GT Fall Updates

It is time for updates on all GTers. If you contribute (or even just read us whenever we post something) please let us know where you are, what you are currently working on, what kind of posts you’d like to see on GT, and if/when you’ll be in Bolivia.
And I apologize for [...]

Back from Bolivia

We arrived back in Chicago from Bolivia yesterday. We had no problems leaving the country. Javi and I had overstayed our 30 day period by a few days, but we were not asked to pay a multa. We explained we were visiting family and the official nodded and stamped us out. [...]

As promised – Tourism Toys!

As I mentioned in a comment below, part of the on-going bicentennial celebrations here include kids’ meal toys at Pollos Copacabana celebrating various “touristic” places around La Paz. Notable is that the “tourists” are little pollitos (the chain’s mascot) and therefore should probably be read as paceños, not foreign tourists. This is important [...]

Bicentennial Symbols

The other predominant big event(s) (aside from swine flu) in La Paz right now center on bicentennial festivities.
This summer/winter is the bicentennial of cry for independence. La Paz is festooned with banners commemorating this anniversary and there are on-going cultural events to celebrate. There have been extensive building and clean up projects in the [...]

Masks, Public Health Tents, and Sweeping Closures

That is what swine flu in Bolivia looks like (here called Influenza A). About 100 cases have been reported here, mainly in Santa Cruz. There is a full-blown panic here that to a certain extent overlaps what occurred in the U.S. yet with local particularities and concerns. Overall, it appears that the [...]