“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” - Mark Twain
In the past twenty-four hours, I have traveled over 4,500 miles. I went from Jackson to Dallas to Miami and finally landed in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The idea for this trip began several months ago when I heard of this fascinating research program in Bolivia that dealt with various methods of doing research. I applied and, after some intense packing and preparing with the help of my parents, here am I. This is the first time I am going to be away from home in a foreign country on my own, so I am exited but also a little nervous. Overall the trip to La Paz went well; I had a long layover in Dallas where I saw a bird trapped inside the airport. I chased it to take a picture because I was really bored. Then, I met some of my friends who were also participating in the program, and we flew to Miami together. The different landscapes really captured my attention: in Mississippi and Texas, there are mostly squares of yellow fields and green forests that are visible from the airplane window. However, Florida has a completely different landscape with lots of lakes and swamps. The perspective of the world changes completely from the airplane window. Miami was beautiful with clear blue waters of the ocean and bright sandy beaches beackoning to the tired travelers to come and visit. The layover in Miami was only two hours, so I hurriedly wolfed down a chicken sandwich from Wendy’s and then boarded the long flight to La Paz. We boarded at 9:30 p.m., but we did not leave until almost 11 p.m. because there was an extra person on the flight, and the flight attendants had to figure out what to do with him. When we finally got in the air, I bid goodbye to the sea of lights in Miami and settled for a nap. It was a very uncomfortable six-hour nap because sleeping in the airplanes is uncomfortable in general, and this one was also packed like a can of sardines. Around 5ish Bolivian time, we finally arrived in La Paz. If the biggest U.S. cities always appear as a never-ending sea of light, La Paz was only a tiny isle of civilization among the dark summits of the forests, with glimmering stretches of rivers, and the glowing tops of the mountain peaks, covered with a white blanket of snow. The mountains were absolutely beautiful - from a window of an airplane they first appeared as clouds glittering in the moonlight. We landed in La Paz (actually El Alto which is kinda like a suburb of La Paz), and we went through the customs without any problems. They didn’t really seem to care as long as we paid the visa fee. Dr. Centellas met us in the airport and we took two taxis (we had a lot of bags) to our hotel. We saw a little bit of El Alto and La Paz as our driver madly dashed in between lanes and ran traffic lights. We arrived at our hotel at about 5:30ish, had some coca tea (a very common drink in Bolivia), and went to bed in order to be up and ready for adventure in a few hours.
