Blogs from La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 2

Today was a busy day. I had my morning class where we focused on Cash Flow managed based on the questions they asked me at the previous class. I was glad to see all the men returned a few new ones joined them. We had some good discussions about the cash flow status of their businesses and what we might be able to do to improve it. The afternoon class focused on goal setting. Each of the woman was asked to share with the group their S.M.A.R.T. goal with the class so they could help keep each other accountable. We had a good mix of personal goals for their families as well as professional endeavors. After class, Betty took me on a tour of the Cholets of El Alto. The best possible way to see these ... read more

Today was the second meeting with the women from the area, but the first class. We are still formulating options for the skills training aspect, but since the financial planning applies to all we decided to get started. Daniel the intern helped me adjust my lesson plan to make it more relevant to the women and their culture. I had the translator on video and then Daniel in person. The three of us worked well together. Daniel started off a bit nervous but he got in the groove and seemed to enjoy it. Majority of the women from the first meeting came back and they brought friends. We had about 15 - 20 people. I have to say "people" because I had my first man attend a class! We tried for this in Uganda, but the ... read more

Since Thanksgiving is obviously not celebrated in Bolivia I looked for the other fun ways to spend the day. In the morning I had meetings at the center, but I left after lunch to go to the biggest open air market in South America: Mercado 16 de Julio. It is in El Alto so only a few minute from the Center. It is over 5 square kilometers and sells just about anything you can think of: clothes, tires, furniture, make up, DVDs, custom suits. After that I went to Cholita Wrestling. First a little background on these women. The word cholla was a derogatory term for someone of mixed race: Spanish and indigenous. Adding ‘ita’ in this case was to make it smaller. But the term ‘cholita’ has been reclaimed by these indigenous women. Most cholitas ... read more

On my last day off I decided to hike the second highest peak of the Condoriri Range of Mountains about three hours north of La Paz. While this was not the longest hike I have done it was certainly the hardest. The hike began at about 4600 meters (15,000 feet) and finished at over 5500 meters (18,000 feet). When we were nearing the top I had to stop every 10 steps just to catch my breath. I saw several other hikers turn back, but I think the time I have spent at altitude helped me cope with the lack of oxygen. I was very proud to have reached the top and the views did not disappoint. We were above most of the other mountains so we could look down on them. We could also see Lake ... read more

A fabulous collaboration of tours from the lowest and highest lakes on the globe. Mark in Amsterdam, Netherlands & Renan Lake Titicaca, Bolivia In Amsterdam we learnt how The Ijsselmeer an artificial lake had been developed with the aid of maps showing how the land had been reclaimed and dammed from the sea & ensuring that Amsterdam and the surrounding areas are protected from flooding. We also visited an area of floating villages, individual floating houses moored around slender jetties like house boats. These floating neighbourhoods are a solution to the problem of rising sea level and housing shortage in the dense metropolitan areas. In Titicaca Renan introduced us to his friend who was a craftsman at making reed boats using Totora. Renan also explained the background of Thor Heyerdahl's experimental archaeology and how Heyerdahl had ... read more