It happened on Bueno Street

Coming into La Paz was amazing, as I´m sure you´ve heard from anyone who has been there. Our bus stopped to let all of us tourists get out and take some pictures of the amazing city that sprawls up from the valley into the mountains that surround it.

We immediately got our bearings as we walked up and down some huge hills to get to our hostal - a mansion that was a residence for a former president. We spent our first evening at a fancy Italian restaurant listening to smooth jazz covers of the Rolling Stones!

The next day was our full day to explore the city. It started out with a stop off at a chocolate shop and the students´plaza. It was on our way to lunch that it happened...We were at the corner of Bueno Street trying to cross (which can be very hard with such small sidewalks and such crazy drivers!) when I heard a ripping noise. I thought it was the velcro pocket on my purse being opened, so I swung it around to see. I was right that someone was trying to get into my bag, but not by opening it, but instead by slashing it with a knife! Luckily, the hooligans weren´t able to get anything, but I saw them running up the street ahead of me as a I figured out what had happened. Needless to say, my bag stayed around my front the rest of the day!

The incident put a bit of a damper on the day, but we were still able to enjoy the Coca Museum, which outlined the history of the controversial plant, as well as the Musical Instruments Museum, where D and I got to play a few of the instruments ourselves!

La Paz is one of the busiest and most interesting cities that I have ever been to, but it was also a little overwhelming! It was a great stop on our travels, but we were getting very excited to get to Santa Cruz to setttle in for a while and start our volunteering.

So we have made it here now, after a very exciting bus ride last night. At about 1:30 am, we were rear-ended by another bus. That bus had a shattered front wondow, and our bus required about two and a half hours of work on the engine before we could get going. So the ride that was already a long 10 hours from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz became about 13 hours! But we made it and arrived to a wonderful volunteer house where we are looking forward to meeting everyone this evening and getting to work this week!