Can't Hold Me Down (AKA I have moved 4 times in 6 months in La Paz)

There is a very interesting aspect of living abroad that I have been thinking about quite often in the past couple weeks: the always moving always changing everything. It is a very transient lifestyle where there is no normal, there is no routine. Everything changes and it changes quickly. I went home for three weeks and when I came back I felt like I had to adjust to a completely different life than I had before. I had a new job, I had to find a new apartment, all of my friends had paired up and started dating. (Important Spanish phrase to learn here: tocando el violin - literally means playing the violin but is the equivalent of third wheeling. I use this term often.) On top of that, in a community of expats, people are always coming and going. Especially since I work in a language school with a constant turnover of tourists and travelers, I meet people, start to like them a whole lot, and then they leave. This can be very difficult. I get frustrated sometimes, claiming that I will refuse to become friends with people who are leaving before me. But it's also absolutely amazing to meet so many people from all over the world, people with different stories, different backgrounds, different lives. This is also what I love most about living abroad.

I read an article today about living in a foreign country. Usually I hate articles like this. I feel they're cliche and dishonest and braggy. But this one sums up a lot of what I've been having trouble communicating. It also quotes Gandalf, so extra points there. Check it out!

17 Things That Change Forever When You Move Abroad by Angie Castells

So I also moved again. On Wednesday. 16 de Julio, also La Paz day, feriado, or a day off. There were parades all day Tuesday and Tuesday night the streets were packed with people, drunk people, people selling things on the street, little stands where you can buy a warm sweet alcoholic drink called sucumbé. It's made from Singani (a Bolivian liquor made from distilled grapes), condensed milk, cinnamon, sweetener, cloves, and some other ingredients I can't remember. Of course there was also beer for sale on the streets. No drinking regulations here. In sum, it was so crowded you could barely move. Also I had to pay a 5 boliviano club entrance fee in order to use a bathroom because there was just no other choice. Anyway, the next day everyone was hungover (or still drunk) and I moved.

Some gringos drinking sucumbé

El Prado

Turns out I'm really happy in my new apartment. I wasn't sure about it at first... moving to a new neighborhood a bit further from work, a bit further from the places I like to hang out, a bit further from quite a few friends. But I'm living with a great friend half a block from the biggest market in La Paz. It's a place where people can come to hang out and feel comfortable, it has everything I need, and I think living in a new neighborhood will be a really nice change.

However, it's also located just above one of the best known vegetarian restaurants in La Paz. This has a few interesting implications. First, when I come home and I'm really hungry and the hall smells delicious, it makes me hungrier and my mouth waters and I go into hunger-panic mode and can't even get my shit together to make myself nice food and just end up tearing apart my kitchen. Second, when I come home and I'm not feeling well and the hall smells like food it makes me feel pretty not great. Third (and this hasn't happened yet) I may end up spending too much money down there. And finally, I can hear the music from the restaurant from my apartment. This is not usually a problem but this morning they were playing Morenadas. For those of you who have never heard a Morenada, it's basically a traditional Bolivian song that also has a dance that goes with it. It's pretty repetitive, usually played (and danced) in parades. Morenadas are okay I guess for about the first 14 seconds and then I'm ready for it to stop.

(In case you're interested here's an example.)

Anyway, it's really cool to be so close to the market and I kind of like having a walk to work. Yesterday I spent about 2 hours in the bathtub working some magic to change the color from brownish to white and the place is starting to feel like home.

Here's a picture from my kitchen window. That mess over there is Rodriguez Market on a Saturday.

Oh, I was also pickpocketed last Friday night. I was in a club dancing and someone opened my bag and stole everything. Awesome.

La Paz. For some reason I just can't help loving this city.

The truth is there is a lot of shit going on in the world right now. And although I have a lot of opinions and thoughts and beliefs and reading the news makes me cry sometimes, I also feel like I'm kinda hiding out on top of a mountain here in the middle of South America. It's hard for me to post about these things on the internet. They're complicated and I feel there is a space for debate but this is not it. But after numerous conversations with friends, I realized that almost everybody just wants safety and health for themselves and their family and their friends. We all have that in common no matter what. In this regard, there's no sides, there's no right, there's no wrong. There's just love. So here's to that. Here's to an end to these conflicts with as little pain and suffering as possible. Here's to peace.