Another typical Bolivian story

So I was scheduled to have an interview with Leonilda Zurita Vargas, the MAS senator from Cochabamba. We were supposed to meet at a MAS building at 6pm en punto, so we showed up 15 minutes early just to be sure. But when 6:05 rolled around, the senator's assistant came out to tell us the senator was asleep. "But when she wakes up, she'll still see you." The assistant said she didn't want to wake her up because the senator had a big trip to Tarija the next day. We waited around for about 20 minutes, and then decided to try and reschedule for next week, which didn't actually happen, but we'll cross our fingers I guess. This is starting to become typical, that something really screwy happens - like getting shuffled off to an interview with an engineer who doesn't know much about what I wanted to ask and couldn't say anything even if he did; or just getting shuttled around the phone tree because no one wants to deal with me (they have a strategy for this even if I show up in person). I have one week left in La Paz before I return to Peru for a little while, and I'm starting to feel like I'm not going to get anything done that I was hoping to. I didn't hear back from the PR woman for the office of the Minister of Hydrocarbons (who said she would call us back with an interview time with the vice-minister), I still haven't nailed down any opposition party interviews, I still want to interview an economist from a university (I have some names and numbers but nothing else yet), I'm still hoping to interview a senior MAS lawmaker... I'm not exactly making stellar progress.

I took the weekend off, because no one is around to answer their phone on the weekend anyways. After my morning ritual of making a bunch of phone calls and getting lots of non-answers, I went back to Coroico with Perttu, his girlfriend Sonia, and Sonia's friend Alex.

On the drive out through the lunar landscape of the high altiplano, I actually noticed a lot of stuff I hadn't before, like small mines dotting the hills, small plots of agriculture on 55-degree angles, and scores of some sort of vulture - they seemed to be keeping an eye on our bus, just waiting for us to go over the edge. I saw several keeping sentry just next to the road, and several more flew over our bus. They were big, black, scruffy-looking birds with white heads and red beaks, and they didn't seem nervous at all being near our vehicle. I guess when your business is death, it doesn't scare you so much. Kind of ominous.

Another thing I hadn't noticed before were the buildings on the edge of La Paz: they look half-finished, but if you look closely you'll notice that most of them are inhabited - even if corrugated metal is the only thing to cover the windows of the un-roofed brick building.

It was fun to be back in Coroico; the weather is so much nicer than in La Paz, even though it's just a couple hours away, and it's just a great place to relax. We hiked out to some waterfalls, laid out by the pool, played cards and pool, spied hummingbirds and big blue butterflies the size of a hand, and ate, and ate, and ate (it's one of the main activities when you're just laying around). One of the waterfalls we went to was really cool; it had carved out a large stone bowl where the water impacted, and you could stand on the edge and watch the spray swell around the sides and shoot back up, half again the height of the waterfall (which was about 100 feet - the waterfall, not the spray). It was like being in a mini-typhoon. We also went up to the Esmeralda for drinks, and I saw Fernando again. He acted like he didn't recognize me, or maybe he didn't want to talk to me, or maybe he just didn't know what to say. It's hard to tell with that guy.

I'm back in La Paz, and have until Friday to sort stuff out. Another round of unproductive phone calls this morning; Martijn and I are going to go in person back to the National Congress building, the office of the Minister of Hydrocarbons, YPFB, and Universidad San Andres this afternoon. Hopefully that will be more productive. On the phone, if the person isn't actually there, nothing will actually happen, no matter how many times the secretary says they will "deliver the message" or that they'll "call back." Most people just don't care that much - I think only if I bug them enough and they want to stop the annoyance will anyone agree to see me.