I´m back at the offices of Los Tiempos this morning for a second week in the ring. My flu, which was pretty virulent, maybe the Bolivian version, is much better today after a long sleep and a fabulous weekend. My boss Maria Julio, the economics editor, isn´t around and I dson´t yet know what she wants me to do, so I´m waiting. I was so busy this weekend I didn´t have a chance to buy Saturday´s Los Tiempos and see if my story was there, and how badly cut it was or not, so I have to wait for her [View Full Entry]

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The end of used clothing: The middle classes must buy Bolivian to legitimise our economy, manufacturers say This morning, house-wives from all over Cochabamba - from campesinos, to working class mums, to well-married women of more means with fashion-conscious teenage children to satisfy - have both hands thrust into billowing stalls of imported second hand sweaters and pants up and down La Pampa market. These women have the same mission as mothers all over the world: to see that their families are dressed in as close to the best quality clothing they can afford. As two particularly eager la [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick note since thats literally all I have time for. I am officially working my bollocks off. I am grafting like no grafter has ever grafted. And you know I can graft! I am a grafteros, a graftiera, the chairman of the board of Los Graftieros S.A, I am a grafita - a small grafter. Working for two publications, one in spanish, researching by reading only in spanish, communucating only in spanish, writing my questions for interviews in spanish, doung the interview in spanish, transcribing into english and then writing an article in spanish is fucking hard basically. Not [View Full Entry]

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I am living with the family Garrido in their lovely, homely 2nd storey house down by the Blanco Galindo about 4 kms outside of the city centre. It takes me about 20 minutes to get into town by thumbing down one of several buses or trufis (another type of bus, much more colourful but otherwise seems the same), simply by standing in the middle of the motorway. That´s transport bolivian style. It is always rammed on the bus - I love that office workers, tiny schoolkids and campesinos with their tall bowler hats and velvet skirts sit side by side - [View Full Entry]

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The heart of bolivia is its mouth.... i made this one up and you can have it for free! I am in Sucre, much disputed capital of bolivia. La Paz is seen as the de facto capital because the government are based there, but sucre believes it is the capital because the declaration of independence was signed here and will be celebrated on 25 may. Every day there are one or more street demos (always peaceful but with lots of firecrackers and shouting!) here to petition for the govt to return to sucre, and people here think the constitution will be [View Full Entry]

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Buenas, I just arrived from an easy seven hour bus ride over the altiplano at Potosi, a UNESCO world heritage city and once South America´s richest city. It is still The Worlds´Highest City and you know this to be true just by walking a tiny bit too fast, because your lungs stop functioning from the lack of oxygen. So far the city looks great but it is nightime on a friday so sightseeing starts tomorrow. I am staying at the Koala Den which granted, smacks of tourists, but is clean, warm, cheap, desayuno incuje, and in the middle of town. I [View Full Entry]

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I am in Bolivia! I feel so excited to finally be here, for some reason Bolivia overtook Brazil on the list of places I was most excited to go to on this trip and here I am. I passed through Argentina only momentarily to get here, going San Pedro (Chile)-Salta (Argentina, Jujuy Province)-La Quiaca (Jujuy Province, the border crossing for Bolivia)-Villazon (border town in Bolivia where you cross immigation and pick up buses and trains north). I havea couple of hours until my bus north to a town called Tupiza, which was originally just a place to pass through on my [View Full Entry]

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Mira gringos! **16 April** Just bussed in to a town called Copiapo, staying in the most basic place yet - feels like a sort of shanty town hostel with breeze block walls but its one of those hostels which is actually a family home and has a good atmosphere to it. I will try to visit Bahia Inglesa tomorrow for the day and then get back on the bus for the trip north again to Calama, my entry point to the Atacama Desert. Today I took my first ride on a Pullman bus, most closely resembling greyound in australia - air [View Full Entry]

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Hola guapos y guapas, I am on my second night in Valparaiso, about 2.5 hours north of Santiago, it is a port townwith about 45 cerro, cerro meaning basically large hill on which tiny micro villages that are in their own world live at the top accessed by ancient wooden funinculars, taking you through endless unplanned old cobbled streets lined with corrugated tin houses in pastel and neon colours, with kids running round singing and playing futbol, a multitude of stray dogs and cats all wanting to be patted and lying about in the best patches of sun sleeping all day. [View Full Entry]

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Continued........... [View Full Entry]

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