Day Trip

Well, this past Tuesday marked the end of Carnaval here in Bolivia. Last year during Carnaval I traveled to Oruro, a city in Bolivia that boasts the second largest Carnaval celebration in South America. This year I took a day trip with Paola and her family to visit her cousin who lives about two hours outside of La Paz.

It was nice to get out of the city during this crazy time. Carnaval is alot of water balloon throwing, dancing and drinking. Last year it was a cool cultural experience that I was getting to know but this year I did not really want to have anything to do with it.

So on Monday I jumped at the chance to go with my wife and enjoy a BBQ with her family outside of the city. Her cousin is in the military and he serves at a base about two hours outside of La Paz. He invited the family to come enjoy a BBQ since Monday and Tuesday were holidays here in Bolivia. It was cool because it was my first visit to a military base here in Bolivia. A place that I would probably not be given access to as an American unless I was with my Bolivian wife and her family.

But all went smoothly. They just took our names and they didn't even check my backpack which I was sure that they would do. Anyway, we had a great day playing some games, eating some great food and playing a little volleyball as well.

We all arrived back into La Paz very tired later in the evening.

But it was just another cool experience in a long line of cool experiences that I have had here. And it is nice once again to walk the streets of La Paz and not worry about being pegged by a water balloon.