Street Life.

Every day I walk 4 blocks to work and it's always a highlight. I used to think I always wanted to live in the country. False. Maybe some day when I have numerous grandchildren and only want to garden and knit but for the moment, I love living in the city! I love the excited pulse of the morning commute, no WAY should you try to cross the street then or it would be death (so I take the bridge over the street). Buses, minibuses, and all sorts of taxis are speeding through the streetlight-less roads, yelling out where they're going and trying to recruit passengers. Cholas (indigenous Bolivian women) in their long brightly colored skirts and shawls (and sometimes babies on their back) are setting up little fruit stands and shops along the road. The sound of high heels clacking on uneven cobblestones. Saltena shops opening their doors. In the afternoon when I walk home for lunch it's more sedated--the whole world is on siesta. People are lounging in the park and even on the sidewalks, sleeping and sunning. Stores close. Everyone is home for lunch with the family and a brief nap before returning to work. Ahh the city... when I'm around so much chaos I think less and take in more. Maybe it's a good thing for me to not think so much. Anyways, Thomas Jefferson said you should never think while you walk but simply WALK. These daily commutes in Obrajes have been excellent times to observe Bolivian life, just soaking in the colors and language and architecture and SUN, without letting any other thoughts get in the way!