Le Quotidien

my last email was all about high-flying adventures and fun with diseases. this one, partly because i haven't traveled since saira left and partly because people keep asking, is going to be about the daily things of living down here. so, no stories, just the bits and pieces that make up a day in la paz. much love to all my adhd friends out there: you should like this one.

transportation
on a daily basis, i'd say about 10% of bolivians drive their cars, another 10% take taxis, and the other 80% take what can loosely be described as public transportation. there's a union of conductores (drivers), but no official transporation system (from what i can tell), no official stops, or anything like that; just people who have a van or a bus, joined the union, bought some signs with names of locations in the city on their route, and started driving around the city picking people up. there are three zones to the city, and prices for travel between them are based accordingly. here's what we have:

*micros, aka buses: 1 boliviano (bs), hold about 30 people seated, but you can pack about 20 more in the aisles, slow
*minibuses: 1 bs within one zone, 1.50 bs between two, 2.30 between more, 3.80 to the airport (25 minutes), hold 14 passengers when full, plus one driver and one vocedor. these are what i take most often.
*trufis, i.e. cabs with fixed routes: hold up to 5 passengers, 3 bs between two zones (haven't taken one farther than that)
*moviles, or cabs: about 6 bs within one zone, 8 between two, and 15 between more, 50 bs to the airport, and prices go up a bit at night. there are "free-lance" cabs and radio taxis, and it is definitely preferrable, and in some cases imperative, to take a radio taxi versus a non-radio taxi, as the latter can be on of the easiest ways for someone to rob/kidnap/etc you. although their prices are 2 bs cheaper per ride than radio taxis.

vocedores on the minibuses can be guys or girls, probably as old as late 20s and as young as about 6 or 7. as the name would indicate, your caller, when the minibus isn't full, has to constantly and quickly shout out those names of the different zones to which that particular minibus is traveling to people on the sidewalk. while a high nasally voice is really obnoxious to listen to during the morning commute, getting a caller with a good, strong voice is a lot more pleasant.

sometimes the minibuses break down and sometimes there are bloqueos on certain key roads so you can't drive between certain parts of the city. in either case, you wait by the side of the road until a new minibus comes or you walk. you usually only get charged part of the fare, depending on how far they've already taken you along your route.

there are tons of minibuses and micros and moviles. at the busiest, i don't think i've ever waited more than 10 minutes for a minibus to my street. it was a brilliant stroke by the bolivians to do away with the tedium that is reading a bus schedule.

certain road between different zones are three lanes: one going one way, one the other, and the third middle lane is just kind of for whoever needs it at the time. your minibus will usually pull into it to pass the slower bus going uphill, and sometimes you see another car or minibus coming the other way in the lane, so you duck back behind the bus. no one really drives very fast ever (i doubt we get above 30-35 mph), so it's no big deal, but an interesting arrangement.

my cab driver the other day, in the middle console of his taxi, where other people might store loose change or gum, had a potato. unpeeled, small, just chilling. (an anecdote that makes for a nice transition to ... )

food
here are some supermarket prices:
*bread: generic bread rolls 5 for 1 bs, good-size french bread rolls 3 for 1 bs, generic wheat bread 2 for 1 bs, loaf of bread at the supermarket 5 bs.
*milk: 3.60 bs for 1 liter of whole milk, 2.30 for soy (that's right, soy is cheaper than normal milk in bolivia, hallelujah.)
*cheese: 5 bs for a decent-sized wheel of bolivia's standard, what they call menonite cheese, or about 20 bs for a modest sized block of other types, cheddar, brie, etc.
*yogurt: most yogurt is liquid and sold in bottles for 8 bs
*cereal: about 20 bs a box
*ice cream: 10 bs a liter
*wine: 15 bs bottle of house wine, between 35-70 for standard bottle of good wine, 80 for the bubbly
*ramen noodles: 2.80 bs a pack
*bottled water: 3.30 for a two liter bottle
*big box of matches: 2.90 bs
*jar of peanut butter: about 30 bs
*jelly: 5-10 bs
*box of tea: 5-15 bs

and outdoor/indoor market prices:
*mangoes: between 3 for 10 bs and 2 for 5.
*papayas (normally about a foot in length and six inches in diameter): between 5 - 8 bs
*platanos/bananas: 2 bs for a bunch
*carrots: 1 bs for a bunch (usually about six a bunch, an inch in diameter)
*tomatoes: a pound for anywhere from 80 centavos to 1.50 bs
*calla lilies: a dozen for 8 bs
*chirimoyas: 5 bs each for bigger ones (but they're out of season now, alas.)
*peppers: about 2 for a 1bs
*onions: about a half dozen small ones for 1 bs
and they pretty much sell everything else under the sun, too, from antennas, to herbal remedies, to tupperware, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. the picture up above is a typical street market here in la paz.

also in the markets, the blessed juice ladies. a full glass of carrot juice costs 2 bs, other fruit juices cost 1.50-4 bs. one of my favorite ways to start the day is go buy my pancitos (bread), get my carrot juice and head off to work. (i'll probably get crap for drinking carrot juice, but all i have to say is that it is the sweetest carrot juice i've ever tasted, and i promise you'd drink it too.)

and restaurants:
*breakfast: between 10 bs for basic, usually toast, fruit juice, and coffee, and up to about 30 to include things like eggs and a croissant
*lunch and dinner: soup 15 bs, salad 15-25 bs, most main dishes including personal pizzas 25-50 bs. mixed fruit juices (smoothies with either water or milk), about 7 bs each, pop 5 bs, a glass of wine about 15 bs, mixed drinks about 25 bs (yes, your drink can cost as much as your plate, very exciting/disconcerting). the most you might be able to spend on yourself for a multiple course meal at the nicest restaurant is about 150 bs each, tops.

on the streets
every 25 yards on the sidewalk, there will be a chola woman selling usually the exact same things the chola at the previous stand was selling. i usually buy little yogurt packs at 1 bs, or juice ones at 50 centavos (100 centavos = 1 bs). you can get toilet paper from them for 1 bs, pack of sour gummy worms for 4 bs, a pack of any imported candy (skittles, m&ms, twix) for 6 bs, newspapers for 4 bs (5 bs, sundays), magazines for 20 bs, make a phone call for about 50 centavos a minute, etc.

boys, usually around 10 years old, will shine your shoes for you for 5 bs, boots for 8.

there are also api and pastel stands. api is a type of sweetened, usually blue, corn meal drink, and the pastel is just a big pastry with (menonite, naturally) cheese in it. both are served hot and make a good breakfast for 5 bs.

there are grain stands, too, where they sell, among other things, bags about the size of a cereal box of sweetened puffed rice or wheat for 1 bs.

there are carts where you can buy little packs of things like peanuts, soy beans, chocolate covered raisins for 50 cent. - 2 bs each.

also exciting are juice carts where you can get fresh-squeezed orange, mandarine, or grapefruit juice for 2 bs a cup. the juice man or lady usually has the oranges peeled, and then when you say you'd like a juice, halves a couple, and squeezes your juice right there.

any dogs that are pets are kept on people's properties (and everyone's house is gated), making the only dogs that you see on streets stray and quite sickly. when people first get a puppy, though, they carry it around and so every now and then you see someone talking to a friend on the sidewalk casually holding a precious little dog in their arm. and, i'm just realizing this as i'm writing, but i don't think i've ever seen a single cat, stray or pet, ever in bolivia. (dad, did you hear that?)

merchandise shopping
prices vary significantly based on where you're shopping. boutiques with imported clothes from argentina or the u.s. are the most expensive, with prices usually in dollars and priced for about what you'd pay in dollars. the department stores are the next expensive, with new shoes running around 160 bs, shirts around 120, jeans about the same. (i'm guessing on these prices a bit too, since i never shop in these stores.) the tourist zone, sagárnaga, where they sell artisan things is predictably pricey, but the stuff's really good quality. el alto, where i went shopping with my friend that one time, is going to represent the cheapest of these markets.

market zones are where it's really at. bolivia is somehow like the second hand store of interamerican commerce, i.e. pretty much anything that doesn't sell anywhere else, usually ends up here. i've bought pants with the tag from the american thrift store still on them, seen cars with oklahoma state bumper stickers, bought cans of refried beans a month away from their expiration date, seen this year's bloomsday shirt, etc. they're all stores that you walk into, it's just that the merchandise is rarely new.

here are some things i've bought recently:
in el alto,
*the green skirt: 30 bs
*the pink dress: 20 bs (22 bs to dry clean it)
*very broken-in leather boots: 10 bs
*two shirts from the grab-box: 2 bs each

in uyustus, a good market section for household things in la paz,
*headset with microphone (to make skype calls): 40 bs
*peacock feathers (for the living room): 5 bs each
*big, floor length trophy: 200 bs (ok, we didn't buy this, but we thought about it for the family room)
*toaster oven: 160 bs
*my felt, indiana jones-style wide brim hat: 35 bs

i must add that i wear this hat every single day, not only for its practicality at this latitude and altitude, but because, frankly, it looks pretty sweet and everyone else thinks so too. i'd estimate that about 86.3% of any popularity or distinction i have in this city is due exclusively to this hat.

in calle comercio & plaza san francisco, probably the city's principle plaza/general hub, where you can get lots of random trinkets, such as:
*notebooks, usually with captivating pictures of thalia, jean claude van damme, people on the beach, puppies, or a holographic one with dolphins, which i recently bought (hey, why not): 6 bs for small ones, 12 bs for big ones
*hot water pack: 8 bs for a small one, 12 for a big one
*monopolio, or, you guessed it, monopoly: 22-25 bs (18 bs in el alto)
*postcards: 1.50 bs each
*earrings: 5 bs each for a simple pair, about 10 bs for bigger ones
*bottle of pantene: 22 bs
*deodorant: 15 bs
*chirimoya hand creme: 2 bs for a little dish
*burned cds: 10 bs each, or 20bs for 3-cd sets
*burned dvds: 10 bs for legit copies in la paz, 6 bs in el alto, 3 bs for ones that have about a 25% chance of working in your computer or dvd player
*dvd rental: 6 bs for 3 nights [as the price would indicate, almost all of these places are going out of business]
(note: yes, technically they're pirated cds and dvds, but this is what everyone buys; this isn't any type of underground black market. only the really rich actually buy the original cds and dvds because they cost about what they'd cost in the states. the dvds the video stores rent you are burned.)

oh yes, and $1 = 8 bs.

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miscellaneous

because i don't think i explained in the last email, MAS, the president's party, stands for movimiento al socialismo, or movement towards socialism. (and again, the "towards" is important, because, in this case, going more leftist means centering because the country has been so far right for so long.)

.

september, being the beginning of spring down here, is known as the month of love. the tv channel i watch los simpsons on, in addition to reminding us of the previous fact, also regularly proclaims itself, "unitel, el canal de la belleza," or "unitel, the channel of beauty." (doesn't anyone think that would be a great network slogan for cbs? letterman would eat that up.)

.

also, someone asked if i worked with a lot of gringos at work. nope. out of about the 20-25 people in our office, our director's columbian, i'm american, and the rest are all bolivians. and also, we're funded by usaid, but we don't consider ourselves as working for the government. (of course, some could debate that fact.)

the two soccer teams here (bolivia's got its own league) are called bolívar and "the strongest" (in english), and people say they're pretty much like the yankees and the mets, respectively. last night, there was it was fan day for the strongest right in the plaza below our apartment where they had fireworks. my friend and i went down and had fun mingling with all the fans doing all their chants, everyone from adolescent guys in black and gold jerseys, hats, and whistles jumping up and down in the middle of the crowd, to professionals who'd made sure to wear the gold tie or blouse with black jacket over chanting along the perimeter. another friend also just bought a foosball table, with the players appropriately painted in bolívar's light blue and the strongest's black and gold.

some people ask, too, if bolivia is as soccer-crazy as other places in the world. i wouldn't say necessarily so, in that, i wouldn't say bolivians are any more into soccer than your average american is into sports; it's just that, instead of following three or four different sports like we do in the states, here there's just one.

i also recently learned that, far from being some neighboring city of la paz, el alto is now the country's second-largest city with 1,000,000 people. and, if the other statistic i saw is correct, only four years ago it was the third-largest city with 500,000 citizens. part of the reason it's been able to explode in population is that the altiplano, where el alto is situated, is exactly like just it translates: very high and very flat, and it goes on forever, letting development just sprawl. think of l.a.'s expanse crossed with gary, indiana's vivid color palatte, all on a windswept plain at 13,500 ft, and that should give you a pretty sense of what el alto looks and feels like.

lots of names around here are derived from quechua and aymara, the two most widely spoken indigenous languages in bolivia (and both official languages, along with spanish). both languages involve a lot of w's, ch's, and hard k's, or aspirated clicking at the back of the palate, like arabic, from what i understand. here are just some of the names of places around here, which it has taken me considerable effort to straighten out, as you can see: cala cala, calacoto, cota cota, quillacollo, chasquipampa, achumani, chulumani, sopocachi ... and miraflores, to name a few. say those ten times fast.

on the subject of names, one of cochabamba's joke nicknames is coche-bomba, or car bomb.

my mornings usually start by getting woken up by the incredibly annoying and continual honking of the trucks that go around carrying propane tanks, which almost everyone uses for their stoves. the trucks honk so that people know that this truck loaded with propane is coming around the corner, but they literally honk about three times every block as they approach each intersection.

then, however, i get breakfast and usually move two of the chairs our maid has so nicely arranged in the living room, prop my feet up on one, sit in the other, and watch the plaza as the sun comes up over illimani.

it's a nice life :)