Continuing observations from the city of Peace

I made it back to La Paz without any hassle at the boarder - although I hear they're starting to harass Americans about getting their stamps extended, because a new visa rule is supposed to go into effect "sometime in March" (read: whenever the Bolivian government gets its shit together). I talked to a girl who wanted her stamp extended, and the immigration office asked what she was doing here. She said she was just hanging out and taking Spanish classes, to which they replied: "oh, so you're student. That means you should have a student visa, and you're here illegally." Man, bureaucracies. She didn't get the stamp.

My ride back to La Paz was in a "genuine Toyosa," and was supposed to cost Bs. 12. I handed him Bs. 15 and said (yes, in Spanish), "it's 12, right?" He said yes, and then went to walk away. So I asked if he had change, and he said no. When we got to La Paz, I asked again about the change, and he said "the ride costs Bs. 15." Oh. My white mistake. I guess I'm still getting used to being the guy to take advantage of. Although I did learn a new phrase, "ya pues," which basically means "oh, please!" and is to be used when you know you're getting ripped off. It's worked wonders with the taxis so far.

I'm staying with a Finnish guy, Perttu, in his apartment in Sopocachi, which is pretty much the swankiest part of the central city (the REALLY nice places - and most of the expats - are in Zona del Sur - the South Zone). In other words, I'm totally spoiled. The apartment is in a secure building and has two bedrooms (so I get my own), 2.5 baths (so I get my own of those, too!), and is owned by a family who is living with their daughter in Santa Cruz (where she's in school), so it's totally furnished. It has kind of a pseudo-Victorian look, with that sort of dark curvy wood furniture (that looks nicer than it feels - anyone know what I'm talking about?), fake columns, and a white/pale pink color scheme. We have a full kitchen, so if I feel like dusting off my cooking hands (it has been four months) I can try and make some bastardized version of something I'm missing from home (the ingredients here will almost definately be a little bit off). The most noticeable things missing are good lighting (which I'm convinced is nonexistent here - the entryway outside of the apartment doesn't even have lights) and central heating/air (there's no form of heating). And the gas appliances run from a large tank in the kitchen, nothing central. Other than that, it's pretty on par with a nice apartment back home.

Perttu and I get along really well; he is 27 and a partner in his own IT company with two others. They take turns taking 5 months off to travel, and so he's in La Paz. He has a sort of quiet politeness that I (in my limited exposure) have found common to Scandinavians, but we both like to banter about travel and politics and stuff.

Project status: I had two prime suspects for translators, one who I got from Ismael, the other who I found on couchsurfing and does phone translation work for the CIA (but is is The Company, or something other CIA?). But I haven't been able to get ahold of the former, and the latter is in the hospital with some sort of stomach problem (he sounded really bummed he couldn't help me, and I felt bad for even calling). So that was a bunch of suck. I spent the rest of the day trying to do research which didn't get very far: I was going to compare Bolivia to a different country that had run a similar nationalization program, but although I learned a lot about hydrocarbon politics in Venezuela yesterday, I decided that to really explain an economic program you have to know the whole political story behind it. In other words, it would be a whole separate movie. So instead, I just want to contrast Bolivia's tax rates on hydrocarbons to other countries, even though this is a painfully blunt comparison since it just doesn't mean much without considering a bunch of other factors. So if anyone knows where to get that data, let me know, cause I haven't been able to find it (Venezuela charges 50% tax and 30% royalty, but Bolivia - for some strange reason - has opted simply for an 83% tax, so I don't know if they can really be compared. A tax is on profits, and is easily manipulated by the company being taxed (Standard Oil used to just sell its oil at cost to its subsidiaries, which means zero profit and zero tax); a royalty looks at what the world price of oil is, and takes a percentage of that price for each barrel pumped. It's simpler and easier to monitor. Someday I'll ask a policy maker why they opted for taxes instead of royalties).

BUT, I went with Perttu to his Spanish school today, and found a guy who said he will work with me as a translator. Score! But will any government offices be open tomorrow, which is Saturday? I'm anxious to get going! Oh yeah, and I looked into Spanish classes there. Having my friend Jason around (who took a year of Spanish before coming and then a couple months of classes in Costa Rica) has humbled me. So now I need someone to visit who speaks no Spanish. I'm supposed to get an email from the school about scheduling and stuff.

Walking through the street today, I saw a guy about my age with headphones on singing Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" very loudly and very seriously. It's a good kareoke jam, actually. If you're not familiar, allow me to enlighten:


Aaaaaare you gonna take me home tonight
Aaaaaaah down beside that red firelight
Aaaaaare you gonna let it all hang out
Fat bottomed girls
You make the ROCKIN world go round!


Did you know that, as far as I can tell, America is the only place you can say "drugs" and mean something from your doctor or pharmacy? I'm still sick, and people give me strange looks when I say "I'm going to go take some drugs and go to bed." Although some cocaine would probably clear my nose right up...