Working Hard for the Money

I have two primary objectives while in La Paz: 1) collect documents from the archives and 2) interview legislators and other public officials. I started work soon after the apartment debacle – one day was dedicated to grocery shopping, getting access to Internet at the apartment, and purchasing a local cell phone number---if anyone wants to call, my local is 758-153-99. Having a cell phone is a wise move; everyone has a cell phone (sometimes two) and depends on their cell phone way more so than email. Last summer it was difficult arranging meetings and getting a hold of people using just email or local call centers (i.e. public phones). The price is great, for two dollars I got a cell phone number and about a week’s worth of prepaid phone usage.

To accomplish the first objective, I, using a colleague’s design, constructed a copy stand, which is used to take photos of the documents I need. You may be asking yourself, “Why doesn’t he just use a scanner?” First of all, don’t question me. Second of all, scanners take too long to copy a single page and, during this process, you can hear your life screeching away with the sound of the scanner. Trust me, I’ve spent two summers in Amsterdam and Copenhagen doing this while working on my advisor’s project.

The copy stand essentially holds my camera steady above the document and I use a keyboard pedal, which is directly connected to the camera, to take the picture. Every step on the pedal takes a snapshot. This is way faster than a scanner and can capture two pages at a time. I placed filters around the document to disperse the light so I don’t get any shadows nor glare on the document. The filters are new editions after I discovered the pages have sheen on them. This structure, or laboratory, has drawn a lot of attention to me in the archive … I am officially, ‘that guy.’

To accomplish the second objective, I essentially just create meetings and talk to people. Of course, gaining access to the Legislative Assembly is a giant pain that depends on a congressperson giving you an invitation every time you want to enter, which for me is twice a day. This requires a lot of connections, which I thankfully developed while here in June. I am currently in the process of receiving my own provisional pass for the next month or so. I’ve so far interviewed one representative, who, at the time of my interview, was making huge waves in the media after disbanding his party’s alliance with the majority party. I really lucked out on this interview and the timing of the interview. The remainder of my time has been dedicated to convincing other public officials to give me specific types of information and documents that I need. So far, time here has been very productive. This past week I sat in on a few debates over the budget and a resolution to support the Ecuadorian government after its political predicament.