Wow Boliva

So I have only been here for 3 days but it seems like so much longer because it has been amazing. When I first arrived there was a brief luggage scare but it got here so no worries. Soon after my arrival in La Paz I met up with some friends from Lewis and Clark, Dana and Lindsay and we are going to travel for a while. The city of La Paz is really high, really chaotic but also really amazing. Today I had one of those days that makes a trip and it was only my third day here. There was a city wide protest/gathering to keep the capital in La Paz. As of right now the judicial branch of the government is another city Sucre and they are proposing to move the rest of the government there. The people of La Paz don´t want this for economic and political reasons but they also have strong attachment to being the capital, understandably. We woke up this moring and didn´t know what to expect. We left the hostal and the streets were totally empty, no taxis or buses and all the stores are closed. This is crazy because those are the things that have defined La Paz for me over the last couple of days. Feeling a little like we were in the twilight zone, we went down to the main drag and there were people everywhere. They were marching from the center of La Paz up to the town of El Alto. We didn´t really know what we were getting ourselves into but it was amazing. La Paz is at an elevation of around 11,500 feet and El Alto is at 13,000. This is a really big climb to be doing my third day at elevation... The hike up was amazing. We walked with 2 million other people and the majority were so supportive. They would ask us to come and march with them and thanked us for supporting their cause. It was amazing the amount of nationalism all around us. Everyone was carrying a flag from Bolivia, La Paz or both. It was also amazing because everyone was out. We were hiking along side old women in traditional dress (one of the reasons that I had to keep pushing myself), buisnessmen, children and everything in between. After a lot of rests and a couple times I wanted to turn back we reached the city of El Alto were there was a huge rally. We couldn´t actually get into the stadium but we just hung for a while. There were thousands of people around us chanting and talking and then all of a sudden the Bolivian national anthem came on and the whole crowd went silent and took off their hats and sang along. I actually teared up it was such a powerful moment. Overall this experience was the experience of a lifetime. I was a part of the largest civil gathering in Bolivia´s history. It also reminded me of how much I love the passion that is always brewing in Latin America. People are not afraid to get out on the streets and fight for what they want.
So that was my experience in La Paz and it was great. I also have some big news about the future of my South American adventure. I got offered an internship in Paraguay doing work with Micro Finance which is really exciting. I think I may also be going to Peru to work on Human rights for a while, everything is coming together and I am so excited.
Tomorrow we head off for the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia. I will keep you all updated and I would love to hear from you.