Blogs from La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America

A low, slow, eery murmur fills the air. A weird, wakening, growling whisper that intrudes out of nowhere. Prompting part-parched eyelids to eke apart as the first flirtations of early morning pink filter through a canopy of Amazon trees. See the dozen fat mosquitoes, content, inside the peak of the mosquito net, having earlier snuck entrance, and supped. Instinctively move limbs away from the dropped sides of the mesh protection, away from the five dozen, and more, ravenous insects sitting outside eagerly waiting to take their own sip from a misplaced forearm or calf. Touch the screen, and lose a drop. Again, the strange moan from beyond rises, like the lowest low of a cow driven by the sound of a breeze through a forest of leaves. Sounds are generally processes of orientation. They let you ... read more

Thursday, Oct 12 I’m solo now. Dick has gone back to the States and I’m carrying on with my South American adventure. The flight to La Pas is with Avianca a particularly no frills airline, you don’t even get offered a glass of water, and are actually required to purchase a bottle of water. Having said all of this, the flight is short and I was able to upgrade to get more legroom for US $50. I’m in La Paz at 2.15am local time feeling a little light headed because of the altitude as the airport sits at 4,062 meters (13,326 ft). It has been known for passengers to just pass out when arriving from sea level, however I’ve been at altitude in Bogota and also, everyone else on my flight seems ok. Customs is a ... read more

(Day 267 on the road)If you read the following blog entry and think "wow, Ben's writing skills have certainly improved", I am afraid I have to disappoint you. Most of this entry was written by my good friend Suzanne, who came to visit me in Bolivia for ten amazing days of travelling together. But before I hand over, a quick recap of the days leading up to Suzanne's arrival in La Paz: My entry into Bolivia from Peru was as easy as possible: A minibus from the travel agency picked up all the passengers at 4am in Puno, the boat from Puno (Peru) to Kasani (Bolivia) took about 5 hours (straight across the beautiful Lago Titicaca), the immigration formalities in Kasani took less than 3 minutes, and a minibus took me to the lakeside town of ... read more

In my morning class I have students that are older and more experienced in business. I have been able to learn a lot from them including some background on the economy of Bolivia. They said, as others have also said to me, that Bolivia doesn't have inflation. One of the men told me you could buy a loaf of bread for approximately the same price 10 years ago as you can today. I wondered about this and decided to do some research. It isn't quite that sample, but when is it ever. In the 1980's citizens did not trust the Bolivian money so the country had a major issue with dollarization: when foreign currency (usually the US dollar) replaces the domestic currency because it is more reliable. When this happens the central banks do not have ... read more

After seeing my morning class has more business knowledge I spent the morning composing a new lesson plan for them that has more complex financial concepts. In the afternoon I took a bus 30 mins south of town to visit Valle de las Animas (Valley of the Souls/Spirits). The city of La Paz is shaped like a bowl. Some believe that the city was once a lake and that shifts in tectonic plates led to slow drainage of the lake. They speculate the water may have settled in the southern half for a longer period and, due to its acidity created this forest of mammoth stalagmites. It got it's name because locals even say that when the wind passing through the rock formations, it carries the voices of spirits. Switching countries for a minute I received ... read more