Bolivia: "I´m pretty sure I have these in my backyard" - Paige Rudolph

First and foremost, I´m sitting across from three very attractive professional Bolivian Football (soccer) Players. Despite their good looks, they are computer hogs and wear way too much cologne. I´m trying to make out what they say, but unfortunately my spanish is patchy.

But on to more important things... for instance, yesterday´s events. Friday afternoon we left La Paz to stay the night at a mission center. From there we would leave for our "hike" on Saturday morning. I feel my ideas and feelings would best be expressed through list form. These are the highlights of the day, David Letterman style: 

10. Traveling to Isle de Sol: a ferry ride in a boat that looked like it was made 80 years ago, a windy and curvy drive, an altitude 2,000 feet higher than La Paz, another 2 hour boat ride...(I lost my wallet somewhere in here)

9. Isle de Sol (Island of the Sun), was rainy, cold, and grey

8. El Museo de Isle de Sol: we still aren´t sure what happened here... It was a small room filled with artifacts. My good friend Paige is pretty sure she has the same rocks in her backyard

7. 45 minute boat ride to the starting point for our hike: this may have been the worst 45 minutes of my life. Imagine the rockiest boat ride possible, and multiply it by 10. By God´s grace, no one got sick... but there were many close calls. Students sitting on the "roof" of the boat were planning which way they would swim when the boat tipped over

6. The 1200+ stairs: instead of a gradual 3 hour hike, we did the 45 minute stair climb... most of us still felt like we were on the boat from hell. We ate at a resturaunt at the top, then walked back down

5. Another boat ride: I hate boats

4. 3 minutes to get "dinner": pringles, stale candy

3. the rest of our travel: another ride in the 80 year old boat, narrowly escaping a torrential downpour, a long drive back to the mission to gather our things, a drive back to the hotel that felt like an eternity

2. having to paying to use bathrooms that don´t have toilet paper or water

and the top highlight of the day....

1. we laughed the whole time

Climbing into bed has never been so sweet...

Football players are filtering in, and the smell is suffocating. I think I´m going to head outside to soak up our last day´s worth of sun.

Leigh Anne