We are now in Cochabamba! We made it after a grueling 8 hour bus ride, a blockade outside of La Paz (our bus is El Dorado in the pic, and we are walking through a field as our bus offroads it around the blockade...it only took an hour), and some windy roads with a bus driver that I swear wouldn´t go faster than like 45mph. It is beautiful here...sunny, warm, and even a few mosquitoes. We are at about 8200 feet and feeling great! We´ve eaten great food so far and have been shopping and visiting and running all over the city trying to get settled in. Our little house (casita) is perfect! Today we even figured out how to hook up the gas for the stove, so we can have hot water! We had to have the 18 yr. old girl who cleans our landlords house come and show us how it´s done...boy did we feel dumb. And our landlady offered to sew us curtains for our windows...people have been so kind to us! We´ll post some pictures of our house, but it´s hard to get a big shot.
2 comments:
Can you explain about the "blockade"? What was it for? Why were you able to go around it?
Your apt. looks great! You should be very comfy now. mom
Blockades seem to be the popular form of public protest here. They happen all the time. Last week there was one heading out of Cochabamba towards La Paz that lasted for 3 days. Basically what happens is a group of people get together that want something and block the highway with trees, rocks, and themselves until they are heard and/or have their demands met...or the police arrest them. We do not know the reason for the one we went through, but the one in Cochabamba was because people felt that the goverment was not repairing the roads (rather ironic). To get around the blockade we just drove on some back roads...as seen in the picture. They were not in the best condition...one bus got stuck and had the whole back end break off...that is why thy had us get off before we went over that part. The people here not apathatic (sp), which I actually think is a great thing...just gets in the way of day to day business at times.
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