people performing. A mandolin group singing for people, some models handing out flyers for some club, and street performers. One group came out from one of the universities. They did a theater act with tango. No words, just dance and music. Such a great act. They danced, 6 women and 5 men, and acted out their skit. Crowds gathered and we, by chance, had front row seats.

Once that all cleared out we found a place eat, Solo Pasta, an Italian place called our name. We sat on the second floor balcony that over looked the street. The six of us ate the night away, a bottle of wine and lots of Coca-Cola and Fanta later we left. We made a short stop at the Diablo Sports Bar, which is owed by the famous Echevarria, the soccer player for the MLS DC United in the USA. He was not there, the big night crowds had not yet arrived, we were full already, and so we left.

I wet home, and went to bed.

12-20-2003 Futbol, cornish game hens and a clown
I got up early to go to the futbol game of my primo Ivan. His work has a league and I wanted to watch his game. It has been a long time since I watched a game, so it was nice to be out on a soccer field. Seriously I want too try to play again one of these days, see how this bum knee of mine holds up. They lost a hard fought game 2-1.

Then I met up with my abuelito at the house of my tio Adrian. Abuelito wanted to take me to eat cornish game hens. I love them... so it did not take much convincing. They cook them rotiessery style, 5 per stick. With fried yuca, salad and rice. It was just like I remember. The tourist joke is that once some tourist finish eating the game hens, the waiter tells them they were actually pigeons. I remember the first time they did it to me, I did not buy the store. You can tell they are chickens because of the little wings, but they are so tiny in size that you could believe that they are pigeons. Needless to say the lunch was great.

Back to the house of tio Adrian. It was the 9th birthday of Maira, the daughter of my tio Ruben who is the youngest of my tios. I got her a huge stuffed squirrel. They planned a huge party, gifts for those who come, a beautiful three layer cake, empanadas (not sure how to describe it, but pasteries with meat in them), and a clown. The clown was good, he kept the kids playing and having a good time. The party started at 3:30, but in true Bolivian fashion people kept showing up until like 7... Bolivian's and their tardiness, my abuelita says that is why this country can not get ahead, "we can't even be on time, let alone get ahead."

Then back to the house with los abuelitos. I put on some cream to help my slight pinkish burn on my forehead (I know I know... sun block. Tomorrow I will use it), we had some coffee with Jorge and Loida and then watched the end of Armagedon (the movie). Ivan came to pick up Darcy and his kids, Gabriel and Natalia. Those two kids are so funny, and Natalie is so smart for a little 4 year old. I got some good stories about those two trouble makers, but I will save those for a later day.

Off to bed. Tomorrow I leave the house at 5:30am to meet the cousins and head to the fort at Samaipata.

12-21-2003 There it is
What a long day, and its not over yet. I got up super early and went to my primos house. Of course they were all late, so I could of slept more, but I was ready and excited for the trip. We took a taxi there, all 7 of us crammed into a taxi; Oscar and Bilma, Ivan and Darcy with Gabriel, and then Fernando and I. We made a great traveling gang.

The ride was about 2 hours long, not bad at all. The road was well paved (most of the way), but we did see one really bad accident. A huge tour bus hit a semi truck head on... ouch. I got some pictures of the crash, unbelievable to hear no one was hurt from the look of the pictures. But as a guy who has lived through two accidents I should know how it can be to survive something like that.

The city was small. We got there around 9am and had breakfast. Salteñas and hugo con leche. Basically milkshakes and a small pastry with meat in it, but Bolivian style. Very good. Then we hit the road to the Inca ruins. We got another taxi and went up the mountain. The ruins are 2000 meters above sea level, and it is very windy up there. I can not explain the magnitude of the ruins, but once I post the photos you will understand. The views were amazing and thinking how people built so much, so high up is hard to imagine.

Back in the city we went to the muesum, what a joke! They had like two little pots, some clay jars and ceramics in glass cases and that was it. I paid 80 pesos for all of us to enter... what a rip off. At least the place had clean bathrooms, something hard to find in that little pueblo.

Lunch was a whole nother story. I don't want to write the entire story now, but basically we got the worst service ever (no ice, soup got spilled on Gabriel's head, no yuca, slow, and the guy was mean). And as I went to pay, the guy raised the price! It was from 7 pesos for each person, to 10. I know they always charge the gringo more, but they already quoted the price, they should of lied to me about the price from the beginning like everyone else. Ivan made a stink in front of everyone, said the guy was "pobre educado (poorly educated, or better translation would be poorly mannered)". I threw the money on the table and we left. We were fighting over about 2.25 american... but it was the principle of the matter that was important, not the price. Why do they always have to rip off the gringo?

On the way home we went in two taxis. We were really crammed on the way there so I figured it cost a little extra but we will all be comfortable. Fernando and I rode in one taxi with two strangers, and the rest of the gang in the other car. We left at the same time, but our taxi driver was much faster. We dropped off the other two passengers and still beat the other car to the drop off spot. Then Fernando and I waited... and waited. More then an hour passed. After a hour and half another taxi came, how did this other taxi beat them? We asked and he said he saw their car, the suspension gave out on some of the bumps on the highway and it got a flat tire. Ouch. They caught a ride back on a bus. So we had waited in vain. We went home.

I had another great dinner prepared by my tia Loida. Now I am downloading pictures and getting ready for tomorrow. Miguel gets into town at 12:30 and I need to get a haircut, check my email, and check some more prices on things before meeting him at the bus station.

12-22-2003 The Bus
I got up at 8:30am, which is kinda early for me since I am on vacation. I wanted to get downtown and get somethings done before Miguel comes. I am meeting my tio Ruben in the plaza to head to the bus station together. I had to wait forever to change money this morning, lines everywhere! Then no place for a haircut could see me right away. So just some email and this blog before I get Miguel. More coming soon.

Politics
Not sure what it is I miss the most about Bolivia. I do know that I miss talking about politics with the family. We talk politics while we eat, on the micro, during TV shows, and each night before bed. The family here is very well read and my abuelo remembers everything from back then (well kinda). Here is the new report, read to the bottom… cause guess what? Pictures!

12-18-2003 Irish Pub
On the blog of my brother Andres he mentioned the Irish Pub, a place I actually have never been to in Santa Cruz. The place is right on the plaza on the second floor of the Shopping Boliviar and has huge signs above it. I went up for a late lunch and checked it out.

The view was awesome, got some nice pictures from up there and a coke. The menu they brought me was in half English half Spanish (maybe I got the gringo version, but I think they are all like that). Also while I was up there I met a group of Canadian guys who were trying to pick up a pair of beautiful cruceñas who happened to be eating there as well. The food was not so good, and I always forget that in Bolivia refills on coke are not free (Ramiro this place is for you), so each time I get my bill anywhere I rack up the price on the refills. Which to a Bolivian is very expensive, I usually pay 5 Bolivianos per each coke, so for the 4 cokes I had, we are talking almost 3 dollars! For that I could of bought Toby Burger for myself and one of my cousins...

I took the long way home. I decided to walk the micro route, stopping along the way to take pictures and buy more items. I got a pair of head phones (the little ear bud ones) for one one dollar, and bought some DVDs. Well actually they are VCDs. I got American Pie II and the Gladiator. What is funny is that when you go into a store they ask you if you want the original DVD or if you wanted a copied VCD. DVDs are about 24 dollars and the VCDs are 3 bucks. Easy choice. The quality is not as great, but not that bad. All the stores here sell copied stuff, CDs, DVDs, VHS, mix tapes, everything.

After walking for more then an hour on my micro route I got tired. I had been walking all day, nearly 6 hours now. All the stuff I bought was getting heavy in my hand. So I stopped, flagged a micro and off I went home. Dinner was interesting as always. Abuelita trying to get a word in around abuelo and Jorge, the three of them arguing over a food recipe, which president ruined the country more, or who is playing futbol next week. Everyone once in a while Loyda and I would make eye contact, shrug our shoulders and watch them argue.

Now when I say argue I don't mean fight, I mean discuss, in a special Centellas kind of way. Anyone who knows my family well, knows us Centellas sure like to contradict whatever it is you have to say, and then argue it until we have no breath to keep on going. Or we get hungry, which ever comes first.

The abuelitos go to bed these days right after dinner. For being in their late 80's they sure look good. My abuelita has lost most of her eye sight but gets around just fine. My abuelito is still as feisty as ever. He works around the house in his sleeveless shirt, always quick to help my tio with anything.

Abuelita went to bed first, and then began another argument over a food recipe. We were talking about all the things I wanted to eat. On each recipe they would argue, over how much of this... how long you cook it... with rice or potatoes... how to prepare the yuca... the list goes on. What is funny is that my abuelito can barely cook, from what I have seen he is very slow in the kitchen and can rarely even find napkins in there let alone salt or other things to cook with. With abuelita not able to cook she sits in the kitchen and tells them what to do. I am excited to see this process. Monday... the Centellas family chefs (Jorge and Abuelo) and their instructor (Abuelita) will cook for Miguel and I. Can't wait.

Before bed I had some Mate with tio. He taught me some etiquete with the Mate and how to prepare it. I have to get me a good mate bowl to take home. He gave me a packet of his favorite mate and I can't wait to drink it at home. I think I might become a more avid mate drinker, replace coffee in my life.

12-19-2003 Fricase, fricase, fricase
I have a few foods in Bolivia that are my favorite. Of course you all have read about my love for cuñapes which are a small bread made with interesting cheese and floor (maybe my mom will leave a comment with the recipe). My true favorite food is chuño, which is a basically a freeze dried potato, but done naturally in the mountains, I can explain more to those interested later. I am sure on my way to La Paz I will pass by some places that make it. Then is my fricase... ah.

Fricase is a soup. Eating it is nearly a ritual here. Almost like Mexican menudo (but different meat), which is why I think I like Mexican soups like menudo and pozole so much over there. They cook the soup early in the morning and more typically on the weekends. Like menudo it is used for hangovers, or after a long night of partying. Me, I am just going with my tio and abuelito. Half the adventure was just watching them argue or which place we should go to, my abuelito saying, "If we take him to the wrong place his whole vacation will be ruined because he has some terrible fricase... let me pick the place, I know the best fricase in town." Everything to my grandpa is very dramatic.

Alright, I must shower and hit the road. Today will be fun. After the fricase I am going to my cousin David's work at 1:30. Then I am going to meet up with the rest of my cousins and tonight we are going out. I hope Miguel gets here soon, everyone wants to go to Semipata now, looks like we will have a big gang and it will be a blast! I got to get on ticket prices.

The fricase was great. Sitting with just the men was nice, had some Malta and fricase and then I headed downtown. I wanted to post this and them some pictures before going to David´s. It is crazy hot today, but a nice breaze is blowing so that helps a lot.

Pictures!

Picture from the window in La Paz from the plane. Mt. Ilimani.

Here you can see the difference from the two cities. This view of Rio Pirai shows how tropical the other side of the country is.

There is always some type of student protest in Santa Cruz. This is right on the plaza.

Around the main plaza are all the government buildings.

Beautiful palm trees line each side of the plaza.

The streets are always busy, vendors line each corner and everyone is on their cell phone.

The inside of the social that would not let me eat there cause of my attire.

I remember when they first built this, it was the tallest in Santa Cruz.

When I ran into the abuelitos in the plaza. They were feeding the pigeons.

I scared off the birds, but it made for a great picture.

Every store has pretty girls in front to try and lure you in. And if you set foot in the store they won´t let you leave until they have shown you everything. Talk about sales people on commision.

The Irish Pub in Shopping Bolivar. Great Location.

As I walk all the girls like to make gringo comments. These ones saw me with my camera and wanted me to take their picture.

Then I had the girls take my picture, finally a vacation picture that I am in. Gracias Cruceñas.

From the Irish Pub I had a great view of the Cathedral, beautiful huh

I also love the cars here, some of them you can not get in the USA. I have no clue what type of car this one.

Full size picture gallery coming soon.