The Good, The Bad, And La Paz

My dear friends, family and best friend Lindsay who just had a baby. (Congratulations!) A lot has happened since we last spoke. I would like to point out that I have been to a few relatively, by definition, interesting places in my travels. But I must say that La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia and highest capital city in the world, might possibly be at the top of this list for peculiarity, and for quite some time. Now, how shall I demonstrate this? Shall we start with dried Llama fetuses? The city of La Paz sits in a mountainous 'bowl' which varies in high altitudes from 3,000 - 4,100 metres above sea level. Because all these bloody houses are essentially built on nothing but dirt, and poorly constructed at that, over time many of these buildings collapse. The Bolivians being the smart, quick-witted people that they are, have come up with a winning solution to this problem. Throw a dried Llama fetus beneath your house for luck, resulting in you and your loved ones being saved from the almost certain event of your house landsliding to destruction. Why confront the problem and renovate, build a more stable building, when the alternative is so much more cost efficient? Brilliant these people are. To be quite honest with you I thought this ritual of fetuses was all fine, good and interesting until Matt put one in my bag. Swore he was only wishing me luck. What a funny man, this one is. Next we have Cholitas. The question, my friends, is not what a Cholita is. It is essentially what she can do in a wrestling ring. To the untrained eye, you would see these women color the streets of La Paz with their timid, reserved nature, and you might think nothing of it. You would see them walk around, their traditional pleated skirts drifting in the wind as they drape themselves in their vibrant mantas (shawl), bowler hats secure atop their long, flowing, black braids. But make no mistake my dearies, put them in a wrestling ring and the transformation is shocking. (Please see the end of this email for more information.) Now, let's have a thought or two dedicated to serious, nerdy facts. I found this all too interesting not to make you digest. In southwestern Bolivia there is a large lake. What's interesting about this lake is that it isn't at all. It is a dried up flat, all that is left being salt. 10, 582 sq. kilometres of it. It is entitled the Uyuni Salt Flats, and they are the largest in the world. These flats contain 10 billion tonnes of salt, but they also hold 43 percent of the world's lithium reserves. Ever wonder where electric batteries come from? These flats compose the vital component in making them. What else? Oh there is more my pretties! There are very few square km on earth which are as extraordinarily flat as these, they average a variation of only 1 metre over the entire area. When covered with water, the flats become one of the largest mirrors on earth. A large, stable surface with such strong reflection similar to that of ice sheets, making it 5 times better for calibrating the distance measurement equipment of satellites than the surface of the ocean. Yup. And lastly, back at the insanitarium, we have the most bizarre tourist attraction yet, the San Pedro jail. In a normal world, the inmates would be placed in a maximum security jail. But let's not forget this is Bolivia. There are no electric fences, no police go in or out, it is run by the inmates and their families. It is a society in itself. If this were Opera's Book Club, this would be the part where I would recommend the book: Marching Powder. Written by Rusty Young. If your legs are too weak and you can't form the strength to walk to the bookstore and buy a book, I recommend googling it just now. If you can't bring yourself to type those few words in the search engine and scroll down, then just lift your forefinger, bring your mouse over this link, put your finger down to click, and everything you need to know is right in front of you: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/americas_inside_a_bolivian_jail/html/1.stm If you can't do that, I just don't think I can help you. Oh yeah. And me and Matt went quadding. (Quad-biking if you are from anywhere outside Canada.) Sincerely, Miss Bolivia

Cholita Wrestling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-XnY-rrf3Q&feature=g-upl&context=G20de06fAUAAAAAAAAAA