I *finally* made it out of La Paz, after a hectic day of running around at the last minute: my footage from Canal 7 was supposed to be ready at 5pm, but it was closer to 6, and I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork before they would give it to me. I was trying to make the 7:30 bus, so it was pretty tight. I had to run home, finish packing, make a hasty good-bye to Perttu, and rush to the bus station and hope they still had a ticket for me. They did, but I realized too late it was on a 42-seat bus instead of a 36-seater. That means a lot less comfort, which matters on a 16-hour ride (although I guess I really shouldn't complain after reading about Tim's experiences in Africa).

And since I was so late, I didn't exactly get my pick of seats - I was downstairs next to the bathroom, on one of the non-functioning windows. I was sitting next to an annoying lady who wouldn't stop asking me inane questions: is that a radio? What is it? What's it called? Do you like Bolivian food? Look, there's the handicraft market. Americans hate Hugo Chavez, don't they? When she went to dig something out of her bag, I got out my crosswords and started doing a puzzle. But that didn't stop her: do you make more money in the government or working in private industry in the United States? And since she was twice my size, I guess she felt entitled to push me off the armrest and hang into my seat. And she snored. She's my new best friend.

The window situation got bad when we started to descend and temperature broke 90: it kind of turned the bus into a sweat-box for the people in the front row who didn't have windows. But when the sun came up, and we stopped for breakfast, I swear I stepped off the bus into Thailand. The landscape had changed so much from the altiplano: there were palms and thatch-roofed huts dotting the landscape, red tropical dirt, little motos zipping about, and fresh papaya for breakfast. And the heat plus the humidity was the kicker - I was really back in Asia. It was surreal.

It changed when I got to Santa Cruz though; arriving here brought me back to Bolivia. Actually, I pictured Santa Cruz differently: this is supposed to be the richest city in the country, the seat of commerce and export-agriculture, but it's not so impressive. It seems like fancy cafes and boutiques dotted sparsely amidst run-down or abandoned lots covered with graffiti. Maybe it's just another sign of the extreme disparity in Bolivia, but Cochabamba seemed more affluent. Also, Cochabamba had street lights - Santa Cruz doesn't, and in some ways its even scarier than La Paz for pedestrians. Since there are no signals, even when one side of traffic can't go, they still creep forward, constantly looking for a break in traffic to make their move across. And, most of the traffic is made up of buses, which are big and scary and block your view; and motorcycles, which zip between the buses and are loathe to use their breaks.

I haven't been able to find the friend of my cousin's I was supposed to meet; so far no luck at the address or phone she gave. So I'm in a hostel in a bleak, sauna-like dorm room and a nice courtyard with hammocks, and one other cool feature: when I came out of the bathroom (boy did I need a shower after that bus ride), there was a toucan in the bush outside, not more than four feet from me. It had a bright orange beak with a big blue spot about six inches long, bigger than its body (yes, just like in the pictures and froot-loop commercials), and large eyes ringed with blue, and then with white. And it had its head cocked, staring at me; opening its beak to show me its weird, straw-like tongue (and to give the impression it could crack the bones in my fingers like a nut if it wanted, I thought). But I guess they're friendly enough - there were actually several hanging around the courtyard, and no one else seemed to take much notice.

Of course, in typical Bolivian fashion, the owners of the place manage to ruin whatever ambiance was created by putting a TV in the middle of it all and having the volume up really loud, all the time.

So here I am in Santa Cruz. It's hot here. I got some ice cream; it stopped the sweating for a while and was pretty much the best thing I've ever had in my whole life. All I want to do is sleep. I haven't been in real heat for a while.