BOLIVIA!!

I´m in Bolivia! And it´s awesome!

But first...airport stories! (of which I have a lot.)

Play, so my flight from newark to miami was pretty uneventful, but then I had a six hour layover in miami which then turned into...an eight hour layover. anyway, while I was waiting for a plane, the following amusing things happened (insert colon because I can´t find it on the bolivian keyboard.)

1) I made friends with a guy who was trying to guess what musical instrument I was carrying (unsuccessful). eventually I showed him the ukulele and he pulled out his bass guitar, and we bonded over our four string instruments.

2) >I made friends with a tiny little bolivian lady who needed to use my phone to call her son in Maryland. I understood enough of the conversation to get the general gist of what she was saying about me, and then the son started texting me...urgh.

3) Flight was delayed almost two hours, but flying over the andes at sunrise was seriously worth every penny i spent on the plane ticket. awesome. awesomeawesomeawesome.

so now, santa cruz stories!

when you get a visa, it´s 135 dollars for american citizens because bolivia´s mad at the us´s immigration policy for bolivians, so they in turn charge americans just to get in. anyway, I gave the guy my hundred thirty five, and he looks at one of the dollar bills and said something in spanish that i didnçt catch. the ice lady behind me translated (colon) "he says he doesn´t like that dollar bill and he wants another one." except I didn´t have anymore. she gave me a good dollar bill and I gaver her my...slightly wrinkled one.

bolivia is pretty awesom,e it looks pretty much as I had imagined. there are palm trees and other random shrubbery. horses and cows graze on the sides of the road (sans fence). I saw a kid holding up traffic because he was juggling in the middle of the street. driving is ridiculous. drivers are ridiculous. crossing the street is like playing roulette. more than once while we were in the taxi on our way to the hostel, construction had closed the lane but no matter. we just went over the median.

añso, there´s a lot of dirt. seriously. also a lot of buildings falling down. and needless to say, I stick out like a sore thumb. it took me a while to figure out why everyone would slow down and beep, even if there was no one in front of them, but then I realized they were beeping at me. urgh. awkward. I´m not hard to miss.

so yeah! I´m sure I have other stories but I can´t remember them right now. adios!

packing packing packing

so this chronic overpacker is having huge issues in the packing department. I was determined to pack light, which has meant ditching the second suitcase + carry-on and getting a giant LL bean backpack instead. however, IT'S STILL NOT LIGHT. I'm carrying forty pounds on my back and fifty pounds in my (ONE) suitcase. I console myself by reminding everyone around me that much of the stuff I'm taking to bolivia won't be coming back--the five cameras, for example, the box of cereal (thanks mom!), my 3 pound bottle of conditioner, and my almost-as-large bottle of shampoo. in addition, I'm taking a bunch of gifts for my host family--soccer balls, towels, an ipod shuffle, and some picture books. none of which are heavy, but all of which are taking up space. plus I already made (what I consider to be) huge sacrifices in the clothes department--I cut down the clothes I'm taking by like, 50 percent, so go me. yeah light packing.

about how I'm an idiot who booked a flight to arrive in Bolivia...two days before everyone else. So now I have to survive all alonez with spanish 101...woot! at any rate, I decided that in the interest of safety I would hostel it as oppose to couchsurf it, and the hostel is bizangin. so yeah!

anyway, adios, will post again from Bolivia!

A Slight(ly major) Change of Plans

So my professor just emailed me. While he was in discussion with the nun who runs the orphanage I'll be working at, my photography project came up, and nun was not to happy. Apparently Bolivia has this ideas where foreigners are out to abduct Bolivian kids, and the nun doesn't want pictures taken of the orphans because she doesn't them getting sold. So don't get the wrong idea, America. Abandon your Bolivian-childnapping schemes now.

So, scratch the orphanage. Instead, I'm doing my project in a local women's group, and giving the camera to women instead of kids. Suffice to say, I'm kind of disappointed, and while I don't believe in things always working out for a reason, I do believe in things always working out. Sooooo, that's that. It'll be cool. Hello women's group! I hope you're excited, because you're going to have to put up with ME!

As a random sidenote, I just walked through a spiderweb, but I can't find the spider... :/

Adios!

Bite me, tropical diseases

So yesterday I had to go to Hurtado, the RU student health center, for some Bolivia vaccinations. Just for the record, I hate hate HATE shots. You know when you go to the doctor's office, and there's always that one kid that runs up and down the hall screaming bloody murder when the nurse pulls out the syringe? That was me.

So I was a complete anxious mess by the time I got there, and then I had to sit down with one of the doctors for like an hour to decide which shots I needed. First they tried to convince me to get a TB skin test, but I told the dude that I was absolutely positive that I did not have tuberculosis. Then they tried to get me to buy a prescription for altitude sickness, which I told them I'd get over. THEN they wanted me to get a rabies vaccine as well (as if the 170 price tag on the other three vaccines wasn't enough). I told the doctor I would stay away from dogs. He said to make sure I stayed away from bats too.

Note to self: Do not make friends with dogs or bats.

But they STILL wouldn't let me get the shots until I consented to a pregnancy test. Why, you ask? I don't know. I told them I wasn't, but they didn't believe me, and I had to take it anyway. But good news people, Tina is (officially) not pregnant.

So then I got the stupid shots, and now I am incapable of getting typhoid or yellow fever, and 70% incapable of getting Hep A. But for the record, I would avoid getting a typhoid shot unless absolutely necessary because it BLOWS. I was really, really sick last night, my whole body hurt, and my arm was so hot I could feel it through my sweatshirt. So don't get the typhoid vaccine. Also, Hep A burns like a bitch. But if you feel like getting injected for fun, yellow fever is totally whatever.

Adios!