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 [...]

Power’s “Whispering in the Giant’s Ear,” reviewed

Whispering in the Giant’s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization by William Powers.  New York and London: Bloomsbury. 2006.  305 pp.
This book, written by a U.S. international aid worker, is a well-written, honest, warts-and-all look at Koel Kempff and other Bolivian national parks in a context of growing indigenous political power and [...]

Travels with Toddler

Despite the awful treatment we received by the AA CS reps, the flights were relatively uneventful even with an active and curious 17 month old. Flight attendants on both the ORD-MIA and MIA-VVI trips smiled and waved at Javi, told us to please ask for more juice, snacks, etc if we needed anything for [...]

Bolivian officials = helpful, polite, efficient. AA reps = FAIL

That’s right. The title is not a typo. Getting through customs in Bolivia was (relatively speaking) a breeze. Dealing with American Airlines was awful.
Our itinerary had us flying out of Chicago at 7 PM, landing in Miami at 11, overnighting in Miami, and taking the afternoon direct flight to Santa [...]