Feliz Dia Mamita

I´m here. All travel connections went well. Only confusion was navigating the vast Miami airport to find my plane in the opposite end of the airport and then checking email on one of those wretched machines that look like phones. Don´t bother trying those unless you are truly desperate for a necessary email like I was. Scrolling on a pint sized screen with your finger only having it keep jumping from the page you want to an AOL advertisement. What a joke. Who needs it anyways!? Flight to Bolivia went well. We touched down in La Paz for about an hour. I did not really feel any altitude effects but there were two people next to me who needed oxgyen and they were Bolivian natives. Curious. La Paz is 12,000 feet. Onto Santa Cruz where I was greeted bye Alia (YEAH!) and Fernando and Gordo who had driven all through the night to meet me. Alia was excited because she had spotted a Burrito place in Santa Cruz so my first meal was not Bolivian but Mexican Burritos.We took off early Thurs morn arriving in Cochabamba last night after a long but beautiful drive from Santa Cruz. Approx 8 hour drive through farming valleys on up into the mountains and jungle and down again. We stopped for lunch in a small village at resturante Pisces with yummy local river caught fish served with yucca (sp!) a potatoe like veggie. Driving, driving driving... Small huts and coca leaves drying out on blankets. Stops along the way to pay policia tolls. At every toll women selling oranges or sandwiches and hardboiled eggs. High up in the mountains we stopped for bannanas. Red bannanas. The sweetest I have ever tasted.

This morning I spent at Alia´s school. The Walt Disney school a bilungual school where she is teaching English to Kindergartners. I tried to teach the children the word ´rowdy´but they were so wound up and rowdy they did not have the concentration to learn it. Patty cake went over so much better. They were all keyed up for a special Mamita event. Today is Mothers Day in Bolivia and a planned presentation for the mothers. Alia had taught them a song and a poem in English that she wrote for the performance. There were also songs in Spanish and dances. Typical kindergarten performance....some of the kids singing,some waving to parents, some kids crying, some not moving mouthes at all, but every one of them completely adorable. I Took lot´s of photos. After the performance we all had Coca Cola and Saltenas. Saltenas are deep fried potatoe and meat filled pies. We are thinking about going to Sucre this weekend. Not sure. Depends on buses and other things. All well here.