mas de bolivia

wellllll in the last week or so I did a bit of the big city circuit here, Potosi then Sucre the Cochabamba and now La Paz. Sounds like a lot of ground to cover in not very much time, but I felt like I got the feel of each city, saw what interested me there, and moved on when I was ready, so it hasn't felt rushed. Plus I've discovered that when I'm on my own, time passes a lot more slowly.. in a good way.
Potosi was the big celebration, parades and Evo and such, my discovery of Bolivian food and how much I love it, a lot of walking very slowly because of the altitude, and then the tour of the silver mines. Closest I've ever felt to claustrophobic, we went down in these tiny dark tunnels and the air got all hot and dusty and smelly.. and of course lots of historical/social interest there too.
Moving on to Sucre.. lots of really well preserved colonial architecture, I got shown around the city by a guy from then university tourism office named Jorge who wants to start his own company with hot air balloon tours, I saw multiple Peruvian drag queens, my favorite market so far complete w/pinata section, went to an old colonial castillo outside of town, lots of visits to the indigenous art museum where the curator thought I was doing a project or something b/c I was so into the weaving displays (yeah, yeah, I liked them okay?)
Leaving Sucre/when I arrived in Cochabamba THE FEVER returned, so I had to chill out for a bit; basically slept all of one day and then took the next two at a nice slow pace. Lots of exploring in the markets (I couldn't tell where one specific one was like in other cities, they just kept connecting for blocks and blocks), a walk to the lake & up to a nice view, my first restaurant meal (Hare Krishna veggie buffet!), many dried llama foetuses hanging from the roof in the markets, bus to a suburb to check out the church that Max recommended/they were having a flower festival, Rough Guides was right about Cochabambinos being open and friendly
I just got to La Paz last night, decided to branch out from my usual alojamientos (private rooms with shared bath for like $3 a night) and stay at a more typical hostel; definitely a different experience, what with the bathrooms having toilet paper and the people my age speaking English and the free pancakes for breakfast. So far La Paz is BIG and with lots of mountains! And back to the having to stop and breath every 5 or 10 minutes...