Middle of the Earth and Back!

Phew - there and back - I made it!

Last weekend I journeyed to the middle of the Earth. It was a treacherous endeavor, but it happened. I was first picked up outside of my apartment building by one of my buddies and his wife and child. We were ready, packed, and loaded. I brought some water just in case we ran into any obstacles. Ten minutes into the journey we had to stop for some food – fearful that this could be the last for a while. After enjoying some beers and seafood, we fired up the wheels and kept on moving. We had to go north - and fast! Finally, we arrived to the middle of the Earth ... 20 minutes later. There we were … in the middle. Yes, touching the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere at the same time.

A lot can happen in the middle of the Earth … watch out for that giant bird!

I can’t say that this was my only time to journey to the middle. There was once a time – literally, the time – when I made it to zero degrees longitude.

I’ve survived both. It’s been difficult and my equilibrium has been off since I came back from the middle – but this is the price I pay as a political scientist. Only if people could truly understood the price I pay for science, would I then be respected.

Back in Business

After a brief break in the U.S., I'm back in business in Latin America. This leg of my research trip starts in Quito, Ecuador. I'll be in Quito for no more than three months before heading off to Lima for about a month. Some of you maybe asking, "Hey, I thought you were going to go to Lima first?" Well, this is what you get for trying to figure out my schedule. I, a man of mystery, don't appreciate being weighed down by this crazy schedule. Although I was trying to get to Lima first, their April elections put a little damper in my program - they always do, these elections! Democracy! I first thought I could spend February doing interviews and collecting data, but that was pushing things a little close and the availability of legislators was questionable. Nonetheless, I'm here in Quito.

After arriving last week, I immediately got settled in my apartment and started working at the local university, which focuses specifically on the social sciences. I was given the position of Visiting Researcher and they are interested in me presenting some of my research while there. One of the professors at the university has already helped me a lot with getting access to the archive and he's currently helping me get interviews with legislators. They have a really nice intellectual community and I generally work from there when I'm not in the archive.

Thankfully, I live about a 12 minute walk from the university and a ten minute bus ride to the legislative assembly and archive. The city is surrounded by some really beautiful green mountains. Unlike La Paz, the mountains aren't closing in on the city and the city isn't built on top of one another.


However, La Paz did spoil me with my apartment expectations, nothing beats living in an apartment on the 9th floor overlooking a major plaza with a clear view of all of the surrounding mountains. I'm back down to the first floor with really no view (but, there are windows!). I'm happy with this apartment, but it was kind of a shock at first. Oh well.


I do have a clear view of a mountain right when I exit the building. This is no 9th floor view, but it does get me up and going in the morning. Of course, in this case, the clarity of the view depends on the clarity of the sky. The rain seems to come as quickly as it goes, forcing me to take an umbrella everywhere I go. I feel so prepared!

What just happened?

Towards the end of my trips I generally adopt some objective to complete a finale message. Most often times, I get near the end, I'm exhausted, and I never get around to it. This patterned behavior can even be traced back to the good ole emailing days when I would send updates via email. I just let people assume I'm back home (safely) and drained of thoughts. But, this time, I'll give what the people (Aunt Charmaine) want.

I could never really fully understand what was going on in La Paz ... I was surrounded by zebras, faced with inventive hairstyles, ignored by those in need, and just plain confused. Of course, these events may not even necessarily indicate a general trend in La Paz (doubtful!). However, finally, it all came together during my last week in La Paz. I wasn't going crazy! I really will never truly understand what is going on there. Thankfully we have artistic expression to deliver the message. While in the Vice President's administrative building for a meeting (not with the V.P.), I came across an interesting painting. I stopped, stood, and decided to keep on moving. I just couldn't spend my waning energy trying to figure out what was going on in the painting. After the meeting, I passed the painting again. I stopped, stood, and decided to snap a photo (I always had my camera with me - ready for research and the most opportune encounters). This painting essentially captures the confusion I endure everyday while I'm in La Paz.


Ok - a lot is going on here. First, why isn't anyone tending to the man who appears to be dead? Is anybody concerned about the fire? Where did the wolves come from? Finally, with all of this going on, where did the bare-chested woman come from and why is she just laying there? Thankfully, she has the Bolivian flag to partially cover her up.

No, Your Hair Looks Great!

As many of you know, I don't take great pleasure in poking fun at people and laughing at their misfortunes. However, today I saw the worst hairstyle every. I don't say this lightly. On a daily basis I'm confronted with men that have retched mullets, feathered hair, rat-tails, and reverse rat-tails (literally, a tiny clump of long hairs in the front pulled over a shaved head - this is not the same long-bangs trend of the mid-90s) and with women that have, once again, mullets, and the poodle. Sometimes I feel like I've stepped back into the hairstyles of the 80s. It's pretty severe for me to claim that somebody has the worst hairstyle in La Paz ... I'm even going to say in Bolivia (potentially, The Americas). This style is unique - it's not just an exaggerated mullet or some high-quality feathering. Don't worry, I quietly stalked him in order to get a good picture. You have to see it to believe it.

Yes - those are three strands of braided hair coming out the back of his head. It's not even a modification of the rat-tail ... it starts too high and there are three! Oh yeah - he had a romantic lady-friend with him. Proof: I first passed them while they were making-out (no, I didn't get a picture of that). Apparently, some women really dig the style.

The Show Must Go On!

Friday was an exciting day in La Paz ... we celebrated the 9th Anniversary of our dear friends, the Zebras (see Zebra post). For nine years, Paceños (people from La Paz) have been safely crossing the street with the aid of our zebra friends. To reward the zebras for their contribution to the city, the municipal government hosted a party. Unfortunately, this meant that all of us not attending the party were stuck on street corners without any protection for crossing the road. It was chaos in the streets without our friendly zebras. They looked to be having so much fun at their party, while we suffered in the streets. Yeah - happy anniversary.


Despite our fears, Paceños were ready to rock and/or roll Friday night, welcoming the band Dr. Queen to La Paz! Yes - a Queen cover band from Argentina came to La Paz and it was AWESOME! The lead singer kept his character during the entire performance and was quite the showman - Freddie Mercury-style. He never even spoke a word of Spanish, only speaking English throughout the entire performance. It was great.

Hello, Mr. President

Today was a pretty good day ...

Most of my time is spent running around the city trying to follow a lead, waiting on legislators, interviewing legislators, or working in the archive taking pictures of documents that I will be using later. Some days are completely dedicated to waiting on somebody for them to tell me that the person who sent me was incorrect and that I really need to be going to a different office - making me feel like I lost the entire day. These days are generally followed with an entire day in the archive dedicated to taking pictures of documents - making me feel really productive. The two balance each other out. This is generally my routine ... trying to maintain some sort of balance between waiting on people and the immediate gratification of productivity.

Today, not only did I get a lot done in the archive this afternoon, but this followed an excellent interview with a former president of Bolivia ... one of the few former presidents that have stayed in Bolivia after his tenure. He's been in-and-out of the country for the past few months for work, so he has been really difficult to get a hold of, but he was available this morning for a quick interview. We talked for about thirty minutes and I got a lot of really good feedback and an interesting perspective on what is currently developing under this current administration. I was a little nervous at first, but I quickly loosened up and we had a nice casual conversation. I'm hoping we can meet once again before I leave, but who knows if our schedules will overlap once more. He even signed my copy of his book before I left. Yes, I read it before I met with him ... and, YES, I provide evidence in the form of a photo. Enjoy!

Message Received!

Today I was in the headquarters for the majority party and noticed a poster from the Ministry of Education promoting education (I can safely assume that this poster has been distributed throughout the city). Unfortunately, students here are in real trouble when the Ministry of Education prints a poster that can't even spell literacy correctly. Notice the written 'l' in the word 'Alfabetización' coming out of Bolivia. Even worse, this mistake was not only overlooked once, but twice in 'Post Alfabetización.' Ouch! I guess this delivers their point that we really should be strongly promoting education.