it’s really nice to come back to christmas lights and candy canes and snow and my warm cozy bed, and I’m so happy to see my friends and to know that they missed me so much. I got to eat pulled pork barbecue tonight and I’m able to walk up hills without dying because I’m not at frickin altitude anymore, and I can drink water straight from the sink without putting frickin iodine in it. sometimes I feel like Bolivia was all a dream and it’s so strange to think that technically yesterday I watched Return of the King in our hotel room in La Paz (we finished it at 4:07 am) and said goodbye, possibly for the last time to some people. I miss everyone so much it physically hurts and last night I read all the letters they wrote me, and it made me cry. I fell completely in love with some people in particular, so much, it hurts so much.
i should really start writing down my journal entries on here but i keep forgetting to bring my notebook to the internet cafe. i left cochabamba yesterday and i´ve also had the flu which really sucks, but i´m sort of better now. i´m at least happy again after having a freak depression episode that lasted four days. today we went climbing at some red rocks (actually everyone else climbed and i just watched because i was too sick) but i still had a good time lying in the sun and eating empanadas. tomorrow we´re going to a women´s prison here in la paz and we´re going to play volleyball and soccer with them, so i really hope i´ll feel up to it. also did i tell you i got locked in a bathroom for 12 minutes last week? it was so embarrassing, and then one of my friends fell through a window and shattered it to pieces. it was the funniest thing i´ve ever seen in my whole life. actually that´s not true. there are a thousand other stories i have which are too long to tell here. but trust me, it´s been quite a trip so far. there´s only one person in my group who i actually hate, the rest are pretty wonderful. soon we´re going to hike to the amazon, through the yungas, and i don´t know what next.
boliva-peru game was terrific yesterday! i had such a great time even though it was hot. the bolivians seemed so happy that a bunch of gringos were supporting them! we also went to a planetarium and valle de la luna. great weekend in la paz and back to cochabamba tonight!!
i love living in tiquipaya, bolivia! i´m learning spanish like crazy - i came here knowing only hola and gracias and now i can almost hold a real conversation. my host mom cooks amazing food all the time and i´ve gained back all the weight i lost from being sick. i live with a lot of chickens, ducks, guinea pigs and cows. we make our own cheese from cow milk and every day for breakfast i drink some warm purple concoction supposedly made from corn. today i´m taking an overnight bus to la paz to see the soccer game between bolivia and peru tomorrow! i bought a bolivian jersey and i´m so excited to be as obnoxious as possible. i´ve made really, really good friends here. for possibly the first time since 5th grade, i´m hanging out with a bunch of straight boys and having so much fun. í´m studying medicinal plants and spiritual healing with kallawaya shamans and yesterday i lit coca leaves on fire and ate them. i´ve chewed so much coca and it´s so weird to think that coca is illegal back home. it´s a great plant, possibly my new favorite.
hola from peru! i´m not dead. i´m having a beautiful time here. i hiked machu picchu at sunrise. i went to a remote and almost inaccesible village in the peruvian mountains where i lived in a one room stone hut with a twelve year old, ate potatoes three times a day, and witnessed the sacrifice of a llama. i helped skin the corpse and then i consumed its intestines in some soup. i went clubbing in cusco. i hiked to 5000 meters and took off my shirt at the summit. i had diarrhea for four days. i´m learning spanish! i swam in hot springs and bathed in the urabamba river. i walked through a mining blockade. and i still have more than two months left on this gorgeous continent! tonight i´m headed back to bolivia and then i´ll be in cochabamba. i know a lot of you are sending me letters. i will get them soon!!! i will try to write back!! i can´t wait to get them when i get to cochabamba! i miss you all so much!!!
My last night at home - we went out for Indian food! And on the way home there were stars and crickets and a purple cloud that looked like a king’s crown.
I absolutely want to live in my blog right now. Rain, fog, white walls and empty beaches. I wish I could wear a big cozy sweater and listen to waves and count pelicans.
I am tired of melting in the summer heat. I am tired of road construction and five o clock traffic. I am tired of being lonely and I’m tired of being stuck in a place where I no longer have any reason to be. I’m so ready to step onto that plane and fly away south. On Thursday, I will be out of here and you won’t be seeing much of me until December.
P.S. If you want to write to me while I’m in Bolivia, I’d be forever grateful to receive a letter from you, just ask me for the address.
things that I think are magical
- morning dewdrops and mist
- the sound a wind chime makes on a cool evening
- very old trees, and ancient woodlands
- sunrises over mountains
- the way hair looks underwater
- pan flute music
- the ocean and the sea
- moonlight on falling snow
- the bluish light of dusk
- the call of loons
- silence
- flowers that catch raindrops
- insect wings
- ancient castles and cathedrals
- the sound of a coin dropping into a wishing well
- luna moths
- volcanic eruptions
I wish for cupcakes. I wish for green mountains. I wish for peace of mind. I wish for cool weather and autumn scents. I wish for gardens and dusk and quiet.
goodnight
hummm, my room smells like jasmine incense
