La Paz, Bolivia: November 4th

Hola Punks!

 

Just a short blog post to highlight some La Paz observations so far.  First, I unfortunately lost my main ATM card at the airport in La Paz.  The good news is that I was able to use my computer and Skype account to easily call the card in as lost and start the process of getting a new card issued.  This would have been so much more difficult in my past travels which would have required phone cards and standing at public phone booths with loud background noise for multiple phone calls.  Now the hard part is going to be how to get my new card to me when I am in South America.  The bank will send it to Ozell's sister, Rena, who is acting as our bureaucratic clearing house back in the States.  Thank you, Rena!  This trip would have already been so much more difficult without you.  :)   The idea would be for her to send it to a FedEx or DHL or whatever office in a city in which we would be at in the future, but as you may have ready from Ozell's post a few days ago, deliveries to this continent seem to be completely erratic and unreliable.  We'll see how it goes.

 

I walked around the city of La Paz a little more- actually a fair distance especially considering the elevation here and the local elevation changes.  I felt pretty good.  I have uploaded those pictures to the photo album.

 

One of the big items that has come in is that I may have a large ($2300) tax liability due to my company stock in PDC that needs to be paid before December 31st.  At least the CFO sent out an a-mail to former employees notifying us of this liability and that tax rules require payment by December 31st instead of April 15th, 2009.  I don't know why.  I don't know anything about it.  I have to contact the CFO and make sure that I can still expect a dividend check for the same amount this spring which has been the case in the past.  If it is just a clean swap of money over a handful of months, then fine.  If this is some sort of tax bullshit loss I have to eat on my own, then I am going to be pissed.  Because this doesn't even account for my capital gains taxes or my interest on my money market accounts which I will have to pay out of pocket this spring.

 

I have decided not to do the mountain bike ride down the "Road of Death" which is not a misnomer.  I can't get into it now, but I think you can google it or search for "Gravity Assisted Tours, La Paz", and you will be able to read more.  It sounds like a once in a life time opportunity, but for certain circumstances, it doesn't look possible.  Ozell and I do plan on attending another local activity which is equally unique and potentially dangerous.  It is not listed on the official tour guides or tour books, but we have met many people who have recommended it- with qualifiers.  Again, you will be able to look it up on the web.  I don't want to give anymore information until we actually have completed it so that people who care for me like my mom do not overly worry.  Lol  Well, that last sentence will probably worry her if she read it.  Lol

 

Well, that is all for now.  I am going to write one last blog post tonight as we are watching the election returns.

 

If McCain wins, then I look forward to returning to my country after the trip to either a civil war or martial law.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean