La Paz, Bolvia: November 2nd

Que Tal, Amigos?

Yesterday, November 2nd, Ozell and I safely arrived in La Paz, Bolivia. Sufficient to say that we are both happy to move along on our journey and out of Peru. We had to get up at 5:30 AM to be at the Cusco airport by 6:30 AM for what was supposed to be an 8:30 AM flight. Of course, even the planes in Peru do not run on schedule so we didn't take to the air until about 9:30 AM. We made it to La Paz by 10 AM, but because of fucking Georgie Porgie Pudding Pie, we had to endure an hour and a half customs bureaucracy. What that means, is that since all of my fellow Americans are such scared little children that gladly give up their constitutional rights and their national heritage that their fathers died for in order to feel like Big Daddy government will make the world safe for them, Georgie Porgie pushed radical legislation through (with the full aid of the spineless Democratic Congress) like the Patriot Act. Well one of the things that Georgie decided to do was to punish visitors from a shit load of foreign countries which had previously been able to visit the USA with just a passport. He initiated complicated and costly Visas for these countries- many of which are some of our closest allies (like Poland). Well, the Bush Crime Syndicate, also included most, if not all, of South America.

This is why Ozell and I had to pay $200 for a Brazilian visa that had to be obtained while we were still in America through one of their consulates. It also puts restrictions on when we have to enter the country for the first time which is forcing us to change our schedule and itinerary which will cause us to miss out on a large chunk of South America we originally wanted to see. Well, at least Bolivia (and we just learned Chile) will grant us visas at the port of entry. But the few Americans who were on the plane coming from Cusco, which was full of white people/gringos from all other parts of the world, got scuttled into another line at customs where we had to fill out an extensive visa request form, pay $135, and wait approximately an hour to be processed. Every other visitor was allowed to quickly go through passport control without any kind of visa or fee. We learned that we will have to endure the same discriminating treatment and pay the same hefty fee when we arrive in Chile.

Bolivia even refers to the visa and entrance fee as "Reciprocity Visa & Fee" on their official paperwork. The sad thing is that we still have it much easier than Bolivians trying to enter the USA. They have to pay $200 to attempt to get a visa, and $200 to a typical Bolivian would probably be equivilent to $2000 or more for an American. Ozell and I are not bitter at these countries which have taken retaliatory measures against America. We solely fault the American government who has openly and aggressively worked to turn America into a fascist police state and closed society.

The city of La Paz has been beautiful so far. Even though Bolivia is South America's poorest nation, the buildings and roads appear to be significantly better here than in Peru. Of course there are shanty towns, but the setting for the city is amazing. It, itself, sits above 12,000 feet, but it is ringed by mountains that range from 14,000-16,000 feet. This provides snow capped peaks of the Andes as the backdrop for this city of nearly 2 million people.

We have not done much site seeing yet so I don't have many pics. I'll upload them when we have taken more. The one attached to this blog post is of part of the city as we are coming down from the airport which sits above 14,000 feet.

Cheers to you all,

Sean