zoodles

Well things are a little back to normal now, for a bit at least. The only change they achieved was pretty superficial - we have a new president. But the old president, Carlos Mesa, was never the problem and was quite clean as far as politicians go. Anyways, the people in El Alto allowed gasoline to pass to La Paz, but not the little liquid gas tanks that people use to cook and to heat their homes with. Ours is running low :o( There are rumors that the blockades will start up again tomorrow. We will see...

In the meantime we took advantage this weekend of the presence of gasoline and the absence of road blockades: we went on little road trip with German, Mauricio's brother, and Tandy, the gal I work with! Here are a few photos:

We are about a half-hour outside La Paz...

Happy times four...


Farming landscape...


Pit stop for icecream...



Closer to home, here is Maurico finding new ways to fill up his time, since they finally shut the university. We bought this little, handmade kite for 2 bolivianos!!! (thats about 30 cents)


Taking flight close to home...


Up, up, and away...

I'm feeling neither here nor there these days. The political situation here is really deteriorating over the last few weeks. I don't mean to be alarmist, but just to share what I'm really living. As I write there are tens of thousands of marchers in the sreets of La Paz, 80% of highways in the country are closed with blockades, there is no more gasoline in La Paz. What's it about? Bolivia is divided in so many ways, by region, politics, race and class. Anyhoo, I could go on for pages about the details but wont. Though it doesn't reach me personally, the general ambiance of tension and doubt really kind of gets to me. And closer to home, I worry about Mauricio who has to continue going to classes, because he's in finals right now. His university is located right down town in the heart of the conflicts and he gets tear gassed going to and fro:o( This is his university in more peaceful times:

There is also the possibility that he might not be able to finish the semester and will loose six months of hard work :o( Anyhoo, we are stocking up on food and live in a relatively safe part of town. I'm hoping things blow over. It seems next to impossible, but things are so unpredictable here that maybe even that is possible!

On a more cheerful note here are a few photos from my best bud's baby shower, care of Chizumi and her digital camera. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there Cath, but looks like you had a jolly time with a little measuring of the belly circumference. Fiona's place looks wonderful!!

Lookin' good Cath!!


Still lookin' good!!


And a special invited guest. Getting bigger every day but still my FAVORITE little person in the world! I miss you :o(