My long walk!

a friend who found me quite
interesting, as I found him

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a city that was build in an annular, or ring-like, structure. There are 8 concentric rings, though most of my life is in the 1st-3rd. Yesterday, I decided to walk around the entire first ring in the blazing heat. Took about 2 hours with the aimlessness, the course totaled ~4.5 miles. I gauged myself by the landmarks I knew and by watching the angle between my shadow and the tangent I was walking slowly move full circle. Some highlights:

• A small elderly man standing by the side of the street with a spring scale. I weighed myself for 1 Boliviano (15 cents) and the man sized me up, read the scale, and said "you are perfect!" with a big smile : ) He was wearing a hat from some wooden bridge in Oregon.
• Two notable shirts in English: (1) A huge USA flag with the big words "AMERICA FOREVER TRUE" and (2) a cheap generic screen print saying "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally". The second one made me laugh hours later, when I finally remembered the elementary school mnemonic.
• I got a blister from my new sandals I bought at the market. Went into the next pharmacy, asked for a bandaid. Decided to get 5 bandaids, just in case. Total cost? 1 Boliviano. What a pleasure to buy PRN, and not need to buy in bulk!
• As I was holding the bandaid wrapper, I thought "I may never find a trashcan". Before I finished that thought, I saw a bin! I happily ran over and tossed it in, and was confused when I saw it go bouncing on the cement. Was my perception off and I missed? Nope, the suspended trashcan just had no bottom haha.



Julio y Emi written in a tree
(v-a-n-d-i-l-i-z-i-n-g)

• "Jackie!!  Jackie Jackie!!!" I heard someone cry behind me. He must be talking to me, I thought, as there is no other Jackie nearby. I turn around and see a man, Gustavo, who used to go to dance class with us.  Anyways he chatted happily as I awkwardly dripped sweat.

Advertisements here used Cumbia,
Electronica, and Bachata. This one
was my favorite : )

Alternatively, there are shared taxis constantly driving around each of the rings, picking people up as space allows and dropping them off. For about 30 cents (2 Bs) you can get anywhere on the ring! I asked a driver once, he said the full circle, stops and all, takes about 45 minutes. Cool system.