Misa Travels Bolivia!

It’s always fresh to see a new perspective- and luckily Misa could leave her 2 kiddos with her husband and my mom for 10 days to come visit (thanks!).  We began in La Paz, one of the two capitals, and an area representing the stereotypical Bolivia or the western Andean plateau.  The people are mostly indigenous and have their own food and customs.

On our bus tour, we learned these shocking statistics: 36% of the population is under 14, whereas less than 5% are over 65.  The average woman has 3.5 children (total fertility rate or TFR).  Compare this to the U.S., where 20% are under 14, and 13% are over 65, where the TFR is 1.89 (to be a replaceable population it must be 2.1).

These are "cholas", or the typical Bolivian women.  They wear
bowler hats (brought over from England) as well as pleated
skirts, embroidered tops, and shawls.  And two long braids!

Misa in the bowler hat and awayo.  Most women
carry everything from their crops to their babies
in awayos tied around their backs

We have TONS of fresh juice available in Bolivia,
but what Misa could not get enough of was this
pineapple juice.  She raves about it!

Great candlelight dinner.  Minutes later, the power went out in
this small town briefly, and it really was candlelight...

Street Dogs are standard.  This is quite
possibly the cutest dog I have ever seen.
It's funny how indifferent they can be.

the markets with fruits brought in locally are found in all
cities and towns.  always make a colorful photo

in Santa Cruz, tropical plants = big leaves!

       In Bolivia, Zebra direct traffic!  We tried to ask them what they were doing, but they just shoo-ed us along