So I arrived safely in Bolivia!  It was a long string of sojourns and 3 planes (JFK--> Bogota, Bogota--> Lima, Lima--> Santa Cruz).  Nate rented a really old-school BMW from zipcar for $30 and drove us to JFK in style : ).  I was on the Colombian airline Avianca so everything was Spanish from step one.  I actually enjoy airline food, and now those are true portion sizes, America!  To prepare, I watched the cartoon movie Pirates in Spanish; it's pretty silly and fun.  The whole travel time, particularly the slow and inefficient immigration and customs, took about 23 hours door-to-door.  

Each step your bags go through security again.  In Bogota after scanning my bag, then searched it for a good 30 seconds.  I was preparing answers to the dozen questions on explaining why an EKG is not a bomb and why I had one in my bag.  Instead, they just found and confiscated a roll of masking tape I had!  Apparently, tape is a dangerous weapon in Colombia.

I applaud the truly fair and random system of choosing which bags to search at customs.  And it's like a game show!  There is a red light and a green light which are randomly sequenced after you hit a button.  Step on up Emi!  Drag your 2 suitcases and carryon while holding a passport and 3 forms!  Then press a button and.... BZZZZT  red light- you get your bags searched!  Luckily the Bolivian lady (in heels and the shortest skirt I've ever seen in an airport) who was doing the bag search only made me unzip the bag, rezip it, and get on my way to see Bolivia.
I couldn't take out my camera, but this is what the lights at customs look like.  Also I arrived 8/16/2012, but just getting around to posting something.