Day 12-15

Our bus didnt leave till 10pm so we decided to just walk around Cusco the whole day. As you can imagine, this gave me plenty of oportunity to take lots of pictures so I was in heaven! On the trip back to La Paz we took the most luxurious transport we have taken the whole trip! We were on this overnight tourist bus from Cusco all the way to La Paz... I should explain... normally we have to take minivans that are about 7 people over capacity from one town to another, transfer to another minivan (which goes along with its own set of anoyances of having to find the proper van and haggle over the cost). Depending on the distance traveled we may have to go through this process several times. Anyway, this bus was a direct route. It had reclining seats and a tv that played in-bus movies! Everything was great until Brandy almost stepped on a baby´s head! This is Bolivia, so you can´t expect every local to make the most inteligent choices. An indiginous couple decided to lay their baby down to sleep in the isle way between us and the bathroom... not the best idea on a pitch black bus in the middle of the night!

Retuned to La Paz on Sunday. Monday we awoke and plotted our next trip. My uncle Pablo in Santa Cruz had a car in La Paz that he wanted to bring down. At the time Brandy and I thought this a great idea to drive it 16 hours cross country... What an easy and pleasant way to see Bolivia... right??? True. It was a beautiful drive and we are really happy we did it, but once again, this is bolivia and it was not without it´s own set of obstacles and scares. The number one thing to consider as a tourist driving in Bolivia is: DON´T DRIVE!!! The majority of motorists on the road don´t have licenses! They are crazy!!! The "highway" we took consisted of an extremely curvy, two lane road on cliffs with sparatic patches of missing pavement. You share this road with everything including cars, buses, huge construction trucks, donkeys pulling wagons... all while local towns people are using it as a sidewalk! As you can imagine there is alot of passing that occurs on the road. Rule of thumb is usually, only pass when you can see far enough ahead to assure a safe pass... Once again, this is Bolivia and rules do not apply!!! Countless times we approached the top of a hill or around a curve only to find a car or bus in our lane coming at us full speed or a local trying to cross the road. This was obviously not enough challenge for us young adventurers, because we left a bit too late on Monday afternoon and did the last four hours of the first day´s drive at night in the dark with rain and some of the thickest fog we´ve seen in a long time!!! Our brakes got a good workout this trip, along with our nerves. :)

Scarry drive aside... the trip was amazing! We started driving from the mountains, all the way down to the valley. We saw every type of climate imaginable and it was all beautiful! Monday night we stayed in Cochabamba. Didn´t expect to like this town as much as we did! All I knew about it was that it was a smaller city that housed a majority of the farmers that grow coca leaves for the drug cartels... this may be true, but the city was amazingly beautiful! We stayed at this 3 star hotel that actually had hot water, a really comfortable bed and had been cleaned more than once that week! We went out that night for a bit... had some drinks and food... walked around. If we ever return, we would like to spend some more time in this city! As it stood the next morning we thought it was New Years Eve (not knowing we gain a day by traveling to Santa Cruz) so first thing in the morning we hopped in the car and began the last 8 hours of the trip. Arrived in SC around 7pm, where we were greeted by my uncle Pablo (twin brother of the uncle we are staying with in La Paz). Once again, I have to reiterate how awesome my family has been! We are staying in an external guest room in his beautiful house. It´s kind of like staying with the brady bunch.. 2nd mairrage for both of them, each bringing two kids into it from before and having one more together. 3 boys and two girls, all of them are teenagers and pretend that alice the maid has a little sister that works with her as well! Add in a few more vacationing cousins of the same age and there you have it! They are all as nice and well behaved as on the tv show too!!!

Yesterday was the actual New Years Eve here in Santa Cruz. We started the day by visiting my grandfather and two uncles (dad´s brothers). For those of you who have met my dad and know his distinct sense of humor and manerisms, it was like having three of him running around. Some may consider that scary, but I think it´s halarrious! One of the biggest reasons for coming to Bolivia for me was to introduce Brandy to my grandfather and it went as well as hoped. This is Brandy taking over ... Paulie had to go back to bed ... Last night, New Years, we went out with Paul's uncle and his wife. They are the most fun crazy 40 year olds we have ever met! After an elaborate dinner at home with the whole family, teenagers, cousins .. everyone. We dropped off all the teenagers at different parties all over town, we then arrvived, at midnight, at this huge house where there was a DJ, bartenders, and dancing. There were people of all ages. After hours of dancing and drinking, dinner was served again at about 2:30-3am. A full spread filled the kitchen including 2 full pigs in baking pans, I am talking heads, feet and all still attached. There was more dancing, in cirlces, with partners, Paul's aunt taught me traditional Bolivian dancing. Then about 4:30am Paul fell asleep on the couch, I followed close behind, we were woken up by some man at the party that was at least 15 years older than us, telling us we need to go dance. We, reluctantly, got up and made our way to the dance floor it now being about 5:10am ... Paul's aunt and uncle decided it was time to go at 5:30ambecause that was when they promised to pick up all of the teenagers. With the sun fully up we realized we could not keep up with these people, arrived home and died! Today was spent in bed and here at the computer, writing this for a moment. Happy New Year!!!!

We found this sign quite ironic...

My grandfather (dad´s dad) and my future. :)

Family Lunch.

Before New Years.

During New Years.

After New Years!!!

The Guy playing Einstein on this billboard is actually my uncle Gustavo.