All That Jazz...

This week has been very up and down; which is fitting for an undulating city like La Paz. I´ll start with the less-than-stellar moments of my trip so that I can end on a high.

In my previous blog, I told you that my guitar playing went down alright. This was true (at least I hope so) until I knocked over Jules’ guitar whilst running to take a photo! Not my best first impression. I´ve included the before shot of our ´familia´ photo at Sharoll´s request. (see previous entry for the after one)

Now I´ve shared one of my (many) moments of shame, it´s time to embarrass someone else. Des has been hilarious this week. He sat down on a beanbag overenthusiastically and now there are little polystyrene balls everywhere.

And I mean everywhere:

Not a good week for Harry and Rodrigo either, who both got food poisoning. Harry got it worse and it we could hear him moaning in pain from the living room. Carro made him coca tea but there wasn´t much else we could do to help him. So we waited for it to pass.

Here´s a picture of (a recovered) Harry and Naomi with their treasured coca tea:

I made a deal with Des that if I found his glasses, he´d make me coca tea for a week. Not that he needed them. I quote (to be read in a South African accent): “it´s OK if I can´t see the film. I´ve seen it before. I´ll just paint it in my mind.”


Having cleared up the flat (including all the polystyrene balls), we managed to secure front-row seats at Thelonius jazz bar. Thanks to world-class training from ´casas culturales´ (conservatoires which give bursaries), the quality was superb. Next, was an after-party at Sharoll´s friend´s flat. The altitude made me sick and I fainted on-route from lack of oxygen. I was tempted to go home but I´m so glad I didn´t. The flat was beautifully furnished, teaming with people and had a gorgeous view of the whole city, illuminated against a pitch black sky.

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