I was glad to pass my 21st while traveling, but here 21 is not quite the monumental age it is in the US. We, (erika, carolina, and carolina´s primo) tried to go out late on Feb 5th to celebrate, but almost everything was closed since it was the last day of carnaval and nobody is up for going out to party in establishments. The only place open was the casino, which was completely empty. We sat around a table, ate fried calamari, I had a couple of ciparinas (which i didn't have to wait until midnight to order), and we were headed home around 1 am.
The next morning Carolina and her mom surprised me with a cake and a necklace with the Bolivianita, a gem that is only found here. The rest of the day was spent going out for lunch and then beside the pool until we went out, this time 6 of us, to watch some live music. This birthday was the most relaxing I've had in a while since im not in classes and the temperature is not below freezing. Im also growing fond of my new friends here.
We leave for Buenos Aires Sunday night. Another neverending journey of 36 hours. This time we found a bus that goes direct so we wont have the same border crisis as the arrival trip. We almost bought a plane ticket, the the more affordable airline, LAB, has suspended their flights because of a recent emergency crash landing that luckily everyone survived. Im excited to finally get to know Buenos Aires, although I finally feel comfortable here in Bolivia. After beight here 3 cumulative months over the past three years and almost nothing surprises or frustrates me anymore. (I've even finally learned how to pretend to dance and how to eat continental style with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right).
