Carnaval-Oruro, Bolivia

So I spent the weekend at Carnaval in Oruro, Bolivia. Its suppose to be one of the biggest celebrations in South America, after Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. Any way it was insane! I booked a bus trip throught a travel agency, Coca Travels. About 50 gringos went in two buses. The bus was suppose to pick us up at the hostel at 6pm, didnt get there till almost 8pm. We then were suppose to arrive in Oruro at 11pm, and because of traffic, slow driving, and stops (our tour guide at one point just got off the bus and bought beer-he disappeared for about 20 minutes and no one knew where he was), we arrived at 2am to our destination. The plan was to sleep in a school on the floor in sleeping bags. We set up camp and then walked around Oruro to grab a bite to eat. I ended up going to sleep at 4 am and waking up around 8am. Carnaval starts really early, and I was determined to take advantage of the day! I headed to the parade with some Australian girls and guys and we had to buy ponchos, waterguns, water balloons, and foam because Bolivian Carnaval is also a huge water-foam festival! I got attacked several times! One balloon landed right between my eyes when I was least expecting it! Watching the parade was awesome! The costumes that everyone was wearing were so elaborate and colorful! The rest of the day was spent partying and hanging out. Later we all crashed around midnight, we were exhausted!
Overall it was an interesting experience! Yesterday I headed back to La Paz and took a crazy bus ride to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, where I am now. I got here yesterday evening and had to walk around forever trying to find a decent hostel. Everything was so crappy or full. The crappy places cost $2 US dollars, but were disgusting! I walked some more and finally ended up at a Hotel that cost $15 US dollars for the night. It is verrrrrrrryyyyyy nice compared to the other places. So I´ve decided to stay here 3 nights because after two nights of sleeping on a cold, hard floor of a school, I need something comfortable.
Tomorrow I will spend the day on Isla del Sol and visit the Inca ruins! Im excited!

San Pedro Prison-Strange experience

Crazy experience today. When I got to the hostel yesterday I heard people talking about visiting the San Pedro prison here in La Paz. I had read about the prison and thought that it was closed to tourists. I was wrong. So today I decided to go. I knew it was not a good idea to go alone, so I found a guy from the hostel to go with me. This is no ordinary prison. In fact, it is more like a small city than an actual prison. Here are the steps involved in getting into the prison:
1. Arrive at the Plaza de San Pedro
2. Act as if lost, and someone will approach you asking if you want to do a tour of the prison. That someone was a european woman, who clearly was out of place in the plaza. We saw several other gringos congregated in a group, and the lady told us to go join them and wait until she came back.
3. We are also told to buy some cigarretes and candies for the people inside the prison.
4. We wait for about 15 minutes and then are told to go in pairs towards the prison doors. At the prison doors there are tons of women and children trying to go in, and there are many prisoners crowded at the gates.
5. All the gringos are let in and we are told to go into a small cramped office, where a South African man tells us the details of whats going on. Each of us has to pay $250 bolivianos, about 35 US dollars, and we have to hide our cameras until we are on the tour. The African man reiterates many times that when we tell our friends and family about the prison, or when we write about it in our blogs or by email, to tell nothing but the truth of what goes on in the prison.
6. We divide into two groups and get a number written on our arms. 4¨body guards¨-prisoners themselves- will go with us. Our tour guide is a prisoner himself. He is from Portugal, and was caught smuggling cocaine back to Amsterdam. So he now lives in the prison awaiting trial, along with many other people.
So the tour starts. There are 8 sections in the prison. 1600 prisoners are there, mainly for drug related crimes. There are no guards, everything is run by the prisoners and their families. Their wives and children are allowed to come and go as they please, but many of them live there with their husbands. There are restaurants, stores, pool halls, tv rooms, everything that one can think of in a normal town. Each prisoner must pay for their cell, and the quality of the cell varies with how much you can pay.
I was able to take lots of pictures. If a picture of a prisoner was taken, then usually a cigarrete had to be given to him. Candies were also handed out to the children, which run around and play-completely carefree, in each of the sections.
The tour lasts about 2 hours. At the end you are taken into a remote room, where you have to tip the tour guide and pay for being able to take pictures.
The whole experience was quite strange, but it was definitely worth it. I did not feel afraid the whole time, I think its because everything seemed so normal.
There is a book written about the prison called Marching Powder that I look forward to reading. Here is also a link to info from wikipedia about the prison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_prison
and another site from the BBC with pictures http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/1.stm

After the prison tour I went with the gringos from the group for some drinks and dinner. They convinced me to go to Oruro for Carnaval this weekend. So we leave tomorrow evening.

Drastically Different Bolivia

I flew into the highest airport in the world in La Paz, Bolivia yesterday morning. The airport is at 4000m, about 12,ooo ft, and overlooks the city. The city is built on the slopes and is truly amazing. I spent yesterday wandering the streets of La Paz. There was many a time that I was out of breath, because everything is sloped and I am not accustomed to such high altitude. I went to the Coca Leaf museum, where I learned about the history and importance of coca to Bolivia and the world. Apparently, the United Nations blames the coca leaf for Bolivia and Peru´s poverty. After visiting the museum, I walked around in el mercado de Hechicheria-the Witches market. There, I saw all kinds of interesting things, but most notable were the llama fetuses hanging from the stalls. Here in Bolivia, when building a house, it is good luck to bury a llama fetus in the foundation. I also saw all kinds of herbs, foods, and weird looking trinkets. Also along the streets were many stalls selling costumes for carnaval, which starts on Saturday. After all this walking I was exhausted and had to take a nap back at the hostel. I think that the altitude really affected me and I ended up sleeping yesterday and last night for over 12 hours.

Santiago-Vina-Valpo

So I have been here in Chile for a week and my has time flown by! Last weekend I got to spend time with my relatives-went to a movie with my grandmother and aunt, had lunch with my mom´s side of the family and got to meet my nephew (?). Actually, I don´t know if you would technically call him my nephew, but he is the son of my cousin. He is 10 months old and adorable. Saturday night I also partied with my cousin Mange. Alex and I went out with her and met up with her Colombian friend and then we went to a bar called Clandestino. We danced all night, until they kicked us out at 5 am. So we didnt get home until almost 6 am, and slept until 10 am, when we had to get up and get ready to go meet my relatives. I was pretty tired, but at least I got a good amount of exercise from all the dancing. Tuesday through Thursday I went to Vina del Mar, where I had studied abroad. Alex decided to stay in Santiago; I think she wanted time to herself. Whatever floats her boat. So I headed to Vina and ended up staying at Matt´s host family´s place. They live in a high rise apartment on one of the hills in Vina, it has the most beautiful views of the ocean, especially at sunset. The first day I just walked around Vina, walked along the beach, and visited places that I used to go to when I lived there. It felt really strange to be back! It was nostalgic and a bit sad, since I was back in a place that I had so many good memories but that most of the people I had shared them with where no longer there. Oh well, life goes on. I got to spend time in the evening with Matt´s host mom Claudia, who is really nice. It was good to catch up with her. Then Wednesday I took a bus to Renaca, a city further north than Vina, and spent the day wandering around there. The beach at Renaca is beautiful! I stopped at a restaurant on the beach and ordered a caipirinha and sat and read a book I had brought. My was the caipirinha strong! I felt lightheaded after, and it was only 2 pm. So then I went to another restaurant and ate a delicious sandwich that consisted of slices of meat, lots of avocado (my favorite), tomatoes, onions, and cheese. Yummy! I was so full after lunch that I could barely walk! So I took a bus to Valparaiso, which is south of Vina, and took an ascensor (elevator) up to one of the hills- Cerro Conception. FYI, Valparaiso is full of ascensores, thats how most people get to and from the hills, since it is almost impossible to climb up and the streets are all sloped. From this cerro, there are some beautiful views. Later that night I went out with Matt´s host brother Andres and a couple of other friends. Like old times, we went to the supermarket around 11 pm, bought some rum and coke, and headed to someone´s house, where we hung out. We were going to go to Cafe Journal, a bar that I always used to go to, but it ended up being too late, and some people had to work the next day. Yesterday I had lunch at my host family´s house. It was so good to see my host mom and host sister. I think I drank too much of a cocktail drink-Mango sour, but I still had a great time, and it was sad to leave. I finally came back to Santiago yesterday evening, and am back at my aunts house. Today I met up with a friend, Tyffanie, that I had studied abroad in Vina with. She married a Chilean and moved here to Chile and now lives in Santiago. So we met up for lunch and caught up.

Tonight we are celebrating my grandmother´s birthday with a dinner at my aunt´s house. It should be fun!

Mi Chile Querido

I got to Santiago, Chile yesterday in the evening after having to wait at the Chile-Argentina border high up in the Andes mountains for 3 freaking hours. The bus trip was suppose to take 6 hours and it took almost 10. It was ridiculous. At least the trip over the mountains was beautiful. Alex and I were in front at the top of a double decker bus. I had forgotten that last time I crossed to Mendoza, Argentina, from Chile two years ago, I had also sat in front, but not on a double decker and I was scared shitless everytime we made a turn because the road has no rails and I thought for sure everytime that the bus was going over the edge. Well, this time it was even worse, because being on the second floor, you cant even see the ground. You just look out in front and all you see is the bottom of the cliff. Alex and I kept holding on for dear life evertime we went around one of these curves. A man from the back of the bus would hear us shriek-we tried to do it quietly- and came and sat with us because he wanted to see for himself. Well, we are still alive, so its all good. So we finally got to our aunt´s house in Santiago, where we will be staying for the next two weeks. Its nice to take a break from hostels and be in a house for a change.

Today Alex and I lounged around during the day, ate a delicious lunch-pastel de choclo-yummy!, and then went to visit Mama, our grandmother. We had tea with her and then my uncle, aunt and cousin stopped by. It was nice to see everyone. My grandma lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building and has an amazing view of the mountains. While there I got to see a beautiful sunset behind the mountains. I love Chile!