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.