In a Little Rut...

Post disappointing business news (losing the govt bid for rural Telecenters)... we have continued to pursue business/development opportunities in the Bolivian telecommunications market. Current project proposals include equipping all the schools in Bolivia with computers and Internet, teacher training in rural Bolivia through distance education utilizing the Internet and an international bid to build distance health facilities to provide training and medical care to doctors in rural Bolivia. In each project we would partner with an ngo to provide the technological solution, while the partner would provide the technical implementation. In the meantime, we continue to pursue signing up institutional clients for connectivity and investors for the funds we need to build a hub facility in La Paz.

Finally Back to a Beach - Apart from work, a couple weeks ago my visa expired so I was forced to flee Bolivia. I chose the warm climate of Arica - a beach front community in northern Chile. It was great to leave the perpetually cold weather of la paz for the sun, sand and warm salt water. While wandering aimlessly on the street looking for a place to stay - I met an eccentric older New Zealander that offered me a place to stay at his house. Ross was a bit of a character, having moved to Chile to export Vicunas to New Zealand. I guess it didnt work out too well (no surprise) as he has resorted to picking up gringos on the street and renting them rooms in his house. But he does know how to make a great breakfast. Arica was a quiet hangout as it was out of season but it was a relief to lay in the sun, get a tan and chill.

The real reason to visit Arica is for the drive west from La Paz. First of all, it is the first black pavement i have seen in the entire country. The road weaves past several snow capped peaks, including the highest mountain in Bolivia, through a national reserve and finally cuts through the desert of northern chile until reaching the coast. The drive was spectacular.

News in La Paz - moved into a new apartment with Oliver in Sopocachi (same neighborhood as the old place). The pad is sick. Two bedroom apartment with two floors on the 19th floor of one of the tallest buildings in La Paz. The outside walls of all rooms are glass from floor to ceiling revealing a view of la paz, illimani and zona sur (its sweet). Other highlights include the shower which is along the aforementioned glass wall providing the women of la paz a show twice daily and the empleada (maid) who cooks, cleans and does laundry for $30 a month.

The only other topic of relative interest would be my trip last weekend to Sorata. Sorata is a small town 5 hours north of la paz situated at the base of Cerro Illampu, a 21,000 foot snow capped peak. The base of the mountain is home to a raging whitewater river which cuts through a ravine between towering lush green peaks. The setting is somewhat like my memories of Switzerland. Driving in on Friday afternoon there were several moments of terror as the bus wobbled around hair pin turns weaving along a one lane road situated precariously on the cliff faces of the mountains of the Cordillera Real.

The visit to Sorata included a hike to San Pedro cave. The cave is fairly typical except for a large lake several hundred meters inside. It was great to kick back and swim around in the eery darkness and listen to the bats fly overhead. The trip was great with the exception of the ride home. On the bus, I had the good fortune to be sitting in the aisle seat when a charming indeginous gentleman entered the bus. He moved precisely down the aisle until he was standing just next to me. Nothing unusual about this situation until I was greeted with one of the most horrifying odors man has ever known (no exaggeration). The guy's breathe was a putrid mix of hangover breathe, stale urine and rotten milk (not like a couple days past the past due date - more like when the white seperates from the clear and coagulates at the bottom). Fortunately, for me he was a deep breather and remained in his selected position for about two hours. The experience caused a stomache/headache and required a steaming hot shower and incineration of my wardrobe. Thanks dude.

Time is short in Bolivia. I plan to be here 3 or 4 more weeks. Then I depart for Washington DC from Santiago Chile June 8th. So I will spend first week of June skiing in Chile or perhaps travel east through Bolivia, south through Argentina and then back north through Chile for the last two weeks of the trip (depends mostly on snowfall). Either way, I am back in the USA June 10th.

Ayuda!

FYI - LINKS TO PICTURES OF BOLIVIA AT THE BOTTOM

Its been several weeks since the last email because my life has been more boring than usual (until this past weekend) - consisting of working (preselling telecom services to institutions) and going out in la paz and thats about it. More or less waiting for the government to announce the winner of the bid which has been postponed 5 times so far. next announcement date has been set for monday - we shall see.

so getting frustrated waiting for some type of news on the telecom project - i weasled my way into a trip to Potosi in southwestern Bolivia (situated between 11,000 and 13,000 feet - excluding peaks and bordering Argentina and Chile). The purpose of the trip was to do preliminary work on an Ecotourism proposal for the IDB (int'l dev. bank). And they need a finance guy to validate the viability/sustainability of the proposal - so there I am on a 5 day trip with Peter, Mela (his wife), Allen Robinson (tourism consultant from colorado), Anna Maria (bolivian architect), Freddy Yupa (bolivian tourism consultant), and the guides (Eberth and Rubin - both very cool).

Potosi is one of the poorest departments in Bolivia although it has a very rich silver mining history (much like the rest of bolivia - all the wealth was taken out of the region). It is also home to the largest (and highest - although everything seems to have that description in bolivia) salt lake in the world. There are also dozens of volcanoes, lakes, some ruins, etc. Also, this is an area of extremes recording 25 degrees and negative 30 degrees Celsius in one day (a world record).

The project will build hotels, restaurants, sewage and water systems, electricity, telecommuniations, transportation, etc. in communities in this region to increase tourism. It is currently very isolated and infrastructure is bleak - so only backpackers hit it. The project will include 5 or 6 sites and a ethno-historic museum in Uyuni (the starting point for seeing this region). The communities provide the materials, land, labor, etc. and receive a percentage of the gross revenues in return. The rest of the money covers operating expenses, infrastructure and goes into a pool for future tourism investment.

anyways the trip was awesome. it entailed being driven around potosi by rubin in a toyota land cruiser visiting various communities and talking to local leaders, businesses and others involved in tourism. along the way we crossed the salar de uyuni (the salt lake) several times which was very cool, passed dozens of volcanoes, saw some ruins and saw almost no human beings. a few highlights included watching a group of israeli girls take naked fotos of each other on the salar, a bit of hiking, and spotting various native animals (vicachi (similar to a rabbit), rhea (similar to a ostrich), llamas, vicunas, etc. - but no pumas). oh and we had to stop every time the light changed or a shadow moved so that allan and peter could take photos - this was very annoying.

the community meetings were an experience. we met mayors, alcaldias, townspeople, business men, artists, tourism officials, etc.. we also went to several town meetings. it was awesome to see the hope and wonder on these peoples faces as we described what we hope to accomplish for them. although personalizing the names on the map makes the urgency to get project funding much deeper and personal. but the hugs, handshakes and words of encouragement are something i will not soon forget.

and peter is an absolute hero. we were in towns of 500 people or less most of the trip and without fail he knew 3 or 4 of the people in each community and many more knew him. he has an excellent repoirte with these very simple people. so good, in fact, that he was asked to be the godfather of two children during the trip.

the most interesting 24 hours began the night we slept in the town hospital in san pedro de quemes. well it used to be a hospital but the doctor left and now it is just an empty building with beds and some old medical instruments. i was a little freaked out by the prospect of sleeping in a bed with old malaria or hepatitis germs but this was an act of kindness by the community - so there wasnt really anything we could do but accept it. (the blood on the wall next to my head didnt help)

the next morning we headed out to for the hot springs near the border with chile (about 70 kilometers). about 10 kilometers from our destination, in the middle of nowhere the jeep suddenly died. we hadnt seen a house or a person in 2.5 hours and had traversed the worst road i have seen on my trip (for those who know - much worse then the road from Coban to El Estor in Guatemala).

luckily the weather was nice, we had some food and water, and we were near the border with chile -(being near the frontier we were optimistic that there must be a military station somewhere). after several hours of 3rd world mechanics 101 and jeep pushing - a group of us set out to find help. and as luck would have it - help was less than 1 kilometer away in the form of a military station. the four soldiers were ecstatic to see us - we were a little bit of entertainment in an otherwise miserable and lonely existance for these guys. they let us use their radio and stared at me. and after a couple hours of trying we got through to san pedro and help was on the way.

unfortunately, help got lost a couple times on the horrible, winding unmarked roads. so we waited from 11am til 8pm when they finally showed up in a very small pickup (and 12 liters of beers). incidentally - the truck is the alcaldia's. so 10 of us piled in for a 3 hour ride in the dark - sitting and drinking in the back of this little truck on this shitty, dusty road with visions of hospital beds in our heads.

we all hopped out of the back of this god forsaken pickup for dinner at 11pm. we were a site for the locals - a bunch of gringos covered in dust, coughing, and miserable.

the next morning - we are informed that the only mode of transportation back to uyuni (where we have meetings and get the train to la paz) is the same truck. so after 5 of us get in back with all our luggage - the locals throw in another 4 kids for good measure - and all our luggage. goldberg is now pissed off. needless to say, this segment of the trip is filled with various problems. the highlight of which is getting stuck in the salar (when it is wet it is much like cement) and pushing the pickup out of the salt mush while getting sprayed with salt and water and generally soaked. there were many pictures of gringos stuck in paradise throughout the trip. i will try to scan some - but make no promises as i am very lazy.

much more to tell later over beers - but i just got back on an overnight train and want nothing more than to go to bed.

oh here - if interested are links to bolivia fotos since i have a crappy camera and am lazy

this is the view from my apartment in la paz:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/bolivia/illimani.html

and links to pics of the salt lake in uyuni and other areas in potosi:

http://www.min.tu-clausthal.de/www/lager/excursion/pict_07.htm

http://www.bolivianbeauty.com/SalarDeUyuni/MainPage.htm

http://www.cinemascope.com/photos/bolivia/index.html (great slide show)

http://octobre.free.fr/photos/Altiplano_Salar_Uyuni/

It's On

At long last, Friday
night I hopped on an overnight bus and headed for the
border to enter my new home for the next few months.
Mid morning on Saturday we arrived at Copacabana,
Bolivia on Lake Titicaca (3300m). It is a touristy
border spot near the Isla de Sol (famous site of the
Incan creation legend). I also learned the root of
the name Titicaca so now I can't giggle to myself as
easily when I hear it.

After a short break in Copacabana, I got in another
bus for La Paz (the highest capital in the world
4000m). From Copacabana we crossed a bit of the Lake
in a Lancha (so did the entire bus) and crossed into
some of the most beautiful terrain (rolling green
hills and snow capped mountains) I have seen on my
trip (maybe I was a little sentimental since this is
my new home).

We crossed the western section of Bolivia for about 2
hours and saw not a single town. These tedious hours
were followed by a moment I will never forget. After
turning around another of the many bends while coming
up a mountain, the obstructions fell away and La Paz
was finally revealed to me. I had know idea what to
expect and it completely blew me away. It is a huge
city nestled in a valley encircled by enormous snow
capped mountains. I was shocked by what I saw. Words
do not do this moment justice. But I think I shared a
moment with the Peruvian guy next to me (Franco)...
please no comments.

Also, I started work on Monday. And I finally met my
boss in person. Previously we had traded a handful of
emails, a business plan, and two 5 minute phone
conversations. I had no idea what I would really be
doing day to day and no idea what to expect out of
him. And so here is a brief synopsis first of his
career (which will definitely leave pieces out) and
then the job.

Peter McFarren, my boss, is a writer, artist,
photographer, businessman, board member, publisher,
builder, philanthropist, entrepreneur. Some of the
things he has done include writing for the AP for 18
years, starting a newspaper, starting a publishing
company, writing books, publishing his photography,
exhibiting his ceramics in museums, he found a nazi
war criminal in Bolivia (who is now in jail in
Europe), was kicked out of the country in the 80s, had
his tv cooking show declared a threat to national
security and cancelled, opened two childrens museums,
built the 10 story office building I am sitting in
right now, started a cultural and educational
foundation called Quipus, started a Cisco training
academy and more.

Despite his many achievements, he rents his home in La
Paz, takes only a salary, owns his own automobile (not
a foundation car - which is unusual) and is still
connected with his activist roots. His wife is in the
office everyday, as is his sister-in-law. Also, he
has two children and his two sisters help run his
museums.

Now the job... there are many people in the office
working on various different projects. Peter and I
are the employees of a new company called DESATEL. We
are currently working on a proposal to win a
government subsidy to build 79 Telecenters across
Bolivia. A telecenter is a place people can use the
phone and internet. There is very little
infrastructure in rural Bolivia and this program is
intended to provide new educational, health, economic,
etc. opportunities to places that have no access to
such things right now.

In preparing the bid, we are choosing technologies and
lining up companies to provide the satellite and fiber
connectivity, communications hub and gateways, VSATs
(dishes to send and receive communications signals
there is no wireline infrastructure in these places),
computers, IP phones, etc. right now. Also, we are
lining up financing which will likely include a
European grant, funds from CARE Bolivia, Quipus and
University Nur, some micro finance funds and more. In
addition, I will be drafting the organization and
management structure, operating plan, budgets,
training and management procedures, reporting
procedures, and much more for the company assuming we
win the bid. There is a ton of work to do but it is
very interesting. And despite not even having the bid
yet... Peter is talking about building 300 more
Telecenters.

I have been to 2 or 3 meetings a day and met a handful
of CEOs, leaders of various NGOs, and other people
(everyone in this country knows Peter). I have been
to all the meetings in jeans and tennis shoes speaking
broken spanish, while surrounded by native spanish
speakers in suits. Also, I have been to lunch each
day with Peter, his wife, her sister (a very
flirtatious divorcee) and various other people
(including a nun).

What else... oh I found a place to live. The
apartment is furnished with some gnarly old furniture
but it will be fine. It is 8 blocks from work in a
cool neighborhood. It has a beautiful view and I will
have four housemates (all extranjeros). In addition
to the 5 bedrooms, it has cable, a kitchen/dining
room, two bathrooms, a living room, a hot water
heater, and gets cleaned every other week for $150 a
month. I havent met any of the roommates yet I will
report on this next week. I just got the place today.

Oh... and Peter felt sorry for me and found me $500
bucks a month for food and lodging. So I am now
making money again! A juicy 4 figure salary.