🇧🇴 La Paz, Bolivia & La Amigdalitis Blues - 04.08.23
*Leonard Cohen : There is a beautiful moment in the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna. The general. The great general. He's standing in his chariot. And all the chariots are readied for war. And across the valley, he sees his opponents. And there he sees not just uncles and aunts and cousins, he sees gurus, he sees teachers that have taught him; and you know how the Indians revere that relationship. He sees them. And Krishna, one of the expressions of the deity, says to him, "you'll never untangle the circumstances that brought you to this moment. You're a warrior. Arise now, mighty warrior." With the full understanding, that they've already been killed, and so have you. "This is just a play. This is my will. You're cuaght up in the circumstances that I determine for you. That you did not determine for yourself. So, arise, you're a noble warrior. Embrace your destiny, your fate, and stand up and do your duty."*
- “I’m your Man,” Leonard Cohen
Well… I can untangle some circumstances to what brought me to this moment. I had an Airbnb guest come through my Denver home a couple of years ago that was from Bolivia. She wanted to go hiking and I happened to be going to Eldorado canyon that day… so we went... great conversation on life on the way up… and of course, Eldorado canyon is all kinds of awesome. It was a great day and great connection. She told me I have to go to her home town La Paz, Bolivia and hike the Andes… I would love it. And that my friends, is what brought me to this moment.
I worked my way South through Mexico and into Argentina… then to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia… and finally here. Long haul… problem was, that I contracted a bacterial infection, some version of strep throat while I was in Santa Cruz. I don’t know if was the bulk food place, or my very unhygienic apt #1, or the swimming pools at the Biocentro Park… but I woke up one morning with body aches, “nope… this is not good.” Then waking up the morning after arriving in La Paz, having to track down a doctor because I could barely swallow. “I know what I’m in for…”
I did find a doctor, was given meds and was told to stay in for 2-3 days. I was tested for COVID and was negative yet again. I have managed to escape that honor to date, knock on my wooden leg, despite ten tons of close quarters in public transportation.
Want to test your Spanish language skills? Go to the farmacia with a laundry list…
Anywho, I spent most of my dreamy La Paz time in my apartment recovering from a nasty case of Amigdalitis. Now… am I disappointed that I didn’t get to see the flamingos at the Uyuni Salt Flat, or the Isla de Sol at Lake Titicaca, or ride a motorcycle on the North Yungas Rd (Death Road), or hike an alpine lake in the MF Andes Mountains, like I had planned? yeshhhhhhh!!!! It sucks!!! Totally!!! …but things happen and I thank the universe for getting me to this point and to this place. Thanks 😘 jerk.
I did ride one of the cable car lines today. It’s not for recreation, or novelty, or to take tourists to sites… it’s public transportation. They have different and connecting lines. Like a subway. It’s $3BOB which is about .40¢ for a ticket. It’s quiet, comfortable and efficient. Why aren’t we using this system in the United States?!? String these all over San Francisco… win and win!!
The town is clean and tidy… the people are beautiful and cool. I mean… they carry this vibration. “I’m cool, she’s cool, they’re cool, we’re cool…” happy with being happy… I love it. The temperatures are mild. The air is crisp. And walking around at 11-12,000ft makes the lungs groan. What can I say… I count the moments until I return.
I skipped the earlier Santa Cruz de la Sierra story and pics… but it’ll be on my website if you want to hear about how I showed up to Bolivian immigration without a visa and yellow fever vaccination, and now have a 10 year Bolivian tourist visa that cost me $160US. My skanky apartment #1 in SCdlS in Centro Histórica that likely had not been deep cleaned since 1988 and smelled like the molds and bacteria had fermented into a new life form. And had a broken padded toilet seat, also from 1988. My BioPark visit with very loud tropical birds and a tortoise exhibit that had a bunch of tortoises just running around groaning and having sex with each other. There were supposed to be sloths around… I didn’t see any. Prolly good cuz I’d would have wanted to take one home. I’d call him Terry. Terry the sloth. BFFs. I did see a Rhea by the airport… which is a large flightless bird like an Emu. That’s crazy to me… little dinosaurs running around Bolivia.
I fly to Lima tomorrow morning at a silly early hour. Bolivia immigration needed me to have an airline ticket back to the States before they would let me in the country… so… I‘m officially on the downhill segment of this adventure. There’s Ecuador in a few days, then the long haul back to San Francisco… then… THEN… the long haul drive back to Taos. Can you believe that shit?!? I’m going back to Taos. Taos… the one in the State of New Mexico. And full circle.
#theroadbacktoTaos
That’s the name of my book… the one I was encouraged to write. Or possibly that was an overlapping Bolivian cold medicine induced hallucination I had in the early part of this week. Yeah, prolly the later… I still feel a little high from all the meds. Boop.
