"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict” - William Channing
Apparently, altitude and I are not agreable. I felt fine in the morning when I fell asleep. When I woke up a few hours later, I had a huge headache. I tried to walk to lunch with everybody else; this turned out to be a poor choice. I have never passed out in my life, but with every step darkness threatened to overwhelm me. I tried to order some water and fruity flavored ice-cream as a light lunch, but I couldn’t keep that down for long. We came back and I went straight to sleep. I couldn’t keep anything down, ever water, until later in the evening. Eventually, I managed to drink some water and some chamomile tea and fall alseep. When I woke up in the morning, I wondered how did my sickness magically dissapear overnight. I was weak and shaky from not eating for twenty-four hours, but I wanted to run and shout with the joy of feeling good. After some light breakfast and a shower (which doesn’t have a fan and, therefore, turns into a swamp each time someone showers), we went out to change some money and buy some groceries. One dollar equals about seven bolivianos, so we all walked out of the money-exchange house with a giant wad of cash. However, it was hard to find a place to use it because we got the large bills of 200 bolivianos, and people in Bolivia, for some unknown to God reason, hoard small bills and change. You can only get change in the large grocery stores and restaurants. Everywhere else demands small monetary denominations. After exchanging our money, we went to the grocery store. I bought a huge papaya, water (no matter how much you drink in Bolivia, you are constantly dehydrated), and some other snacks for a total of 30 bolivianos or about 4-5 bucks. Apparently, if you don’t buy pre-packaged fruit in Bolivia you have to get it weighed in the back so I held up the line while the lady working the register tried to figure out what to do with the dumb gringo. Eventually, she sent some other people to get my fruit weighted and stickered. All is well that works out well. Afterwards, we went to have lunch at a ice-cream/sandwich shop in the Prado (downtown). I ate a plate of grilled beef and veggies that kinda reminded me of the fajita plates in the Mexican restaurants. We walked a little around the Prado, saw the presidential and the vice-presidential palaces, learned a little about Bolivian history, and took an old school bus back home. On the way home, we passed about five or six monuments dedicated to the Pacific War and the Chaco War. Yes, they are both a very big deal in Bolivia. So is the access to the sea, which Bolivia lost more than a century ago to Chile but still wants back. They have a navy till this day. Near our hotel, there are a Bolivian Naval Ministry and an Argentinian Ministry for the support of the Bolivian right to the sea. After lunch and a short break at the hotel, Dr. Centellas took us to the market to buy our cell phones. We bought the cheapest version with 30 credits on it for about 30 bucks. Not bad for a day’s work. Then, we went back to the hotel once more and passed out in our warm and comfy beds. Several other girls and I went up to have dinner and enjoy intellectual disscussion with our professors. We went back down to our rooms around ten, and I promptly fell asleep, exhausted after a long day.
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