I love Bolivia! Did you know that?

I realize that my last three posts were focused on Peru, and really, given that my life is in Bolivia, I really should talk more about it, especially about La Paz. Well turns out that today I have a real genuine happy love for this country because it once again surprised me in an awesome way. This morning, as I was leaving the gym next to my house to go grocery shopping (at 8:30am, not to brag or anything), I saw that there was yet again some big commotion in the park at the corner. Last week was a huge festival with musicians on a stage for the "get your pet vaccinated" campaign. There has been some pro-Evo parties there too, and a Bolivian comic book fair. This time, it was a huge, gigantic, awesome farmer's market. As I'm going grocery shopping! One lady explained to me that they are commissioned by ... not sure... the government? the city? ... to go in different plazas and sell their really fresh produce at a lower price than the local markets. And they have everything there. I saw a lady selling brussel sprouts (not that I would buy any, but its rare here), there was a couple of fish stands and chicken ones, I bought fresh altiplano eggs (therefore not factory farms), olives, an eggplant, cereals. I swear they have everything there. I understand that it might not sound that awesome to some of you, but it's the surprise and spontaneity of it all that makes it awesome. You get to chat with the ladies, see the whole neighborhood and their dog (literally) shop around, there are toys for kids (although that's always there). It's just so festive as you are about to go do some boring errands like grocery shopping. Anyways, I just got there for the second time today, and this time I had a camera.

This first photo is a general view of the park, but most importantly, you can see my building in the background: it's the second one to the right of the picture, with some orangy brownish colors on it.
The second picture is of the carrousel (which is always there) and a few stalls with ladies selling stuff. Bear in mind that this place was really crowded, and I had my hands full of green onions, eggs, and avocadoes so I had to find a quiet, non-crowded place to put my stuff down and get my expensive camera out. I couldn't just whip it out in the middle of the action because that would be dumb and asking for trouble, so the photos are never quite as busy as they should be...

Here's a baby apparently selling a mountain of garlic (or is it onions?)

So there you have it, a slice of life in La Paz. Since we are on the subject of my life in La Paz, I figured I'd post a few pictures of our appartment, now that it is lived in and all.

Here's my messy room, although I did select the angle to show the less messy side... on the right of the picture, out of frame, is a huge pile of laundry:
Here's our living room with pretty flowers bought by Mary yesterday:
As for news, well first, most of you probably know that Wes left Bolivia last tuesday, leaving me here all aloooooooone for the next 4 months. And by alone I mean surrounded by friends, but you know, I like to be melodramatic. He told me to tell bye to people on the blog, not that any of his friends were ever warned this existed (not that I'm bitter) and my friends will, hopefully, continue to read it. But anyways, Wes says bye.

Also in the news, I am finally in the process of closing up the house and the lab in Tiwanaku and move my analysis to La Paz! I can't wait. Daily showers, access to the gym, internet whenever I want to, and surprise markets in the park. The big move is tuesday night. Then, the living room will look different because I'm bringing back another work table and a bookshelf so I'll guess this picture I just posted will be obsolete. Oups. Sorry.

And an update on the weather, it is now actually hot here. Not heat wave hot, but hot. T-shirt hot in the afternoon. When we got back from Arequipa and went to Tiwanaku, it actually snowed for two days... I'll wait while you laugh... ok? But Cesar and Delia, the couple who own the house we live in, told us it was good news because that meant that the cold was gone and the summer was starting soon. Kinda like when the groundhog sees (or doesn't see?) its shadow. We obviously didn't believe it as we were being attacked by snowflakes, but see? Two weeks later and it's really hot, even in Tiwanaku! It feels a little like spring in Montreal.

On that note, I'll leave to go have fun in the sun. Those of you in Montreal, please take care of my Wesley for me!