My new bed partner is...

a Dengue mosquito! Well I'm not sure if it has Dengue or not and I don't want to find out.  For the last 10 nights (all the nights I've been living here) one single mosquito visits me every night. But somehow stays hidden and silent throughout the day to evade capture. It's bound to get me soon, maybe tonight will be my lucky night.

Spent an amazing day at Ginger's Paradise approx. 1.5 hours away from Samaipata. It is an organic farm and inspiration hostel. It has amazing vegetarian food, the best pesto I have ever had. The owners are also really cool people living sustainably off their land and helping to teach others how to do the same. Over 70% of all things they eat are produced on their property. Check out their website at http://www.gingersparadise.com/

Growing Pains

Show me that smile again.

Don’t waste another minute on your cryin’.
We're nowhere near the end 

The best is ready to begin.

The Growing Pains' theme song pretty much summarizes what I felt like since the last time I posted. My first weekend in Samaipata was a weird one. There was a car rally in town which does not really fit in with the nature based, relaxing experience that Samaipata normally offers. The town was packed with rich Bolivians indulging in food, drink, and loud, fast cars. Most of the local places were closed so they could enjoy this craziness so the only restaurants open were the expensive tourist ones. I am quickly losing all sense of what is expensive. When I compare the prices to home it is super cheap but here they are quite expensive. Since I will be living on a "typical" Bolivian salary (which I'm not sure is correct) I have to live like a local and think that things are expensive even though it's peanuts in Canadian dollars. After a weekend of feeling ripped off and taken advantage of one of my great co-workers took me around and showed me where the locals eat and what I should be spending on food. I struggle with feeling guilty for the amount of money I spent on the weekend for food alone as it is much more than my co-workers could ever spend or even have at their disposal. That being said I couldn't help but to buy one thing that I couldn't go without - a coffee maker.  The coffee here is amazing however the locals drink Nescafé! Yes, they drink instant coffee when they have amazing tasting local coffee, but it is more expensive. So I let myself indulge in the deliciousness and decide I don't have to live like a local in all ways.