The past couple weekends, I found myself in rather high territory here in Bolivia. Two weekends ago, I was in La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia, and this past weekend I climbed Mt. Tunari, the tallest mountain in the department of Cochabamba. Both are at around 4000 meters (2.25 miles).
Some people found themselves feeling the height of being in the altitude of La Paz quite a bit. I didn't so much on that one, but definitely felt ti when climbing Tunari. I guess that's the difference between being brought up to a higher altitude by an overnight bus and bringing oneself up to a higher altitude by climbing by foot. :-) But it was completely worth it. The landscape both in La Paz and from Tunari is absolutely beautiful.
Finally, as some of you may have already heard or read in the media, there is some unrest here in Bolivia between folks on the extreme right and folks on the extreme left here. (Political moderates are often a bit hard to find in Bolivia.) Some of that has broken out into violence in some parts of the country, in the region known as the "Media Luna." I am not in that part of the country. Actually, Cochabamba is quite insulated from everything that is happening there, except for the fact that the blockades that various people have set up in the Media Luna have constricted commerce in such a way that there's a shortage of beef and fuel here. So, I may be eating vegetables and taking cold showers soon...not sure. But otherwise, life is pretty tranquil here, and somewhat ironically, we're celebrating a long weekend in honor of Cochabamba's 198th birthday. But please pray for Bolivia, that the conflicts that are at hand are resolved quickly and peacefully.
