eat your heart out

So.. last week was dia del mar. Im pretty sure I mentioned that I went BBQ hopn and the meat was pretty good. I made a not to self to avoid eating on the streets. They have no means of running water and even though a person lives in La Paz for a month, their lungs may have acclimated, however the stomach can be a very sensitive organ. In another words... I got sick :\ the next day I explained what I did to my spanish teacher Maria. Maria said oh, tu como anticucho! Yo digo, "ok, yo como anticucho. Que es anticucho?" Maria dice, "corazon :)" (yo pienso de llama). At that moment I couldn't help but laugh as it brought back a great but jacked up memory. When Mandi and I were in the 4 and 6th grade, my parents went in on a butchered cow. That butchered cow was Mandis friends pet. One evening my dad made these burritos cooked in chile and a bunch of good love'n! They were sooo delicious! We got seconds, they were so good. Just as we were finishing, my dad asked, "girls, how did you like your burritos?" We replied, they were sooo good! Etc, etc" He then replied with a huge grin, " im glad you girls liked it, it was ceymors tongue."

cholitas quick fix

I love the cholitas here! They are super cute and I really love the women with the soft little voices. Our maid Antoina, she has a soft voice and is sooo sweet. Anyhow... with all due respect: While I was waiting for Dra. Uribe's lecture today a commercial came on. It was a quick fix diet pill directed to cholitas. It showed a young cholita with a before and after photo. If you know anything about cholitas... they wear about 3 skirts and who knows how many sweaters, topped with a shawl. She lost 10 kilos (22 pounds) and she was flauntn her stuff. You know in America... the after picture usually has the person wearing half the clothes or just a bikini. Well, she took her sweater off :) It is my favorite commercial and I hope I get to enjoy it again!

:) dia

Today is a good day :) I went to El Alto Hospital de Los Andes and saw over 20 patients in 4 hours. Tomorrow I will be donating some casting material (thanks Gabi). This is definitely an underserved clinic and I am happy to be here. I am in a pediatric ambulatory clinic so the kids mainly had fevers and coughs. The doctora I am with is a pretty funny woman that educates all mothers on diet, layers of clothing and how to prevent hip dysplasia. *every child at 3 months of age gets bilateral hip xrays because hip dysplasia is so prevelent here due to the way babies are swaddled. I will try to write more later... mamasita is probably worrying where I am. Yo estoy muy tarde para almuerzo. Yo no quiero como mucho. Ella esta muy fuerte y quiere yo como mucho. Ella dice tu enferma, muy flacca y necessita come. Solomente 5 dias cuando yo mido mi esposo.

live and learn

Note to self... don't eat meat that is possibly barbecued rare in the streets of La Paz. Even a handful of coca leaves won't make you feel better. Today is Dia del Mar... it's a pretty big deal. The president is here and the seguridad ride on harleys! There are 6 white beautiful bikes... harleys are a rare commodity in La Paz. So far I have only seen 8 plus an enduro that had a harly sticker on it. So today is to remember the battle of when Bolivia lost the sea to Chile. They are all still pretty upset about it.especially when you here a Bolivian talk about it. They hope one day Chile will give it back. I'm not sure if that day will ever come. They have marching bands from all over the country and they play all day and night, beginning today at 8am sharp. Tonight its supposed to be getting crazy... I spoke too soon. Just heard loud gunshots and it was the first time I ever saw locals hurry. The cooks from the kitchen all ran out of the resturant and were looking out on the street. Just a coincidence ...I thought they were worried... but I was wrong. They just received their produce and other supplies. :) Gunshots here during protests and marches are super normal. People don't even flinch.

the battle continued

Im sorry, I only have my phone and one I get to a certain length ofok... text... I can't edit it... hence nnivele dos. Ok... so I just can't eat swine and be satisfied. Anyhow... for the past week, mamasita has been bringing out this ham everyday for breakfast. I can't believe she still has it. I usually don't eat lunchmeat after 1 week of being in the refrigerator... thanks to the infamous microbe test performed in Microbiology. 2 days ago she said "now.. I'm going to force you to eat this ham" (laughing). I simply carried on eating my bowl of fruit, drinking my tea and eating my little biscuit. I knew then that it would not be wise to grab another grain because she would then STRONGLY encourage a slice of ham. Once I was finished, I said I was done and said my thanks. She asked "what about the ham? You need to eat it or else it will spoil." (As you age you tend to lose senses...smelling is one of them) there is no way in h*** am I going to eat that meat. I explained that I couldn't eat it because my stomach was a little upset. She then asked "do you have the diarrhea?" I explained no, but I just can't eat meat in the morning. Later, I came home for lunch, walked out to the table and found 1/2 of an avacado with a slice of ham pinned to a toothpick. I couldn't help but laugh... very hard. She was now enforcing that I eat the damn meat. I then rapidly ripped my napkin in half and stuffed the ham within it and shoved it in my pocket..leaving a small piece on my plate to l piece og)y plate to play it off (thanks mandi wise tips when we were young) she then, the next morning made me a fruit plate, papaya as a clown face, watermelon as the nose, banana as the hairraisins as the eyes and there it was.... more ham, as the mouth.. i couldnt believe it. After i was dine eating mt cliwn head she asked me to eat more ham... i said, i just couldnt. I think she finally got it. Later that day she gave the 2 or 3 remaining slices of ham to our maid, antonia to take home.. i couldn't help but think ...poor antonia.

battle of the ham nivele 1

I almost forgot to mention the battle of the ham!! So.. I am not sure if I told you about my mamasita aqui en la paz. She's is an over-bearing latin woman. She reminds me of My Big Fat GreeK wedding" what do you mean you don't eat no meat... I make lamb." When I first arrived, I tried saying I had celiac disease.. she freaked. She said I wasn't going to survive and said I was too skinny... "are you ill" she asked. I asked her to disregard but told her that I was lactose intolerant. everyday she offers me milk, gives me cheese and forces ice cream and pasteries at me. Anyhow... you should get my gist. So I have been in bolivia for 25 days now. On my first day here, I went grocery shopping with her and she told me I had to try bolivian cheese, it wouldn't make be sick because its fresh. Should also got lactose free milk (she's great, really) and then asked if I like ham. I said yes, I like ham. Big mistake!! I can eat ham every once in a while but not everyday. On my first morning in la paz, I had a slice of ham in a croissont. It was ok. As days went by, I just couldn't continue. I honestly do not like cold ham for breakfast. (Im sorry if I sound like a spoiled brat but I also could help but think about the damn parasites that occurs in swine in other countries. Matt and I just invested a lot of money in my little brain and im sorry... I just can't continue eating pork

dia del mar and roadside shish kabos

Dia del mar... es muy loca feista aqui en La Paz! Muchos militarios marcha el la calle. Yo pienso dia del mar represente el dia cuando chile toma la playa de bolivia. Todos los dias un securidad a plaza de murillo Bolivia esta de pie a proteccion un edificio viste en rojo entonces chile recuerda siempre y debe llega tierra a boliva. So... I hope that makes sense. Anyhow.. its pretty happen'n around here. I guess tomorrow it is supposed to be much bigger! The club Plan B has big banners everywhere. "Viene, viene" I might ask my spanish teacher to hang tomorrow. My friend jenn left to go back to new york on Monday so I have been flyn solo since, my friends heena and priti are in machu pichu for the weekend and pretty much keep to themselves. I didn't go because I didn't want to miss out on clinic or spanish classes. I have some friends one chick is an english student who is semi overly nice. And then there are al my seduridad amigos, cedilo a mi edificio, carmelo a edifico de jenn, un segurdid a alexanders cafe y dos mas seguridades a edifico de jenn. They are easy to talk to. They aren't in a hurry and have nothing better to do. Tonight...People were bbq'n all the same food on this street, 1 block from my house. A shish kabab of thin meat and 2 peeled potatoes for 5-7 bolivianos (less than a buck). I went bbq hopp'n and had 2 servings and just hope my hep A and typhoid vacuna comes in handy, if need be. I then ended up in cafe beirut. Its super close to my house and has wifi so I can be in contact with you. Come to find out there was dinner and a show. Young belly dancers were having a recital in the restaurant. I thought it was neat... a free show. But I should have known... cosas de grastis es muy dificil a encuentra. Despues un mujeres came up and asked, please pay 20 bs for the girls show... they need money. Esta bien. Girls danced with lit candles on their head, so I guess I would say it was worth it.

palabra de calle

Palabra de calle... yo no digo cerca de los ninos en hospital, porque esta mu triste y yo prefeiro digo algunas mejor. Otra dia, durante de vistitas una doctora dice a un nina tiene 11 anos. " es tu responsible vas a hospital para chemo terapia. Tu es razon porque tienes cancer otra vez. Es tu responsible, tu viaje bastante, entonce responsible para tu salud" (mas o menos). Un nina esta mi mejor pacientes. No me gusta, tengo duele en mi corazon. Un nina tiene much llores y dice " quiero voy a mi casa." Esta nada halgo a hace un nina mejor. Yo digo a un nina olivada ella, mi favortito pallabras cuando yo joven. Entonces... no me gusta hablo cerca de los ninos. Esta un cuento. Hay mas cuentos para yo enseno cuando yo vuelvo en estados unidos para tu. (Los siento si yo escribo mal... yo aprendo mucho pero yo necessita mas trabajo) te quiero todos personas... mi amigos y mi familia, especialmente my esposo!)

cholitas wrestling... a must in la paz

Cholitas wrestling .... a must! todos los domingos, El Alto hace cholitas wrestling. Jenn and I had a whole day planned... go to Sangarnaga for shopping, eat lunch, then head to El Alto for the massive fair (giant flea market) despues... cholitas wrestling. We took a tour bus up to El Alto and asked the securidad how to get to the fair, he along with everyone else said... don't go, you'll get robbed. So we didn't go and settled on cholitas wrestling solomente. With our vip package we recevied a ticket, snack (super salty popcorn), coke, a small souvenir(plastic cholita with a postcard) and 2 bathroom tickets.. oh and great ring side seats! The start was a slow start but was very much influenced by halloween and wwf. The first fight was spiderman (very talented summer salter) against a slightly over weight skeleton. Spiderman won of course... he exited the ring with a series of summersalts. Then, a very loud and sexual male was now against another skeleton... in the beginning this loud/sexual guy almost fought a tourist. The tourist ran away of course. During that fight there some sexual innuendos happening and pretty much ended with a moon... hot pink thong. (Pretty interesting, right?) Finally!!! What we were waiting for.... the cholitas! First, one against a man, no me gusta, despues... cholitas vs cholita! They are feisty little people with baby got back. It was getting intense... one grabbed a garbage can, hit the other. They were now out of the ring. One cholita grabbed the other, grabbed her braids and chucked her oveinto the fence close to where we were at... she was stunned but got up for more. They got back into the ring... but not for long. 2 minutes went by and they were back out of the ring. They were now on the floor, right in our line of sight. One grabbed the other one, picked her up and threw her like a sack of potatoes... on me and jenn. I tried scooting my chair back but got caught on the surrounding chairs, resulting in a domino effect of 4-5 of us falling backwards. It was insane! Cholitas are insane! And.... I got footage of this whole event. Asombroso... asombrosa :)

farewell....

Farewell to unemployment!!! Buenas tardes! Guess what!??? Yesterday, I had a phone interview with Dr. Montefusco at santa clara county... Valley Medical center and guess who was hired today!!! I am the new highly committed PA that will be working in the ER of the best hospital in the county! Woot woot! The whole hiring process with take 2-3 months but I am going to begin the process from here!

groupies continued

While returning from outside, I ran into the bolivian poncho, cocoa leaf eating MC and asked him donde esta, camisas para pagar. He pointed to the bar... and that's where we headed. The bartender (who luckly liked my american style tipping) pointed us to this door that had a line in front of it and people were getting pushed away. The man standing at the door was a man that we knew from a local swedish pancake house. I walked up to him and asked him where I can buy a tshirt. I got pushed away... im pretty sure it was because I forgot to say it in Spanish. We then took a few steps back, I placed Jenn in front of me and gave her words of encouragement, "balls to the wall... just go for it." The next thing we know, we're in this tiny room filled with people. We then realized that it was the bands dressing room. We asked a chick where we can purchase a shirt, she then came back with some shirts. We rapidly changed our minds on the color from black to green. We then snagged someones black sharpie and were fully aware... we were now groupies. We got the entire band's autographs and the next tour info.... san fran in july. (Matt... I told them all about you and how you would love them just as much as I did!) It was an awesome night that ended in a euphoric high at 3 am.

groupies without flashing the...

Friday... jenn had her farewell dinner at this cute little spot...art gallery/restaurant. Following dinner we headed up town to ojos de agua in search of live music. We found a band named " sergeant garcia and the columbia mufin allstars" we knew nothing of this band but we knew it was music en vivo, which, for some reason is really hard to come by within the city of La Paz. We debated on not going because the 130Bs cover was a little ateep (only 30 american dollars). We then agreed to just go for it. Once we stepped inside, we had a good feeling about our night to come. The people that continued to fill the joint were our people... a mix of hippees, rastafarians, hikers, local bolivians and more! The event began with a sacred offering to mama pachu with male spiritual dancers from Tiwanouco(plz excuse mispelling) and the MC was dressed in a bolivian pattern poncho who carried a large sack of coca leaves. When the band finally began at 11 mas o menos... it was awesome. The sound I have been waiting to hear the entire trip... a mix of cuban, columbian and reggae. Pure bliss, I tell you, pure bliss! The show went on for a few hours, we had to take a voluntary intermission to de-robe, stuffing phones, wallets and shirts in my boots, boobs and butt. (Theft is no joke in this town and I didn't want to chance it) After the live show came to an end... jenn and I were on a mission to find some water and a shirt. The venders at the door were no longer there and the store across the street was now closed. We had to make a decisicion... clench our thirst, or fulfill my need of one more addition to my closet. Im sure you can guess what route i chose......

aeropuerto continua

So... at the airport we got placed on standby. While we waited we ate at a restaurant that was like the local diner(bolivian style) and then headed to see if there was room on the flight. Luckily they did, or else it would have been a 12+ hour bus ride back to La Paz. While we waited to wait... we sat in front of the airport where we awkwardly watched kids bathing with dogs a big sculpture/fountain. We then witnessed a father remove a small storm drain to clean the ice cream off his daughter's face.

MIA

Long time no hear! Last week was a bit crazy... Im sorry I was MIA! After the trip from Sucre, I was ill for about 3 days. I missed clinic on Monday and was sent home on Tuesday after nearly passing out a few times during rounds. I slept all day on Wednesday and felt like a million Bs. Well... where did I leave off. Sucre... well here's a rapid version. We went and saw some dinosaur tracks, it was awesome. We traveled to the park in the beat up truck with a giant dinosaur head literally strapped to the front that was filled with a bunch of kinds. Had a good dinner with some vegatables (somewhat paleo) and the next day traveled to Tiwancou for the market. We traveled on a mini bus that brought good ole memories of traveling with my dad... we stopped 6 times. A 45 minute trip turned into 1.5 hour trip. There... we made many local friends. Found some overpriced coffe "para llevar" that was put into sticky old marmalade plastic containers. We did some shopping and then caught a minibus back. I sat pretty much face to face with a man that was the 19th person added to the minibus, who sat on a makeshift seat.. aka a tarp. When we got back, we hailed a cab ran back to the hostel to pick up our stuff and headed to the airport. At the airport. At the airport, they informed us that they could see that we had a reservation but we couldn't use it. (Ill be back... getn the boot from this cafe)

sucre...not even off the runway

sauturday, jenn and I flew to sucre, aka the white city and bolivias other capital. It was a really good trip. It began with my latin mamasita barging in my room at 545am (5 min before my alarm) saying you need to get up and eat breakfast...your going to be late! I was on time, anyhow, I got ready, ate some more cake, fruit and had come coffee. I met jenn on the corner where we walked one block to find the mini bus marked aeroporte. Hopped on and headed to the airport. We purchased our tickets, boarded our plane. While we were waiting, I was staring out the window to see a luggage cart about 6-8ft high with a box tettering and then collapsed to the ground... I gasped. Jenn replied, what? A bag fall? I said no, a dog. The box was a kennel and this little white fluffy dog breaks free from the broken kennel and bolts down the tarmac. There were 3-4 guys trying to catch this little guy. One guy gets close, grabs the little dogs neck and lifts him up in an aggresive manner. The dog then bites the guys hand causeing the guy to drop the dog 4 feet in the air. The dog bolts it again. Now, this other guys calls the dog in a loving manner, pets him and then was able to put hime back in the kennel. As they were trying to put the broken door back on the kennel, the dog slithers up and out again. This dog was determined... I joke u not. They invert the kennel with the dog inside and the dog makes one more unsuccessful attempt in breaking free. The airport workers finally had the dog contained holding the door over the dogs head. I felt so bad for the little dog but couldn't stop laughing at this crazy situation. This was just the beginning of our trip...always an adventure.

in famous kidnapping by blanca parte 2

She was trying to sell me these things. they were really nice and she was right.. borato. I then told her no tengo dinero on mi cuerpo. She said cuando? Yo voy a subo a tu casa, que piso? Cuando? I laughed and said no se. I was in that room for about 10 minutes trying to get out of buying things. We then somehow agreed on los fines de semana, sabado. She said she would come find me and take what I liked. She then grabbed my arm and started showing me all her family photos. I saw her son, her sister and a very beautiful picture of when she was much younger. She asked me to guess her age... im not dumb so I said no se. She counted on her fingers and said ochenta. she then told me to escucha, escucha... then began playing the piano for me. When she was done, I said I had to go and I would see her this weekend. I still can't believe it. When I got home I told martha I met blanca. She asked if she tried selling jewelry and if she played the piano for me. I gues I am not the first victim.

the infamous kidnapping by blanca

Yesterday when I walked into my elevator at my apartment complex a little bedazzled woman began speaking to me... in Spanish solemente. She was telling me about her necklace and sweater because she kept tugging on it. She asked "que piso?" I replied "quince." The elevator then stopped at piso cinco (her floor) and she got out of the elevator and held the door open and demanded "viene ahora, viene ahora" in a very raspy smoker's voice. I replied, mi piso es quince. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to her door. I figured she might need help opening her door or with her groceries. She opened her door and walked inside. I waited patiently in the door way trying to figure out what she wanted. She held the door open and demanded.. viene ahora, viene ahora. I was now in her apartment and it was fabulous. Crystal everywhere, fancy furniture and I thought... maybe she mugs people and this is how she affords these novelties. She then grabbed my arm and pulled me in her kitchen and showed me her garden. I replied el jardin es muy bonito. She asked te gusta me casa. I say por supeusto! She then tugged on my arm again and dragged me into her bedroom... I was sure now. Yup.. im so getting robbed right now. She then asked te gusta? I replied si muy bonite! Then I saw her maid, we greeted eachother and she smiled as she walked into another room. I then was dragged into another room where sweaters and necklaces lay on this table. I thought, maybe im wrong. Maybe she thought I was dressed like a bum and she was going to give me some fancy attire. I was wearing some tattered jeans, my favorite stained gray shirt and a flannel. She asked te quieres? Te quieres, I replied possible. I still was sure what the hell was going on. the entire time she was speaking. She then rattled off borato, es muy borato. (Cheap/not expensive)

cochoka! cochoka!

Do you ever have one of those days where you just know its going to be interesting? Yesterday, I was walking to the hospital which is like a 20 minute walk when my right foot slid across the sidewalk almost causing me to fall backward. It was like I stepped on a banana peel...but it was no banana peel. It was dog poo. Yup.. dog poo. I knew then that it was going to be interesting. I got to the hospital... on time but "early" in latin time. I understood most of the resident/med student pimping which was awesome. They were talking about HIV and the prevalence in transmission from mother to baby via vaginal delivery, csection, no treatment and with treatment. It was cool. I finally had an idea or what was going on. Then Dra. Salete began to present a new patient. She hands me the chest xray and says with much enthusiasm ... cochocka! Cochoka! I grabbed it looked at it and said" oh, chochoka." She still continued.. she knew I didn't know what she was saying. She then pointed to the baby, then the xray and say "chockoka!" I couldn't help but laugh and say, los siento, no entiendo. I handed the xray to a med student and tried to figure out what was going on. After, the visitas (rounds) dr. Velasco explained that the patient had whooping cough or... acellular pertussis. Now i have one more word under my belt... chochoka!! Stay tuned for the rest of my day, ayer. It gets more interesting :) have a good day!

last tid bit

I can't imagine having celiac disease... I would starve.

bolivian belly

Good morning! Its 0400 there, 8 here. I'm enjoying a nice cup of espresso at Alexanders coffee. Deeeelish! Yesterday was a pretty long day... but awesome. I went to the auditorium where residents presented a case, very similar to back home and our M&M (morbity &mortality) but only it was in Spanish and they need an IT guy.I really couldn't follow it. Immediately following was a graduation like ceremony, where residents completed their residency and med students became residents. The ceremony was then concluded with refreshments in the foyer.. ham/cheese sammies, apple cake, chocolate cake and coke. Then, I accompanied Dr. Velasco to the School of Medicine where there was a big presentation. The government donated 50-100 computers and printers. You actuallu might even be able to see me on the news (umsa school of medicine in la paz). I felt like Forrest Gump :) After that presentation we had more refreshments... 2 saltenas and coke. I then headed home for lunch. Yeah... I might come back lookn like a bolivian beast. They continue to feed me here. I had cake for breakfast 2 days in a row. At home, our maid was there. Shes's an authentic cholita and has the sweetest voice. I don't really know what she says but its so nice to hear her little voice. She made stuffed cyote (zuchinni) and quinoa. Our appetizer was a cheese, vegatable plate. It was pretty amazinig.but I hid my cheese it a piece of my napkin and hid it in my pocket. Lactose intolerance and bolivia don't really mix well. I honestly carn' c celiac magite havingelyoua7c disease... I would starv

just a regular day in la paz

Last call of the day.... I started my rotation en infectologia.. muy triste. Kids with TB, AIdS, meningitis, leishmanisis, and the list goes on. It is definitely a different medicine world here. I would call it vintage style. Vintage is cool. I have been learning a lot. It's pretty cool because thanks to the medical "latin" terms I can somewhat follow along. We have vistitas (rounds) at 9 and then we learn some stuff, yesterday I reviewed historia clinicas de pacientes escriben los estudiantes de medicina. Today we reviewed chest xrays and nutritional status of of some of the sick kids. Also, one of the students is learning english and he has been helping me mucho. He translated 5 charts and we discussed terms (english and spanish). We usually get released at 11 or noon. So diferrent from home. Everyone takes a 2.5 hour lunch and most people go home for a home cooked meal. Mi amigo Andy, then showed me where to get some medical books... I can't believe how affordable they are. I will probably come home with 3 or 4. Netters anatomy, red book, and harriet lane... Well, it was a good day. I learned lots, especially spanish. I have 3 hours of dpanish each day, except lunes. That day, Dra. Uribe gives us a lecture, this week we covered leishmanisis. Its alllll in spanish and it was pretty awesome because I understood a LOT compared to last week. So, I'm going to head out. Im sitting in an awesome cafe called chocolate caliente. A dude with dreads serves you and they play a lot of reggae. Its super cool. Well, im going for now. Have a good night! Love you all! Matt, baby.... ur hot and u llove U

muelo de diablo parte 3

I took a ton of pictures but it was pretty insane. The road had several sink holes big enough for a car. In some parts the road was no longer present and we had to hug the hillside to continue. We reached a point where we could go left and down the hillside in to a town or to the right into a desolate town. We chose to go left... we were hungry and we had been on the trail for at least 4-5 hours at this point (above the city of la paz) we passed a water fall, went through some pinnacles and then down into a very poor town. We came across 2 kids taking care of business along a fence (muy triste) then we saw a bolivian ice cream man. He was honking a bicycle horn and had a styrofoam ice chest strapped to his back. kids came running with empty ice cream cones and had huge smiles. We passed a heard of sheep, got chased by a dog and then we were able to hail a cab into town where we got some lunch (omentas y pan). It was a pretty wild hike. We did see the muela de diablo from a distance but we actually ended up in valle de la luna. Its name was influenced by neil Armstong because he said it reminded him of being on the moon. It was pretty amazing. It was a much better adventure taking the wrong trail :)

muelo de diablo parte 2

So...it began to drizzle as we were headed up this green hillside. On our accent we saw 2 groups of mountain bikers.. one dad with his 2 kids and then 2 guys that were shuttling back and forth this mini single track that looked petty insane...it would have been a short fun ride. Anyways as we were headed up this one hill... we were totally beat by a cholita carrying a big sack on her back. As we got higher, rain got a little more intense with thunder. After being on the trial for about 30 minutes we still weren't quite sure if we were on the right trail. So we finally got far away from the town to check out our book, the key word that we missed was the trail is 300m "down" past the cemetary. We went up. Whoops. We just continued anyways because we really like what we were seeing. As we continued, we saw several pigs in a little hut, 2 bulls that wouldn't take their eye off of us, a llama and these beautiful eagles. I thought it was neat becaues they were flying pretty close. As I was stopped and admiring them, jenn realized that they were flying a little too close and they looked like they were circling us and ready to dive bomb us... no joke. I put on my hood, she opened her umbrella. I told her that the umbrella might not be a good idea because of the storm and the risk of lightening. She weighed the risks... dive bombed by eagles or being struck by lightening. We carried on.. taking several pictures. The view was so amazing! We could see the whole city, snow covered mountains, rain in one direction and sunny skies in thetown. And headed up the hill even higher. We finally got to these crazy pinnacles that were pretdescrty iribable otheder. We crossed a desolate

muelo de diablo parte uno

good morning! So I haven't been able to figure this out for a couple of days. You know this site is all in spanish so I have been guessing what buttons to click. Anyways, I am here and well. I will start to tell you about Sunday... it was awesome. Jenn, a PA student from New York, and I went to hike muelo de diablo.. the devils molar. We took 2 different mini buses to pedegral cemetary. The traveler book said they is a lot of theft. So I stuffed my phone in my money belt and was prepared to hand over my backpack if need be. It was super sketch because the bus driver took us to this super poor area and told us to keep walking and we will see the cemetary. Once we got to the cemetery we were kind of standing out (jenn's tall and blonde but speaks spanish mejor que mi. So I guess on Sunday's people hang out in the cemetary because there were a lot of locals... just staring at us. It was cool though. So trailheads aren't really marked/mapped out like back home. "The trailhead was 300m down past the cemetery." We carried up the hill where it was a beautiful countryside. Unfortunately... this is to be continued. I have rounds in infectologia a las nueve en la manana hoy. Yo aprendo mucho en la paz. Talk to you soon! Love u all!

p.s.

This phone/blog gets all crazy sometimes. I'll talk to you soon! Love and miss you all very much! Have a good day. El dia es muy bonita es aqui. Just wait... im going to start blogn in more and more spanish :) Xoxoxox! Chow!

felizidad los fines de semana!

Hello.felizidad los fines de semana! So..I had to take my laundry in to a lavandaria, washed, ironed and folded 6kg for 83 bolivianos.. that's like 12 buckaroos! Holy moly I love this place. People are nice, however my guard is always up with pepperspray always accessible. Heck yes... I brought it. Clase de espanol es muy bien. My teacher is awesome. I totally feel like im in the slow class, even though its private/solo class which is awesome! I play a game like memory match the picture with the word and form a sentence. Its very fast but really.. what isn't in my life, right? Lunes empeinzo espansol de medicina... uh oh :) Today, I will go pick up my laundry... its usually done in 1 day (awesome right?) Then martha my bolivian mamasita asked me to go with her to get fresh flowers and then visit the cemetary where her husband chills. Then I need to go to Mieokes (japanese art store) to pick up some index cards to study. Jenn and I will probably venture out somewhere local. We were at the witches market the other night and she ddropped bolivianos and this little shyster 8 yr old slyly covered it with her foot. I saw this whole thing go down... so I told jenn.. dude u dropped money, I was sure it wasn't the little girls or else she wouldn't have covered it. So the jenn moves the girls foot, grabs it and says no para ti, para mi. Then the lil girl reaches in her bag, grabs her coca leaves and says she stole them. I couldn't help but laugh. Fortunately, it was already open. Lol! She was a sly lil shyster... lindo pero shyster. Anyhow, my battery is about to die. I'll post again later,, hopefully. I can't figure out how to view comments but if you want to send me a message taraebbs@yahoo.com es mejor.

photo madness

I have neen trying put pictures but it just will not work. Los sientos. Maybe i can set up another photobucket... picassa web etc. I will

primera clase de espanol

And Yesterday was my first day if spanish class. This place is "very easy to find" so i walked up 6 de agosto, trying to avoid walking in front of the college because a lot of thieves wait in the front to jack peoples laptops. They dont usually hurt people...just take your bag. I was instru ted to carry my bag in front of my body... backpack backwards was best. "Walk with your shoulders back and act like you know where you are going." Okay... doesnt this sound sort of shady? All i could think about was that my dad wouldnt even let me walk more than 1 block without my sister. Lol! Well... sink or swim. We all know i am no sheep. So i left and walked.. and walked and walked way to far. I passed a caucasion couple the wife clinging to her husband and totally looked lost... it made me deel better. Once i realized i went too far i crossed the street to back track... and guess who i saw?! Yup the same couple but now they are holding a map looking around. All i could do was grit my teeth and move on. I knew i was in the right area but there arent too many street signs. I found a nice marbel building to ask a man for directions. Again... i smiled and nodded and just continued in the direction he was pointing. I then decided to go up and down the side streets because I was sooo close. I then found a street sign... I was stoked! I snuck a peak at my map and I was only 2 streets away. Awesome! I finally found it. I walked it the office... parasthesias to my fingers toes and crown. Such an odd feeling. Thoh light headed as well... then I had a test. It wasawesome. I

guess its sink or swim

0Hola mi familia y mi amigos! I made it to La Paz without any problems. I only got ripped off once in Columbia purchasing a tiny pocket side ingles/espanol. I could even say that I was an easy target. Still not sure what the conversion rate is but I know it's not the same. I met a nice guy who was my waiter in the colombia airport who was trying to help me. He was super sweet (matt he was super old) but very sweet. He was asking about my travels... I just smiled and nodded. He said "feliz" a lot so I just smiled because I knew it was good stuff and said mucho gusto oh uh I mean muchas gracias muchas gracias senor! When I got to the La Paz airport I had to go through customs and the guard was yelling presion "something" presion "something" .... I figured out he was saying press the button.. if the light turned green then I was an unlucky person that got a random baggage check. I was good.. because I just kept walking and didn't get tackled. I traded currency I traded some money... its 1 dollar to 6.9

Mr and Mrs Ebbs 2.26.11 only 7 months and 3 days newly weds but 5 weeks is the longest we have ever been apart from eachother since 2009... there was a pic. Not sure what happened to it. Have to catch my flight. Peace :)

My dad's "world traveler"

Here I go... just waiting at sfo and trying to figure this blog situation out. Matt brought me to the airport and saw me off. Man am I going to miss that guy. I love you baby! Thank you for being so great. I will not be a sheep...I got this lovey. My first dent at saving the world. It's pretty amazing. I'm not sure I can upload pics from my phone...

T minus 17 hours

I'm leaving tomorrow and of course.... just started packing.  Who new so much work would go into one trip. Good thing I have a packing team.