Day 18: Catch up

Wow, has it already been 18 days? Time was creeping by at first, now it is flying. I did not go to Uruguay this weekend. I wanted to use the weekend to see some more of Bs As before I leave and I will try to catch Motevideo on the return leg. I spent saturday visiting museums and famous theaters that were both closed for renovations. They were supposed to be complete last year but it seems that all their projects down here go over budget and over schedule. They have a bicentenial next year for which they want to have all their historical landmarks re-made. I did manage to do some shopping for souveneirs and bought a nice shirt for the night clubs. Today, I started with the new school which was fantastic. Its cheaper and the insturction is much better.

On a future plans note. I have been paling around with a wonderful girl from London named Annabell or Bells for short. We are taking our classes together and she decided yesterday that she wanted to go to Boliva with me. I am happy to have a travel partner. Plus, she really helped improve my itnerary. We are going to to grab a Friday 20 hour night bus to Salta, spend the night, see the city, have some famous empanadas, grab another bus for San Pedro de Atacama which is an oasis in the desert in northern chile. I am not sure they even have much electricity there. I was told many places just use candles. Next we will go to Uniou in Southern Boliva to see their famous salt flats (largest in the world), next will be Potosi where we can take a real (and some what dangerous) tour of an operating mine hundred of feet below ground. Finally, we will grab a bus to Sucre where I have set up a private teacher and home stay for the following two weeks. I will also try to hit up Cochabamba and maybe Santa Cruz...but we will see how much time I have their. I am going though an amazing hassle to get a visa so I want to get my moneys worth...and this takes me to my next section....missing american profecciency and efficiency.

Since Boliva/US relations are strained Boliva now requires US citizens to get a visa to visit their country. Basically, this is just a monetary and paperwork nightmare. Today, I spent 3 hours and $135 fumbling through their process. I walk into the consulate to find a huge hallway filled with people...all very short people. I am one of two anglo's, we make eye contact and each breathe a slight sigh of relief. I start standing in what seems like a line but people keep telling me that this is not the end of the line....to me it just looked like a hallway full of people. So I decide to push my way around (very easy because I am a giant) and at least see where these imaginary lines go. I finally find the visa line which to my surprise is short. I stand in a bunch of people (no process) until a lady points at me. She explains roughly that I need two pictures, my vaccination card, $135, a credit card, a passport, a hotel reservation and a travel ticket. I said I didn't have a ticket yet and she said no problem then told me I needed a ticket, I said I didn't have one, she said ok....who knows. Plus, I needed photocopies of all of this. They have a photocopy machine which to my horror was one of the lines I experienced earlier. I waited it out, then went around the corner and purchased some photos, came back handed it all to the same lady after she again pointed at me, took all the info shoved it in an envelope gave me a receipt for the money and said come back tomorrow. Then she was gone. So at this point the Bolvian consulate has my passport which I can hopefully collect tomorrow with a visa. Bolivia better be worth it. I did check some prices and my full and board with a host family will be $6 per day....that is quite the bargain....plus 3 hour bus rides are only like $1.50. The dollar is still king down here.

That is enough rambling for today, I'll write again soon.