Day 27 more pictures

 
 
 

A shop in the witch market.
Our snake alcoholic drink.
Hail in the street while we waiting in a store for it to stop.

Day 27

 
 
 
 

Up ridiculously early (0500) to catch a plane to La Paz to start our travels. Mike has come so far in his ability to travel from the first time my family took him to Mexico. He crawled out of bed (remember this is 0200 his time), took a shower and was out the door in half an hour. We saw the sunrise at the airport and boarded our plane without difficulty. A travel person picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel and then about an hour later our tour guide picked us up to go on a tour of La Paz. We saw the Valley of the Moon, so named because when Neil Armstrong saw it (when he came to Bolivia to see the salt flats which he had seen from space) he said that it looked like the moon. We went to the town square where our guide pointed out bullet holes in one of the buildings from a shoot out between the president protected by the military and the citizens protected by the police. The president ultimately escaped to the US. We then went through museums where our guide explained the evolution of the cultures in La Paz and Bolivia as a whole. It is great to have someone who knows the history who takes time to give the details that we wouldn’t have known at all without him.
We spent the afternoon in the Witches Market, where we had lunch at a lovely restaurant and even tried lama, which is good, but takes some time to chew. After lunch, our guide had told us to drink the house specialty drink to help with digestion (which is hard for our body at this altitude) so we asked for the drink. Our waiter obliged and brought out a jug wrapped in a towel and poured two shots (it is alcohol). We took our shots, which tasted to us like grapes. Once the shot was down, our waiter put the jug on the table and took the towel away from the jug to reveal a boa constrictor inside (dead of course) marinating in the alcohol. I am amazed that I didn’t puke up the shot, but I did feel uncomfortable about the large snake staring at me from a jug of alcohol on my table. I’m glad I didn’t know what was in the jug before taking the shot. The funny thing is that I think I read about that drink and what was in the jug before, but mentally blocked it or something.
After an afternoon of shopping in the witches market and burping snake juice (only once or twice did that grape flavor burp back up, but it brought with it the image of the snake), we walked more into the city to look for dinner. Mike wanted to try saltañas, which is a morning food, but somehow we found a restaurant with some left so he got to try them and was a big fan. I didn’t think they were as good as the ones I had had in Santa Cruz so we will have to have them again. Then we went home to crawl into bed and watch a movie, the altitude was giving Mike a headache and I took that as a sign that I should rest too.

Day 26

 

Picked Mike up at the airport, finally feel like things are right in the world now that he is with me. He seemed to be in a bit of shock but recovered quickly after a quick swim, a good lunch and a nap at our hotel Los Tajibos. We took a taxi to the plaza and then walked to the house I have been living in from there so Mike could meet everyone. He says that he understands about 30% of what people are saying to him, which with my 70% understanding should give us complete understanding, but unfortunately it actually only gives us about 70% understanding. Luckily, Freddy and MaryBetty speak English very well and switch to English for Mike which allowed him to understand most of what was said during dinner at the Tennis Club. I can’t believe I got Mike to Bolivia…and so our adventure begins.

Day 25

 
 

My last day without Mike.
Gave a presentation this morning to the residents at Hospital Japones about our program and inviting them to visit...one of the medical students may come. She speaks English with a Texas accent, from living there for a year and I think it is great. Then I had a delicious lunch at Dr Jordans house with his family. His whole family lives in the house, his two daughters, their spouses, his grandaughter, his mother, his wife and his son. It would be awesome to all live together like that, but I think that I would prefer to all live on the same street. He also has two dogs, one which is a tan cockerspaniel...I really missed Cassie today.
In the afternoon, Raquels mother (and father as our driver through the insane Santa Cruz traffic) took me to see Hospital/Clinic Nino Jesus number 1 and number 2. They are beautiful modern medicine buildings with airconditioning and private rooms. They even have a VIP section where your room has a plasma TV and minifridge and private airconditioning. If I am ever sick in Bolivia, I'm definitely going VIP.
When we were touring the first hospital on of the nurses, who didn't know Raquels mother asked her where in the hospital she worked and I'm pretty sure her response was, I don't work here, I made this hospital, which is a line I would love to use one day (let me set the image, Raquels mom is probably under 5 feet and always has the sweetest, biggest smile on her face, she is animated when she talks, and you can feel the earned respect radiating off her in the way people interact with her). As she showed me on the plaque outside the second hospital, she helped found these hospitals. In the second hospital, people literally came out of their offices to greet her. She says that when Raquel was here she was also very well regarded. (Raquel, correct me if I'm wrong about any of this sometimes I miss something critical in Spanish and my whole understanding goes out the window).
In summary, Raquels mother is wicked awesome! (I have other words to express how cool she is, but for some reason all of them have cuss words involved...I guess when you are really cool you earn a title that can't be typed or used around small children).
Now is the waiting for Mike to arrive. He is somewhere between Dallas and Miami right now.
If I don't post again it is for lack of time and internet, but we will try to put something up now and then when we have internet access...I know that at least our hotel in Miami has free internet (it's pretty fancy) so if nothing from now until then, we will be back March third.

Day 24

 
 
 

I just realized this didn't post before so here it is again.
Today Betty took me to a rehabilitation hospital/clinic for children with burns. It was modern and amazing. Pictured is the front of the hospital. In one of the rooms there were two women sewing clothes, custom made for childrens based on their burns to help the right amount of compression be against the burn. They use special fabric and have pockets in the shape of the burns where the thicker material is slid in to lay against the burned area and help healing. Also pictured is the physical therapist and his therapy gym. They have a building out back for children and their families to stay if they live far away and they are in the process of building a small surgery center for outpatient surgeries so that the children won't have to go back to the hospital. Bettys rotary helped raise the money for the hospital, hence the private tour. It was awesome! I wish I had known about it earlier so I could have spent more time with them and observed the rehab and specialty clothing more.

Days 22-23

 

Seriously, armadillo. (So far I have eaten, chicken heart, duck, soup made from boiled cows head and now armadillo, who knew I could be so adventurous)

Days 22-23

 
 
 

Dressing up in carnival gear. The frog that jumped out of the sink when I went to do the dishes (that will teach me to do the dishes, at least I didn't scream with the frog, you should have seen my reaction when I spider the size of my hand climbed from the front seat to my door handle inside the car. Lets just say, MaryBetty had to open the door from the outside which resulted in the spider running to the back so she had to open the back and swat the spider out of the car while I was too scared even to take a picture. She assures me that spider wasn't poisonous, but it scare the crud out of me.)
Us eating armadillo, and by us, I mean I tried it and then ate rice.