(Here begins the slow, endearing music that makes us nostalgic)
We were so young and naive, full of hope for our time in the Salar de Uyuni, oh the days!
We never would have guessed however how things would turn out. Our walk through memory lane begins after the dreaded jump with flailing arms that dislocated Steph’s arm, and once she’s already received her first pain reliever shot. Probably slightly euphoric and for a moment not groaning in pain with every rut in the road, we decided it was time to begin making memories, in hopes that we could laugh one day soon.
Just to prove that nothing is sacred, and even the sufferings of our loved ones should be exploited for joke purposes, I will show that I am heartless and took pictures of Steph while she was under general anesthetic.
To prove she condones this exploitation as well, her first words once she woke up afterwards were, "Did you get any good pictures?" Why yes Stephanie, yes we did!
And, as always, Stephanie teaches us that you dont need 2 arms to have a hold on style.
Next we'd like to share one of the beautiful bonding moments that we shared regularly as the three amigas the first few days before steph could zip up her own pants.
(Sigh) how beautiful life is. Unfortunately I am only the owner of 1/3 of the photos that were taken on the trip, so our time of reflection will be a little incomplete. i do however happen to have great coverage of our time in La Paz, specifically a few hours we spent scampering unsupervised throughout a museum.
While nice enough, the La Paz Museum of Contemporary Art doesn’t seem to have a huge fan base. The entire time we spent inside, we didn’t see one other person... aside from the single guard and the gift shop man. Naturally we decided to take advantage of our freedom. Who hasn't always dreamed of running rampant through a museum! Thanks to children’s story, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and the hours of dreaming I’d since reading it, I was prepared.
And since its always nice to leave a little something behind for the people who make things possible, it was lovely to realize that, as we were walking out, our shenanigans had been within the sight of a surveillance camera. Funny enough, however, even with the TV screen next to the guard, it didn’t seem it had been of much interest to him, he didn’t betray any interest in our actions as we left.
And now? Well, I've been back in Cochabamba for exactly a week today, and I’ve been trying to find my way again. While its been great to be back from our adventures and have some time to rest, I’ve been overwhelmed by the paperwork that I still have to finish! While I may have made it seem my internship was over...my piles of reports are still far from being done. Revising budgets, final and sustainability reports, etc are a new favorite pastime, and I wonder how I ever managed without them. And to compliment these little bundles of joy, I also have the good luck to have my GLT reports (independent study) to continue as well as Spanish classes once more. I may not be starting school like everyone else, but I don’t feel left out in the slightest.
Oh the joys of life and living it! I wish you all well, and hope you enjoyed our little walk through memory lane today, tune back soon, there is always something new and interesting going on in the wonderful world of Cocha.
