Updates on drama, micro and macro

We'll start with the micro-drama of the hotel, since it's simpler. So today I was going to paint dark brown lines along the corners of the room I'm working on, per Fernando's request. Originally I had planned to mask out the lines, to make them look nice. But after my conversation with the mistress last night, I decided that would take too much time. I ended up just freehanding the lines, which as you can imagine, looked kind of shitty. But it sure was mas rapido! It didn't actually look as bad as I thought it was going to, but it didn't look very professional either. Actually, it kind of gives the impression that there are logs running the span of the room, a situation I consider salvageable; more salvageable than, say, looking like some punk with a dried-up oil brush got high on the paint fumes before starting work. Anyways, the first time I saw Fernando today, he said "what happened with the lines? They're all crooked." That they are, and that's because your wife keeps telling me to hurry up, and to be gone by New Years. He replied that "oh, she's always like that," as if I should just ignore her regularly insulting me (that is, every time she says anything to me). Then he quickly changed the subject, adding "well, what should we do [about the lines]?" Well, if your wife is always like that, then I think what should be done is a divorce. I don't know or care about the lines. Seriously, most of the guests I meet bring her up, and not in a positive way. She's downright awful. Today a girl told me about how she tried to say if she and her brother wanted to stay in the dorm, they had to pay for all four beds. You'd think someone who runs a hotel would understand the concept of a dorm: if you pay for all four beds, you don't have a dorm, you have a room without a bathroom and a bunch of extra beds. The whole point of a dorm is that you might have other people put in with you; that's why they're cheaper.

So that was a fair outburst for Fernando, being a quiet Dutch-German kind of guy, but he hasn't said anything to me yet. A couple hours after I wrote my last post I remembered I have two packages on the way to Coroico, so I haven't talked to him about leaving yet. Tomorrow I plan to ask the post office if the boxes could be forwarded to La Paz.

There's a guy behind me trying to burn photos from his camera, and I guess it's not working, because he's cursing loudly, giving melodramatic sighs, and hitting the mouse buttons really hard. He just said "dude, this computer fucking sucks," obviously addressing me (the only other person in the room), like maybe I would chime in with "it sure does!" I haven't actually seen him, but I know I probably wouldn't want to spend any time with him. Another guy that seems too stressed out to travel.


So now onto the macro-drama of Bolivian politics: the reason this one is trickier is because today's La Razon article is hard for me to understand even after it's been translated: "In the middle of that panorama, the Government gave guarantees for the accomplishment of the encounter, in the measurement in which these do not harm the law." Got it? From what I can tell, the departments want to be able to have regional elections as opposed to presidential appointments for certain offices; be able to introduce departmental legislation; and to control the extraction of natural resources (I don't know if this means total control or what, but I doubt that would happen). Evo Morales has continued to insist there will be no military siege, and has said that he would allow some sort of regionalism to take form - within the context of the Bolivian legal framework. Three of the four departments today have said that they will allow the movement for independence to take form within the Constitutional Assembly, which is currently drafting a new constitution; Morales has refused to reinstate the 2/3 majority rule the Assembly was voted in with (and probably won't).

I think that's kind of where the situation is at. Generally, it sounds like both sides (particularly the departments), are demonstrating willingness to compromise.


Did everyone hear that the baiji (a blind, albino river dolphin), from China, is extinct? The government was fully backing the international expedition to survey current population levels, because they thought they could bring the dolphin back and make themselves look good, like they did with the panda. Man, I bet someone got fired and exiled/executed for that one. One thing that annoyed me about the article, which seems common in the media, is their discussion of free-market economics as something that destroys the environment. That's usually true, but the wording media uses tends to imply that state-controlled or some other form of economic development is harmless to, or good for, the environment. You know, all those green projects the Chinese undertake, like state-owned coal power plants that run at 6% efficiency (modern coal gasification plants can approach 65% efficiency; half of the mercury that makes many Minnesota lakes unfishable comes from other countries, primarily from coal-fired Chinese power plants), or the Three Gorges Dam.

Hey, speaking of coal and energy, anyone interested in a really good alternative energy blog should go here.

Speaking of tacit slander in the media, check out this article on Saudi reaction to the situation in Iraq, and how the Saudis are really trying to met things out and help the situation, while the Iranians are busy plotting the destruction of puppies and Freedom. Like all that freedom in Saudi Arabia. Hey American policy makers, there's a word for not caring about Israel having nukes (even after they finally admitted it) but tearing out hair because the crazy towel-heads in Iran getting them: racist. For the admission part, see a fairly intelligent discussion from the fairly intelligent Christian Science Monitor here, for more Iranian fear-mongering surrounding the same issue, look here, as MSNBC spins the story to highlight Iran's hostility towards Israel and calls Olmert's comments only a "confession" not a Confession. Not that I have a lot of respect for a country which is currently hosting a conference to determine whether or not the holocaust occurred, but neither do I have much respect for a country like Israel which kills kids and then tells Desmond Tutu he can't look into it. I admit that Iran would be somewhat likely to exercise the nuclear option if they felt pressed, but I feel the same way about Israel - since when has that country EVER restrained its use of force? "Oh shit, we're getting kicked out of Lebanon again, drop a bunch of cluster bombs on the way out. For the kids." I mean Tony Blair is still talking about the need for a nuclear "deterrent" and Iran has nuclear-armed Israel to the west, Russia to the north, China and Pakistan and India to the east, and Diego Garcia/Red Sea-based Americans and British to the south. I'd want a bomb too.

OK, so much for my half-baked shakedown of world news. Good night, and good luck.