I Made it, I´m in Bolivia!

I know, I know, its not some huge accomplishment. But, for some reason, I do feel a bit accomplished.

I finished Peru. I did everything I wanted to do there, and what a great country it is- I will definitly miss my time there, but I´m also excited about moving on. I went out for a ´last supper´last night before my bus left Cusco for La Paz. In retrospect, I was a bit too optimistic that it would be my last supper in Peru. But not careing yet, and under the assumption that I better spend all of my Peruvian money before I leave, I splurged. Went out for a full course dinner, with drinks along the way, I even went for the expresso and brownie with ice cream desert afterwards....which was amazing! The only thing missing was my corporate credit card, and the doctors I used to go out with for fancy dinners like this one. I couldn´t help but be nastalgic about that...I truely did enjoy that part of my job. One other difference though, this one cost me, about 16 dollars. Gotta love South America.

Well, half buzzed and fully cafinated, I caught my bus....which was, I thought, a direct bus to La Paz. We had two stops in the first few hours, one where we waited an hour and a half until we boarded a completely different bus. I was not the only one bamboozeled, many were angry. My fit earned me the front seat in the next bus with virtually no leg room, and right next to the noisy engine. This one took us, thankfully, to the boarder. Which was another obsticle, and, as it turns out- especially for Americans. I was forced to get a Visa at the boarder....which wasn´t a huge hassel, save of course for the 135 dollars they made me pay for it! In case you are wondering, yes that is an outrageous amount of money in Bolivia. And it just plain sucks that we (me and 2 other girls) were the only ones who had to pay it.

Sweet, I´m accross! It was actually a bit of a rush, I felt like I was doing something wrong...even though I wasn´t! We changed busses again, and somehow, every time we change- the bus gets a little worse....a little smaller, a little less room, with out air conditioning...ect. Passing by lake Titicaca was really a nice added bonus of the trip though. I think they label it as the largest lake that is as high in elevation as it. Ancient indeginous tribes actually lived on the lake...literally. They built islands out of reeds that could hold little villages, houses and all. I know, pretty cool. The islands still exist today...but mostly as tourist traps...which thankfully, I avoided. I did however, upon the next hurdle of the journey, crossing the lake, get to ride on a boat acrross the lake...and get some cool pictures along the way. The boat trip cost me 1.5 Bolivianos....which is somewhere in the neighborhood of about 20 cents! It was beautiful. And about 5 hours later, La Paz apeared as a sprawling, colorful city, nesteled in a valley with high towering, comanding, snow capped mountains keeping the city in its place. Rummor is you can climb some of those mountains...I might just decide to test myself, and see how much altitude this body can take....we will see.

I have checked into my hotel, and I am staying at the infamous Loki Hostel. It is famous for its parties. And seriously, this place is just like a huge co-ed frat house. There are 14 beds in my room...all full, and the hostel probably holds another 100 on top of that. It comes complete with a dvd room, for those who spend the night before in the bar- which is complete with 2 pool tables....it even has a oxygen bar! (they claim the worlds highest)....I´m starting to hear that about everything here (worlds highest...not sure which are ture?).

Bolivia was a country that I´m pretty sure I laughed at in Spanish class in college...I remember thinking, ´why the hell would I need to know anything about that place...its not like I´m going there anytime soon.´ And to be honest, I didn´t even want to come here until so many people told me so many great stories as I have been traveling. Now I have to see for myself, ohhh the irony. All in all, I´m excited to be in a new country and in a big city, and I know that Bolivia will provide me with some plesent surprises along the way.