I thought I would make a cultural update today. In Bolivia the main modes of public transportation are Micros (buses), Trufis (vans), and Taxi Trufis (station wagons or cars). You can pick up a Micro or Trufi anywhere. They all have letters or numbers either on the windshield or the roof. Nobody drives with their lights on, and barely even at night. To show you that they have room in their car still (regular taxis will do this, too) they will flash their lights at you and/or honk a few times as they near you. As an American female, I’m used to this signifying “Oh, you’re cute!” and it took me a little while to figure out what they were really doing. Another aspect that makes this process confusing is that most people (any vehicle) will honk while or before crossing an intersection, meaning, “Here I come, watch out!” because people don’t always follow traffic “laws.” Most people have scooters/mopeds, dirt bikes or motorcycles as their mode of transportation. You wouldn’t believe how many people you can fit on a dirt bike or scooter! And with children! It’s such a cultural difference. (One time I saw a man driving a motorcycle with a lady on the back, side-saddle-style, holding a baby in her arms!) There are some bicycles, too, but I think most people take public transportation. It costs 1.70 bolivianos for your bus or trufi ride (USD $0.25) and can generally ride it as long as you want. If you go to the next town over, Quillacollo, the ride usually costs around 2.30Bs. ($ 0.33). Usually, when you want to get off, you say, “The corner please,” “I’m getting off”, or “Please let me off.” In trufis you pay when you get off and larger vehicles like vans or buses you usually pay when you get on. With taxis you always make sure that it is a Radio Taxi. You can tell because it has an antenna and a company logo on the back doors. They’re safer because they actually report to an office and they have a radio so they can call HQ and get directions if they don’t know exactly where you want to go. Regular taxis are people that use their own vehicle with a taxi sticker on the windshield as their business. Most often than not, if you get into one of these taxis he will pull off, his friends will get in, with guns, and they’ll rob you, maybe beat you, maybe kill you. Unfortunately, these types of encounters with non-radio taxis are quite common (I know several Bolivians this has happened to). You could try to report the license plate number to the police, but most people do not. So usually, the safest bet is to call/order a radio taxi by calling one of the numbers (we have a company that knows our address from our phone number and my family’s been using them for years), or you can stand on a busy street corner and wait til a free one passes. This is tricky though, because the regular taxis and radio taxis have the same “taxi” sticker on their windshield and you can’t tell which is which until they are in a position where you can see their back door. If they have a logo, I wave ‘em down, but usually by the time I’m able to see the logo they have already sped by. Some slow down when they see someone waiting, and those are easier to catch.

 Most vehicles here run off of natural gas (like you have in your stove) because it is more economical, though much more dangerous, (obviously. If you crash with natural gas you will most definitely blow up!). Some vehicles, I learned, have two tanks: one for liquid gasoline and one for natural gas. I learned this when Josh’s dad took us to Chapare. As we started the assent up the mountain he pulled over, turned the car off, and turned a switch, changing the vehicle power from gas to gasoline. Apparently gasoline helps the vehicle be stronger, hence for summiting the mountain!

Here are some pictures from Google of the trufis and micros!

Here are pictures of last night’s Charla (chat) and Cena (dinner) with my “new” camera! Our resident married couple, Jeremy and Julie, presented a little chat about their volunteer experience at the Cochabamba Natural History Museum’s amphibian conservancy project. They’ve been able to solicit a scuba-diving tour from the Bolivian Navy in Lake Titicaca, to help research frogs. (Yes, Bolivia has a Navy. Long story.) We also got a “new” ping-pong table and equipment!

Ireland: Alex

 Bolivia: Piña

 Scotland: Allan

 Serenading Piña

 Hanging plants

 What.

 Australia: Laura

 Holland: Surya, Artist in Residence

 California, America (Ryan, the Director) vs Ireland (Alex)

 New Zealand: Maddeline

 California, America: Alex, Australia: Laura

 California, Kevin

 "You gonna play a different song, soon?"

 Queen Piña

 Jeremy and Julie, Vermont

 Jonathon and Jeremy's "Italian Eggs"

 Host brother, Sebastian, drawing away

 Oh, here’s my “new” camera. I guess I didn't really save much, getting a used one. I paid around $55 for mine. (380Bs). It didn’t even come with a chip or computer cord. :/ Luckily I brought a USB hookup for chips AND an extra 4G chip. It shall do.