Chiquitania Santa Cruz/sept.24-27/ IF he gives us 3 more beers IM SETTING YOU ON FIRE!

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well Friday came around like it usually does and Kevin invited Caroline and I to go to Elisa's graduation and go to her house after for some drinks. It was my final Amoeba pill and considering I was feeling alright I decided to go. Kevin and I met up with Caroline after school and we went downtown looking for a gift. We first hit Heroinas street which had this one particular isle called Hippie isle. Caroline knew a particular jewlry shop that would have something for Kevin to buy for Elisa and it was the first time I had been near this shop. I had been in this Hippie Isle before but failed to notice the extensive amount of jewlry there. Well after some searching and Kevin failing to listen to my recommendations he decided to buy something that Caroline suggested. He bought her some necklace with some sort of medallion or something which I thought was kind of over the edge once again. But whose to talk now Im the one still alone here. Well after buying a gift caroline and I arrived with a box of chocolates that were fairly expensive.
We also purchased some chocolates ourselves and made our way to her college. ARriving via taxi we were all very confused and really hadnt a clue where to go but followed the crowds and found all the seats reserved in the auditorium. WE scrambled around some and greeted Elisa's father and found Elisa in no time. She told us that we needed to just sit wherever and that they really werent reserved because most of the people werent going to make it. Sweet kevin and I thought we needed to now look for somewhere where there were 3 available seats. Well I took the stickers off the seats and casually placed them under my chair. THe ceremony was very extravagent but as time progressed the temperature of the room got hotter and hotter. EVeryone started sweating. Elisa stood up there after recieving her degree with a proud smile next to her exboyfriend which was strange. THey were of the 4 who graduated in Chemical engineering. AFter the ceremony we meet up with some of the others and I was confronted again with the girl that I commented on her wedding ring. Her husband soon made an appearance and was probably the largest bolivian Ive ever encountered in my 3 months here. Well after some greets and what not we made our way back to Elisa's house with the one bride driving us. ARriving at Elisa's house a vast amount of her family was there and welcomed us. We all started drinking some and I chilled a little bit on some beers. Didnt want to overdue it considering I was still recovering from the Amoebas in my stomache. Well after a delicious chicken dinner and deserts the party was really taking off and I really urged Caroline to leave with me considering we had to wake up at 4am for our santa Cruz trip. She said she wantedto stay longer and wait for Ken but I really wanted to leave considering it
was almost ten. I decided to stay a little longer and this seemed to irritate her for some reason. MOre women arrived I assume friends of Elisa and they brought more alcohol. Party conversations took off and I recall one of the woman Silvia from the night that we were all dancing. She was Kens dance partner. WEll Ken was the last one to make an appearance at the party and about thirty minutes after he arrived caroline and I left via taxi. Getting home I packed literally all of my clothes preparing for 3 day in santa cruz and then was going to meet John in La Paz and we were
flying To the BEni department to look at some animals and what not in the national Park. WEll gathering all I found neccessary for a leaving of a week I fell asleep setting my alarm for 4am. Mirza woke me up and told me she was calling me a taxi. I wasnt ready at all and heading downstairs with my eyes barely open the taxi made an entrance in like 5 minutes. I took the Taxi to the school and arrived at like 420am around 25minutes earlier than planned. caroline and Ken were going to meet me at the school at 445am and knowing this I checked my laptop which was at the school and planned to put some new songs on my ipod. I connected my ipod and it just froze. DAMIT! i thought and literally didnt bring any book more of thought i was going to Listen to music to stop the downtimes I had on this vacation. THe ipod chord I had failed me and I chose against bringing it considering it would just have gotten in the way. ITs like the 3rd time my Ipod has worked against me. Well I checked facebook and such killing time and made my way back to the front gate of the school. KEn was waiting there and immediately told me that he didnt sleep at all. He said the party at elisa's went on till like 4am and he barely had enough time to pack his bags and make it back to the school to meet us on time. Also note that while I was at the school checking things on my computer before I left for the week I wrote down all the names of all the people on the list my mom told me to pray for. Caroline soon arrived and before that Priest MIchael I think said that our guide was comming on a motorcycle. The father had a car and was going
to give him a ride to the airport and offered us a ride considering he had room in his car. OUr guide for our santa cruz trip was Chrispan I didnt know him at the time and wondered what he valued as an individual. Well arriving at the airport we were greeted by Pablo and Teresa. Teresa was a new student cant recall where she was from but shes older and makes me wonder why she came to bolivia in the first place. There was also TIm who arrived somewhat late after we had all paid our airport Tax and had to wait in line. I knew he was what I called a Jesus freak and wondered how our time together was going to be. Well we boarded the plane that was about an hour or so and at this point cant recall why but Caroline and I werent getting along at all. Think it was all the time we spent the night before not really sure but she was really annoyed with me and when I broke the news to her that our seats were together she just shrugged. WEll I thought it was funny. THe flight was like an hour or so and I slept all of it and Ken said he didnt sleep he just passed out. WEll arriving in Santa Cruz we had a Bus waiting for us with the driver in front along with another guide who was waiting for us. We all loaded our luggage and boarded the bus and were suprised how appealing the bus was like the first class of a first class airplane. THe heat outside santa Cruz was way intense aND not sure I would have survived if the bus was of a lesser quality. I passed out in the bus again probably similar to
Ken and when we stopped at some store/liquor market. I jokenly showed Ken a Pacena and told him cmon man its time to start DRINKING! He just ignored this and walked and purchased a poweraid. I think I got a fanta to drink and actually came across the only bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos that sent some memories back home. I think I purchased a Snickers here too then went back on the bus and slept some more. Total driving time to the first town we arrived at was probably around 4 hours. The first town was interesting and people looked at us like we were from space or something and had just arrived on a space ship. This town was kind of cool and we visited the Church and our guide was telling us about it in spanish. It was more of a mission that was constructed around 1690's or so. Well the town was hotter than the airport and honestly I just wanted to get to our hotel and sleep for the night. I forget where we had lunch and on the way to the next town called Conception we stopped at some place that had a huge lake in the middle and had water Buffalo roaming around. I immediately got off the bus and started taking pictures of the BUFFALO considering I had never seen wild ones before. WE didnt stay long at this place just enough time for me to buy some water considering I was like dehydrating like a MOFO. Well arriving in Conception in the afternoon the church was the first thing I took note of. I wanted to go in but considering we were going to be in conception for the majority of the next day I wanted to go to the hotel more. SIDE NOTE-at the first town we came across a water spicket in the ground and chrispan said the water was clean not like the water in cochabamba and I told Ken if he drank some I would drink some. We both took some sips but I feel that Tim made the mistake of filling his water bottle up with ground water. WEll we got to our hotel and were all blown away by the environment. THere was a pool, like 5 different hamocks, and all kinds of nature all around that were hard to describe. Dinner was at 730 so we all jumped in the pool before hand. We got some beers too which is a nice change drinking and swimming. well taking a shower after swimming I came out and told Ken well...we have hot water..bad news is theres a flood. Someone had covered the drain with the bubble wrap that prevents you from slipping and I hadnt noticed untill water was at my ankles. WEll we all got back on the bus and it took us down the street to a small restaurant. There was amazing meat served buffet status along with Rice and cheese and other meats and some vegetables. I stay away from lettuce now and Tomatoe but the dinner aside from those was very well. Sometime during serving ourselves the hottest girl walked in and Caroline saw Ken and I's attention rise. Literally probably the most fine woman Ive seen since Ive been in bolivia and judging by the sight there was no way she was bolivian. Not saying bolivian woman arent attractive because they are but this was just a different scenario or maybe because it felt like this town Conception was in the outskirts of Baghdad the sight of any woman our age was just like ten times hotter. Somewhere Caroline conversed with her and ruined Kens chances because she thought Caroline and Ken were together which was quite comical for me. Well after dinner we headed back to the hotel and I just wanted to go to sleep and dont really recall but think we had some drinks and then called it a night. Lying in my bed I saw this weird Airconditioning thing in the corner and wondered if it worked. I had already opened all the windows to try to cool the place down but if we had air conditioning that was 100 times better. Ken called this thing the death star and actually told me there was a remote. I configured with it
some and was able to lower the room to 17degrees celcius with the fan on high. KEn at first wasnt sure if he could sleep in such cold conditions but later thanked me. Our room at this temperature was then known as the 'ICE BOX". The next morning we awoke at 7ish for breakfast and were all suprised at what an amazing breakfast was before us. I had some coffee and like 3 cups of some sort of Papaya juice along with eggs and such. AFter breakfast we all attended mass and I look over during some parts and KEn is sitting there motionless with his eyes closed. WE slept a ton but were still very tired from everthing. During mass there was an intense insect that was heard from outside similar to a screetch of 'bzzzzzzzz" at such a high frequency it was almost driving me mad. Well after church we went back to the hotel and were supposed to be ready for a museum tour at 11am. It was like 930 when we got back and Ken and I made our way to the Ice box and slept some. Woke up at like 10 wondering why the hell it was so hot.
KEn pointed "THE DEATHSTARS CLOSED!!!" some conversation like "Well OPEN ITS SHIT" and such was mentioned and we came to conclude that the maid who made our beds turned the air off on us. Rediculous and we turned it back to 17degrees and slept till 11am exactly. at 11am we put our shoes on and such and were bewildered to find that everyone was gone. The fact that the tour was 25bolivianos and that they left without us didnt bother us much. Forgot to mention we did some drinking the night before and played cacho with pablo,ken,caroline and the guides and bus driver. Tim and Teresa went to bed early. Thats why all sunday we were fairly tired and I think Ken not sleeping the first day had made him physically week during the day sunday. We slept some more and then decided to walk on down to where the group was. There were no cars in this town and everyone rode on motorcycles. Weird place and walking and walking we finally came across our tourbus and decided against paying for the tour and just chewed the last of the sunflower seeds. I took some pictures of the churches and the land. Wierd because all the grass around this plaza was completely covered with cotton or some sort of silk. There was also that godaweful creature still making that dam screetching noise. AFter the museum tour we missed we all made our way to the church. OUr tour lady explained a bunch in spanish and I took pictures of everything. THe church was cool and we returned for lunch. Actually before returning for lunch we made our way to the river via tour bus and just stopped for pictures then returned back to the lodge for lunch. Tim was sick majority of the day I think because of drinking that water the guide told us was safe. Getting back to the lodge and after eating the owner showed us all of his 500 orchids that he was growing in a greenhouse. There was also some lone parrot that would make an appearance every once in a while. Well we all chilled some and swam a little drinking beers again and once again ate at the same place like the night before. AFter eating we all decided to go to this Kareoke. Cant spell tonight. Well the arriving at this Kareoke There was no one around which wasnt suprising and we immediately started ordering some drinks. Pablo was the
first to sing and we were all astounished. NO one thought he could sing and suprisenly it was very good and he hit some high notes that it didnt know were possible for Koreans. What a singer. Well we drank and drank and drank and at around 12oclock Caroline left, along with Teresa, and Pablo. Everybody sang at least one song but Me and Teresa. I just didnt feel like singing in the jungle or some other rediculous songs seemed like an embarassement. Tim sang and I think wanted more attention for his singing but we failed to give him some. ALl that was left now was Ken, Chrispan, The bus driver and I. We started ordering 3 beers at a time and splitting them between us. I was already fairly buzzed by this time and singing and drinking I noticed we were now 9 beers in. wow...Ken was starting to get red eyed and wanted to go home. I joked around with Chrispan about getting 3 more beers and soon enough he did bring 3 more. THe driver was mixing his beer with sprite so he wouldnt get drunk. We were so full of beer at one time we had to eat something. Ken told me something after we ate that it was like 3am. Thats intense considering we had to wake up at 9am. WEll almost done with our previous 3 beers Ken was playing with some lighter and said something like "IF he brings us 3 more beers IM SETTING you on fire!" haha I thought this was hilarious. KEn excused himself to go to the bathroom and I saw Chrispan sure enough getting 3 more Pacenas. KEn said " he better not bring us more drinks" and I straight up told him "DUDE! theres 3 more right there!" haha I laughed. These Pacenas are like a liter of beer each keep in mind. Ken turned to Chrispan as the driver laughed and said in spanish I NEED TO SLEEP!!! and Chrispan just said 'WHAT HAPPEND YOU!" haha. FUnniest shit ever. AFter somewhere between 15 beers and 19 beers
Ken sung one last song a repeat of what he sang earlier which was Garth Brooks I got friends in low places. Great Kareoke song for the future. when he was back he said he was going to chug the last beer so I better finish my glass of beer with him. Our bus driver had left fairly intoxicated about 6 beers earlier and Ken and I were convinced that on 6 hours of sleep we were going to die because the bus driver was too hung over or something. Chrispan was flirting with some gordita and after Ken chugged the Pacena he even Chugged Chrispans beer. not really sure what happened but Ken was dancing with some chick, and so was chrispan and I was just sitting there? I have no idea. I recall approaching chrispan and he made me dance with his chick. I think he went to the bathroom? I told Ken from a distance LETS BAIL! its almost 5am! HE agreed without question could have been his idea I cant recall. I kissed the chick good bye and was covered with sweat which was weird, that gordita must have been sweating alot. Ken told me the same thing when we exited. Exiting the Kareoke place without Chrispan we were both F-ed up beyond recognition and had no idea where we were. Thats right the Kareoke was right next to our hotel lodge. Some dog on the street gave Ken a dirty look and he took off after it with a rock in his hand. Chrispan came out and shouted "KEN!!! WHAT HAPPENed YOU!" haha funniest quote. Ken and I were just Busting up laughing the whole way back to the room. IN the room we had some conflict/war like nature with punches and pillow fights or something? I threw some water on where I thought Ken was sleeping but he wasnt there and when he lied down he was all wet which pissed him off.
No idea how long our conflicts were going on and next thing we both know is someone knocking at our door. It was the lady tour guide and pablo. THey woke us up and I looked at ken and we both said no way...Walking to breakfast everyone else was packed and we were both still drunk. CHrispan was no where to be found. He showed up at around ten o clock and was ready but so was everyone else. I ate a ton of cheese empanadas and was feeling better. I slept a good amount of the way until we stopped at where the buffalos were. Forgot to mention that I gave my american phone to John because he was in la paz during all this time. I tried texting him but my phone was out of minutes. I texted from Kens phone yesterday and there was no response but today he said he would be at the airport. My flight left at 830 and arrived in LA PAz at like 915. ARriving at the buffalo village I grabbed my camera and was snapping pictures left and right. The whole lodge was amazing and we had like 2 hours to kill before lunch. I was still fairly hung over from the previous day and Chrispan was ready to go swimming. I wasnt but was interested
in riding this boat I was hearing about in the lake. We walked down with Teresa who was also interested in riding a boat in the lake but wasnt sure when we came across our canoe. KEn and I were stoked and Chrispan didnt waste any time and plunged into the dirty lake. Our tour bus driver later jumped in as well. Our lady guide helped us set our boat off with Teresa and Ken inside and the wind was a factor against us. I thought it was no problem for Ken who was like varsity Rower or soemthing in college. HE had second thoughts. IT was worth it and we somehow managed to get ouselves into the middle of the lake. We paddled around and I took some videos with my camera and some pics. Chrispan and the Bus driver were swimming close to shore. After that awesomeness of paddling around in a small steel boat we met the others for lunch and had some Sarubi Trout and steak. After a delicious dinner we made our way back to the bus and headed for the airport. I slept some more and waking up we were in the city suburbs we were taking massive side routes to the airport. There was so much traffic I didnt know that many people lived in Bolivia. WEll we said our goodbyes after unloading our luggage at the airport and Tim and Teresa hung with me at the airport as the others left. There flight left about 30min after mine did as they were off to Cochabamba and I was off to La PAz. KEn and Caroline had like 4 more days in Santa cruz. Tim still was fairly sickish and We all decided to eat some subway before we made our departures. I was explaining to TIm that I didnt have any books or anything to listen to
and he gave me this book called 3 cups of Tea. ITs an ok read I havent finished reading it and to me its really not that interesting but when you are suffering with boredom anything to read in english is an appeal. Well I boarded my plane in time and was off to La Paz hoping John was going to be there to meet me at 915pm.

Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
And ruined your black tie affair
I was the last one to know
the last one to show
was the last one you thought youd see there
I saw a suprise and fear in his eyes
As I grabbed his glass of champaign
Ill toast to you said honey we might be through
But youll never hear me complain

Cuz I got friends in low Places
where the wiskeys dry and the beer chases
my blues away BUt Ill be ok
And Im not big on social graces
think Ill slip on down to Oasis cuz
I got friends IN low places
-I got friends in Low Places
GARTH BROOKS(I THINK)

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Photos

1st Church
Dont remember the town

Inside the Church
Beautiful interior

Church from the front
Looking toward the back

Water Buffalo
Read the title

Another church
Once again dont remember the town

Conception
Tour bus and picture of some stage

Town of Conception
If you look close you can see the ground is covered with some silk/cotton like material

Conception
Cotton weirdness

Conception cotton
Weirndess

Lake near Conception
A horse and her Spawn

Inside Church of Conception
Inside the Beautiful Scene

Lake near Conception
Very awesome photo of the people

Caroline standing alone
Kind of hard to spot her but shes the white chick

Chrispan and TIM
CHrispan preparing his jump and Tim

Lake of Conception
A picture of something

Picture of the group
Ken is not included

The jumping bridge
Dam of Lake conception or something

Ahhhh...
THE BOAT

CHRISPAN
swimming in the buffalo infested lake

THE LODGE
Buffalo lake? Not in Conception

THE BOAT
Chrispan, Teresa, and Ken the Row master

View from the Boat
Not Conception Bolivia some Buffalo Lake

THE BOAT people
Chrispan, Teresa, and the Rowmaster KEN

The bus Driver
Yep thats him

the Lodge
Another sweet picture

The lodge cont'd
THE LODGE

Ken
Ken contemplating on a Rock

THE LAKE
EPIC

Loving it
This is where I want to be

The water Buffalo
sick

ahh
THis is the life..

Chrispan and KEN
KEn sleeping in the BUs/ Thats how I felt

Dinner
At conception

The crowded Bus
Air conditioned Crowded Bus

KEn and I
Teresa Took this picture Thank you