Bolivia Part One: Villazon!

For winter vacations 2009, I went to BOLIVIA! First I was going to go with a friend from the murga who didn't have much of a budget, the plan being to juggle and sell jewelry at stoplights in La Paz to fund the trip (this plan obviously preceded by me learning how to juggle and make jewelry in a month). Then he couldn't and I was going to go alone, which was both scary and exciting. In the end, I ended up going with these chumps:
Their names are Mati and Facu, and they are two relatively new but wonderful friends from Cordoba. In this photo, taken at our first stop in Bolivia, the border town of Villazon, neither is at their best. Mati is pale from vomiting up all of his bus meal due to the altitude, and Facu is chewing gum to try to distract himself from the cigarrettes he had forbidden himself to smoke during the trip.In the background you can see a bit of the plaza of Villazon, which bore a strking resemblance to Fred Flintstone's workplace. Villazon wasn't all bad, it had this gorgeous mural by the train station:

and, as with many border towns, a ridiculous amount of cheap items from sweaters and puppets to kitchenware, which explains the presence of a ton of Argentinians with giant shopping bags. However, much, much better was yet to come- and thank goodness, since I, as a US citizen, had to pay a 135 dollar visa to enter the dang country. I tried to talk to Evo, but he didn't budge.
After all, I suppose it's a matter of international reciprocity, and since it can't be very easy for a Bolivian, even a Bolivian with 135 dollars to spare, to get into the US, I can't really complain. And boy was it worth it! Here we are enjoying our first Bolivian meal, french fries for me and french fries + meat for Facu (it wasn't exactly the lunch hour). Mati, too queasy to eat, was kind enough to take the photo.