Bienvenidos a La Paz, Bolivia

its 3 am and i cant sleep, so i decided, what better time to write my first blog post? i think part of adjusting to the altitude is insomnia, which is pretty awful because i am exhausted beyond belief but just cant sleep. SO, to begin my journey i will start in the miami airport where i met 4 of the 5 other people on my program. our flight was delayed so we sat around eating carol beitcher cookies and playing cards. we are all from different places: connecticut, colorado, montana, washington state, california. its going to be a great 3 months! we all get along really well and everyone is super excited to be here and explore and learn as much as we can about this country that is 1.5 times the size of texas but only has 10.5 million people living in it. after our 6 hour flight from miami, we began our descent into the andes. literally. la paz sits in a bowl in the middle of the andes. the sun wasrising when we were in the plane so the view was absolutely breathtaking of the snow capped andes. our descent in el alto, which is the sprawling city above la paz, is when it hit me that i am going to be living in bolivia for the next 4 months and could not be more excited. we went through customs, no big deal, grabbed our bags and made our way outside to the crisp, clear skies where we waited to be picked up. finally felix ( or felix the cat which he told us to call him) picked us up. to get to la paz, you have to drive down from el alto through views that literally take your breath away. the airport is at 13, 500 feet above sea level and you descend to about 12,000 feet. felix stopped at a view point and let us take pictures. we had to walk up about 15 stairs to get to the top of the view point and were completely winded, then looked around to see people around us jogging and running up this 1,500 foot incline! our goal is to do that before we leave.

soo we finally arrived at our hostel, which to be honest, ididnt expect to be that nice, but let me tell YOU... we are staying at the house of the old panamanian consul to bolivia, whose house they turned into a hostel. the place is gorgeous, it feels like a mini hotel or bread and breakfast. the food is delicious, mostly western, and the accomodations are excellent! its owned by people from denmark so all the "little things" are ikea-esque. here are some pictures of the food we had for lunch today.

the altitude hasnt really hit me very badly because of the pills i am finishing up and started before i came and because of the MASS amounts of mate de coca (coca tea) that we have been drinking. nobody feels the altitude in their body except for when we walk up like 10 stairs and are totally winded. very weird. today we had meetings all day learning about safety, the program, social norms in bolivia, etc. it has been a long day so far, but all the information has been necessary. we meet our families on wednesday for lunch and then head home with them. i have a mom and dad and a sister that is 21 and also lactose intolerant! i am living in a bohemian neighborhood with cafes, coffee shops, bookshops and health food stores galore! could they have chosen a better home for me? i also have my own room, own bathroom and and super excited to meet my new family. that is all for now, but i will write more soon!!