Off to my city of Potosí

Well, my week of acclimatizing in La Paz has almost come to an end. I´ll be heading to the bus stop for a 8 - 13 hour overnight bus ride out to my new home of Potosí.

Above: the view along the highway heading down into the city of La Paz.

It´s been an interesting week in La Paz, comprised of a combination of free time to roam the streets and many sessions meeting people of different NGOs around La Paz. The spanish has been a struggle, but I feel like I´m making progress... maybe a bit more so on the speaking side of things than the understanding other people talk side.

Eating, as always when traveling, has been interesting. I´m trying to eat as much vegetarian meals as possible. This was one of the ¨soups¨ that was served the other day...

It was a very interesting hunk of meat in the middle, although, it seemed like it was more bone and ¨nerve¨ than anything else. Other typical foods so far are these potatoes that are black the whole way through, and jumbo corn.

Seeing the sites of La Paz during free time definitely gives me a work out. Since La Paz is set in a valley of sorts, exploring means loosing your breath going up the streets. Still, the views are incredible and life has a way of ´happening´ on the side streets.

At night, things really start happening in La Paz. Most of the time when traveling, I find it is more dangerous at night. However here, the city seems to come to life with people piling into the streets. For that reason, it´s a great time to take in the various festivals that are around every corner - even the coca festival! The booths set up at this festival were very interesting, from coca tea (which is legal to export), to every other form of the coca plant short of cocaine, including jewelry, drinks, cake, natural remedies to everything from gout to diabetes, and even ¨starter plants¨ to start growing your own coca.

I´ve also had a really interesting introduction to the work that is going on in Bolivia on the NGO side of things. The people here are so capable and on top of things. The head office of Foncresol, the organizaton I´m working through in Potosi is here, and the staff are super nice. We were also able to go over and talk (or, in my case, listen and desperately try to understand!) to a sister organization that does the same type of work. And finally, we got a very comprehensive tour of an organization specifically aimed at women. This organization is amazing. It does everything from holding classes to teach sewing, weaving, handicrafts, etc., to providing counseling services for beaten women and broadcasting a radio program!

But, with that, I´m off to stage 2 of my time here. I don´t know what to expect from the family I´ll be living with, the office I´ll be working in or even the work I´ll be doing! And of course, I´ll still be cramming on my Spanish the whole way there...