A Long Way Away!

Hello All:
Yesterday started as planned with us getting the mini-bus in the village plaza of beautiful Sorata, after a solid night of rain. A night of rain causes one to worry about the road being passable, but off we went in a 15 passenger Toyota (16 on board). There is about an hour and a half climb to get out of Sorata and the road is mostly dirt/gravel with an occasional stretch of pavement. Maybe it is the other way around, but early on, the driver had to get out and move rocks off the road that had been put there by a mud-slide, earthquake, or, as turned out to be the case and errant bulldozer operator working up-hill from the road. Once past that we climbed and climbed into the clouds, with me on the down-hill side (if you don`t know by now, I don`t like heights, and these are HEIGHTS!). But I kept the van on the road and we made it to La Paz and booked for the 5pm bus to Santa Cruz. Once we got settled in the bus and Joy managed to last through the obligatory Steven Segal "shoot-em-up" movie, we had a peaceful night.
When we awoke, the world had changed! No, Obama wasn`t on our bus! But, we had gone from the Altoplano, where the predominant colour, with many exceptions that Joy will point out to me later, is "adobe brown" with touches of pale green. It is also dry and relatively cool this time of year (the rainy and summer seasons), but we love it. Suddenly the next morning it was warm/hot and humid and the countryside was Green, green! From the book I have been reading, it seems clear that this area has been the economic engine for Bolivia for the past 20 years after the mines became less important. Here there is oil, gas, soya, sugar-cane (for bio-gas) , iron ore and there was coca until the U.S. eradication program may have limited it`s economic impact. Santa Cruz has become one of Bolivia`s largest cities over the past 20 years and shows it with fewer colonial buildings and many modern ones among the usual unfinished building put up in a hurry by newcomers. After we got in we spent the rest of the day relaxing and hope to find transport to Samaipata, about 150km east of here, to avoid the worst/best of Carnivale.
Tomorrow may be another of those cozy mini-bus rides, without which any visit to South America is incomplete. I might add the over-night bus rides to that list too.
Jim (Suddenly in Santa Cruz)