You can access the videos I've assembled for Peru and Bolivia (via YouTube) at the following link:


http://youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1E045A63D8ACEC1B


If it doesn't work, as always - let me know.


Brazil posts (from 9/06) to follow in the next couple of days.

A couple of sidenotes:


-The people of Peru seemed (no matter how poor) to have a good quality of life. In most cases they had jobs (tending to land or whatnot), a family life and seemed pretty happy overall. I must say that even in the most impoverished areas and outskirts of cities, the people there work hard and strive to have a good life (as I imagine nearly anyone does)


-I love traveling to various places but have recently come to understand that there is so much to see in the United States that I have yet to even think about laying eyes on. Therefore it is a personal goal to see more of our homeland in the coming years – just to appreciate just how diverse our country is. I think traveling to foreign places is almost always enjoyable, but it’s difficult to truly appreciate them if you don’t know what home offers. It’s all relative, eventually.


-Bolivia is a country with interests here and there, but overall neither one of us was too impressed with it, nor would we recommend going there (unless just to say that one has “been” there).

Day 15: October 12, 2007


Fin


We flew into Dallas and arrived there around 10:00am, had about an hour layover before heading to Denver, which was only about 90 minutes away. Once we landed in Denver it was a matter of picking up our luggage and meeting our ride. I was tempted to drive the way they do down there, but opted not to (as it might result in jail time for yours truly). So that was it – our adventure had come to an end, but with plenty of memories and souvenirs to last a lifetime.

Day 14: October 11, 2007


Going Home


This morning Enrique picked us up at 4:00am to make our 7:00am flight to Santa Cruz, en route to Miami. We were surprised at his competence today as we thought maybe he wouldn’t show up, or forget what hotel we were staying at! It was only about a 10-15 minute ride to the airport. I bought a small box of cocoa tea to bring back and share from one of those duty free stores, and we shortly thereafter boarded the plane. We landed at about 8:00am in Santa Cruz and had a crew change aboard our American flight who checked the airplane entirely – seats, seat backs, trays and all for anything suspicious (my guess was for drugs or weapons). It looked like one of the crew members found a bag of cocoa leaves and disposed of them nearly immediately.


Once this was completed, we took off at about 9:15 for our 8 hour trip or so to Miami. The flight was fairly uneventful, with minor turbulence and the occasional bathroom breaks/stretching sessions. I found it odd though that our plane was 3 seats per side of the plane with a center aisle – our shorter flight to Peru was 2 on each side and 4 seats in the middle. Upon arriving there, we decided to check into our hotel rooms and grab some food at Chili’s (Burger King wasn’t the top of our list – though awfully close). I still had a cheeseburger though, and we each retreated to our rooms pretty early. I watched parts of The Office and fell asleep watching it. Our flight was early the next morning to finally be on our way home.

Day 13: October 10, 2007


La Paz


Today was a very relaxed, nothing-to-it day. It was kind of our day of recuperation, before we would leave South America. I didn’t mind having a day to sort of call my own, as we both did our own things mostly. I mainly caught up on things on the internet and wrote some e-mails, but a few other interesting things happened as well.


While I was there, a band came marching in through the front doors of the hotel and up to the 2nd floor (where the piano was being played the night before). For a little while the band could be heard, and I’m not sure what the occasion was (if any). In the city though, the occasion seemed to be around protests and rallies for some kind of cause (my guess is it had something to do with the capital of Bolivia – hence the Sucre strike). After a while the band left, and about 20 minutes later a flatbed full of military personnel unloaded in front of the lobby and dispersed. There were about 15-20 of these people, with the full getups – helmets, long rifles and all.


Once my father returned from a long walk (and I got tired of internet activity), we decided to head out in the city and take one last good, long look at La Paz. As we walked outside, the street sides had people here and there, and as we walked past a man, he sneered at us. “You don’t contribute anything,” he said. “You assholes.” We just kept walking, as the anti-American sentiment sunk in a little bit more.


After that fun encounter, we walked around trying to find a “shoe-shine boy.” These are people that basically shine shoes for nearly nothing (though my dad’s shoe shining equaled about 20 Bolivianos, a little more than 2 dollars). These men hide their faces so that they are not readily noticed – it is a shameful job, and most who do it are trying to put themselves through school or some other similar thing – of which the job is not highly regarded.


Once we had enough of the cityscape (with a protest/parade going past us as we sat on the bench), we decided it was time to say goodbye to the city. We had an early dinner and watched some TV, as we heard one of the protests outside our window. The man on the megaphone sounded like a Spanish version of Hitler. My father and I looked at one another – it wasn’t difficult to see how the country is so radically different than Peru or a place like the United States. We both agreed it seems destined to hard times ahead (and communism) – which will make it an even less popular destination among tourists (especially those from the States).


After my dad puffed on an Inca cigarette that we bought in Cusco (but he didn’t inhale), he put it out and we went to bed. The next morning was early, with our journey back to Miami (and the U.S.) underway.