A Comparison: Part 2 - La Paz

Currently I'm sitting in a house that belongs to a family originally from Spain who came to Bolivia many years ago as a part of Spain's conquest of this area of South America.  They have a brick house with a full, metal security gate and barbed wire around the top of a surrounding brick wall.  On the grounds are 2 small guest homes and a nice yard with flowers and a stone driveway.  There's a car parked out front, that usually stays parked as walking or taking taxis is the norm here. 

My room is spacious - with a bed, a desk, a closet, and my own bathroom.  The shower has hot water immediately.  The heating for my room comes from a convection-type heater along the bottom of the wall.  My window looks out directly into a construction project for a new large apartment complex.  During the daytime hours I hear the sounds of people hammering, shouting, working to build another tall building to surround this old home (think about the movie Up - the setting is just like that with the tall buildings around a small house).  There's one light in the room - hanging from the middle of the ceiling.

Outside I can hear the construction and sounds of taxi's honking (they honk as they fly through intersections - no such things as stop signs around here apparently).  Dogs are everywhere!  They have ability to roam as they'd like.  They walk on the streets next to you in groups of 2-3 most of the time, all different sorts.  Apparently many are pure bred according to the people who live here. 

I'm about to go out to the street and walk 2 blocks to my friends' house where we'll take a taxi together to church tonight.  It'll probably cost 20 Bolivianos for a 15 minute ride (about $2.75).  I've got to wear shoes good enough to walk on bumpy stone streets (though most are paved with asphalt).  I'll say hi to my friends with bowler hats as we pass by each other on the sidewalk.