It's one thing to have to turn around on the 3.5 hour trip to La Paz and switch from the "World's Most Dangerous Road" to the "World's Most Expensive Road." It's quite another to do so because of a landslide. Likewise, it's one thing to get to a book store just as it's closing, it's another to do so after making a special trip that started at 5:30am -- and to be turned away even though you're trying to buy 75 books.

My comrades and I are stuck in La Paz because of all of the above -- but we're making the best of it. I even found the long-nosed lighter I've been searching for to eliminate the need to buy dozens of matches each week. And I cried at a showing of the movie North Country Tierra Fria. Oh, and we bought tofu at a Chinese restaurant that later endeared me to a lady selling local art. It's been a surreal couple of days -- and it's not over yet.

PS: This is the excellent Spanish-English dictionary we're buying for our students. I can't wait to see their faces when they each hold their own copy. (Currently, they wait in line to use one of the library copies.)