Life in Bolivia 1

There are many differences in life here. One is the bread. Normal Bolivian bread is round, flat and of various diameters. Is also fairly solid or hard even when fresh. In the markets Bolivian ladies have large baskets of bread that sell bread of various sizes, In bread shops it is possible to get other shapes. They also have a sweet tooth and and one of the common sweet pastry is small flat round hollow roll with some minced fruit inside and on top is a white creamy spread which is very sweet.

Food is generally very cheap here I bought 2 icecreams - like a mint heart for the 8 bolivianos which is just over a dollar and a bottle of Coke is about 4B.

On the downside getting something done is a nightmare. The local pastor that the Cox's are mentoring is in the middle of re-registering his small motor bike and come tomorrow it will be a week since he has started the process.

This is because every department is an island and you can't pay a department directly because they don't trust staff to handle money, so you have to go to a bank and pay deposit the money and then get several receipts and then go back to another office to give them the receipt then you have to photocopy that and take it to yet another office which is often on the other side of town.

The Cox's have been renewing their visa and it has been a complete nightmare because there is always some other document or photocopy that you need and the department you just saw knows that you need it but doesn't bother to tell you so when you get to the next department in the chain they tell you that you need this other document. If that isn't enough, you have to get documents typed up by Notary public offices - and if they get one thing wrong in the document the other department will reject it even if it is obvious but silly mistake like the name on the wrong line. So you have to go back and get it redone...

All this is very mentally draining for our missos