Llama Hickey

March 6th was the second deadline for the bid, the original deadline was Feb 4th. And in customary Bolivian fashion, they postponed the date again to March 14th. (word on the street is the latest delay was because the govt feared there would not be enough participants in the bid - if that happens it could be postponed indefinitely)

While delays are not helpful for getting the business up and running it is a sweet change of pace from investment banking deadlines. For those who don't know, it is standard operating procedure in banking to set deadlines two days in advance and have meetings cancelled on one hours notice after back to back all nighters. The customary kick in the pants.

In sharp contrast. We have been provided 6 extra weeks to prepare the bid documents and finalize business relationships. And the time has been more than necessary. However, it appears that things are finally coming together and I am looking forward to finding out if we are hitting the ground running or looking for alternative financing.

In more interesting news. I failed miserably at making friends in La Paz so I recruited another gringo from San Francisco to help (the urban setting is a much tougher nut to crack than travel life on the friendship tip). A former co-worker of mine in SF put a friend of hers in touch with me in January. And I talked him into coming down. Oliver arrived March 3rd. Hanging with an American dude after a couple months tredding water in La Paz has been a welcome relief.

My housesitting gig came to an unfortunate end 8 days ago. But I got some Olympics gear and needed a break from my daughters anyway. Also, I broke the blender and melted the kettle onto the stove and put a cigarette burn in the drapes - so I needed to get out before more damage was done.

Last weekend, I introduced Oliver to the nightlife in La Paz on Friday night. We were chillin at this bar when 3 girls came up to us (of course). Turns out they work in our building and recognized us or something - at least that was their game. Two of the girls were Bolivian and one from Quebec. Anyways, long story short we were at some club dancing with these chicks when we noticed one of the Bolivian chicks was missing a canine tooth. It was hilarious at the time. So we bolted. But when we got to work on Monday morning they had already called the office. And as proper gentlemen should - we ignored the call. So they called again. They brought us breakfast on Monday morning. Unbelievable. Its good to be gringo.

Sorry for the dumb story but it was funny as hell. The rest of the weekend we spent at Peter's house at the Lake. (the bloqueos were lifted two weeks ago - thank god) It was great to get out of La Paz and chill in the beautiful setting of Lake Titicaca. Weather was sick. We didnt do a whole lot. Tried to go sailing but Felipe the caretaker is very lazy and wouldnt get the sails out for us.

And in the interesting experience category. On Saturday, I was walking in the field and got attacked by a llama (actually a vicuna - which looks like a llama). The beast charged me, tried to kick me in the face and bit my shoulder. It is pretty sweet though because it left a hickey on my shoulder. How many people have ever gotten a llama hickey? Dulce.

Then on the way back to la paz from the lake. We almost died. The road (like most roads in Bolivia) is a dirt road. There had been a lot of rain overnight on Saturday night. The road was a mud pit. We were coming down a hill when the bus lost traction and began to slide to the side. Everyone on the bus ran to the right side of the bus and there was a the unfamiliar silence of terror in the air. The driver was a hero though and some how stopped the maddness. And after another half hour of pressing through the dirt road (double rainbow on the horizon) we hit pavement and were home free.