miscellaneous confusion

Some random thoughts on some of the things going on here in Santa Cruz:

A new law or decree has been passed to require that US citizens wishing to come to Bolivia must first obtain a visa. Why? Because Bolivians who want to go to the US must have one. That is the rational for this bothersome paperwork that will make it much more likely that persons wanting to travael to Bolivia may just decided to go somewhere else to spend their vacations and along with that their dollars. Bolivia offers varied and quite unique vacation options, but if the country is in constant turmoil and then on top of that the added paperwork of obtaining a visa? Well, where would you rather vacation? I'd say go to Chile. The law has NOT been put into affect yet even though it has been passed. So when? who knows.

Something else that is confusing and frankly frustrating: The politiicans are now arguing about moving Bolivia's capital to the city of Sucre. Sucre is the 'other' capital, actually the official capital of Bolivia with the Supreme Court there. But the working capital is La Paz where the legislative and executive branch of the government rests. Why move it? Because according to some, Sucre was the original capital. So months of debate which will probably entail road blocks, protests, stirkes of all kinds will take most if not all of the extended four months that were supposed to be used to finish the re-writing of the Bolivian Constitution - which was supposed to be done in a year, but didn't 'quite' make it. Don't ask me why they are rewriting the constitution., Can you imagine the cost involved in moving the capital? Jobs lost in one city, expenses of rebuilding, etc.? Does Bolivia have extra money to spare?

And now, the political party in majority, MAS, is requesting that in the new constitution, a new flag be ADDED along side of the traditional Bolivian flag. The flag which has been used to represent their movement. So how much time will they debate that?

Iknow I am probably trivializing all of this. I am not Dr. Miguel who understands all of this. But I do know that there seems to be very little progress made toward deeper issues. So I recommend you read Miguel's post from time to time if you are interested in really understanding some of these issues. If not, just read me from time to time to get a 'gringa'
viewpoint for what it is worth.

I must end on a positive note: I just went on the diplomat website e-diplomat and it confirms what I have known for a long time about Bolivia,. The people are warm and friendly and respond positively to people who are courteous and friendly. So, I guess that's what I like about Bolivia and my Bolivian family.

And by the way, if you want to see photos of Javier Enrique go to mcentellas.com for a quick uploade of our newest Centellas.