What I’ve learned so far:

1.) La Paz sits at just over 13,000 feet elevation in a steep valley or “bowl” in the Andes, so you’re inevitably going up or down, but never flat. If its getting late, and your walking, only go to places uphill, so that way when its dark, you’ll be walking downhill to get home and thus you’ll be able to walk quickly in the dark instead of going uphill where you’d be a huffing, puffing, easy target for ne'er-do-wells.

1a.) The same applies if you’re traveling by minibus. Always choose the route or the corner stop uphill from the street you want to get to instead of downhill.

2.) Also, when you’re in the minibus (Toyota van), and a seat further away from the door opens up, you have to take it. I know it sucks to be farther in, but the thing is you have to make space for everyone entering and they’ll all yell at you if you don’t scoot over. Don’t worry, they’ll let you by when you need to get off.


3.) Lastly about the minibus, when going up really steep streets, try not to be the last person to get in, because they’ll kick you out if the van can’t make it up the hill. Today, I was in a minibus with only one seat left and this woman and child tried to get in and everyone screamed, “No!” Normally the minibus has both a driver and a person who yells out the side door to tell everyone where the bus is going, collects the money (20cents), opens and closes the sliding door and gives up his or her seat to hang out the sliding door when necessary. This bus, however, didn’t have this second person, which meant this woman with a baby in her lap would be sitting next to the door instead of the “operator”. So I thought the driver wouldn’t let her in because he was afraid it wasn’t safe for the baby to sit in her lap next to the crappy sliding door. So I asked the woman sitting next to me, “Porque de la bebe?” And she said, “No, its because we wont make it up Santa Cruz Street if they get in.” We did eventually make it up Calle Santa Cruz, but it’s not an exaggeration to say, “barely”.

3a.) I will say that Bolivia (maybe just the city of La Paz) has something on Central America, in that at least there are addresses here and its not all that bologna about going to where the clock store used to be then two blocks toward the lake then one block toward the volcano or whatever.

4.) Now about language: You already stick out, you’ve got nothing to lose, and sounding funny is better than being lost, so just ask. And when you have to use anything other than your first language on the telephone, give yourself a pat on the back afterwards, no matter how it went, because that’s tough.

5.) On showers: try to convince yourself that even if you are risking hypothermia, you do actually have to bathe, preferably more than once a week. And you can try to do it in the middle of the day when its supposedly warmer, but it doesn’t really matter. The best thing is to turn on your tiny, inefficient, energy-sucking space heater in your room before going to the shower, shut the door so the heat stays in and then run to your room after the shower to change clothes where it’s a few degrees warmer.

6.) Academics are really responsive when you say your doing “research,” everyone else seems more comfortable, when you’re “just wondering.” (Not sure if this is some breech of ethics.)

7.) Just because someone is anti-American, they usually aren’t anti-you, so hear them out and try to enjoy their company.