Newley Purnell

Yesterday, I had my students play a game in class: in small teams, they tried to think of foods that begin with a series of letters. One was “N,” for which almost everyone in class wrote “nuts.”

But one of my students, a twelve-year-old boy whose physique suggests he doesn’t miss many meals, revealed another option: “nuggets.”

My team, the Atlanta Braves, are out of the playoffs. They disgust me too much to write about here; always such promise and always such post-season choking. I know fellow fans Jordan M. and David Z. and Andrew H. are with me on that.

But the Red Sox, my second-favorite team, and my friend Benny C.’s obsession, are marching forth formidably. I caught the last couple innings of their victory over the morally bankrupt Yankees (sorry, Miles B., but buying all the best players in the league–and from Japan–just isn’t fair) last night.

And with Chicago (who are also, like the BoSox, perpetually star-crossed) still alive in their series against the Marlins, I’m gonna go ahead and call it right now:

Red Sox over the Cubbies in the World Series.

It can happen. It should happen. It must happen. (Related: Bill Simmons reflects on Boston beating the A’s.)

My friend Aaron T. just started teaching English in Busan, Korea. And he’s got an entertaining Weblog.

Matthew “Defective Yeti” Baldwin recounts a disastrous environmental sciences lesson he taught as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia.

Our classes start today. I’ve got two high school-level 103 classes and one 302 class for adults. And I might be picking up a tutorial, as well. I’m looking forward to getting back into a daily routine.

I’m proud that a travel writer I admire, Rolf Potts, has mentioned my article, “How and Why I Moved to Ecuador,” on his Web site.

If you’re interested in traveling or moving abroad, I strongly recommend checking out Potts’s recent book, “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.”

Now that I’ve described all the logistical hassles (i.e. roadblocks a-plenty) that we ran into during our Bolivia sojourn, I wanted to supply a run-down of some of the really cool stuff we experienced. Herewith:

–La Paz is an amazing city. It’s a teeming metropolis set in a valley surrounded by spectacular, snow-capped mountains. Here’re some photos. I hope to post some images of my own soon.

–We sat in on a class at my brother’s school, The American Cooperative School of La Paz. Nice place.

–Our attempt to take a tour of La Paz’s San Pedro prison was denied–the guard said foreign tourists are no longer allowed inside. We did, however, glimpse the prisoners milling about the courtyard.

San Pedro is perhaps the world’s strangest prison: visitors can usually take tours–guided by prisoners themselves–for a small fee. And the inmates, who live in rooms of their own making and are accompanied by their families, if they wish, are allowed to make money selling things, like trinkets or drugs. (I’ve heard stories about gringos going to San Pedro expressly to purchase or do drugs, in fact, which seems incredibly foolish.) Visiting the prison’s supposedly safe, and until recently, unless the guard we met was mistaken, sanctioned by the government. More info on San Pedro is here and here.

–As I mentioned earlier, we attened a localy derby between La Paz’s two most popular soccer clubs, The Strongest and Bolivar. Lots of fun. The quality of the match was good, and I was amazed by the players’ fitness levels: downtown La Paz’s elevation is about 12,000 feet.

–We perused La Paz’s Witchcraft market, which is the place to go if you’re looking for a llama fetus (we weren’t, but they’re used in various ceremonies, like the blessing of a new building).

–I chewed coca leaves a few times. Doing so is supposed to produce feelings of euphoria; I didn’t feel any special effects.

–We took a two-day boat tour of Lake Titicaca’s islands and stayed overnight with an indigenous family.

–On the way back, we had a long layover in Lima. It’s an smoggy, dusty city, but I was glad to get a chance to see it up-close–it’s the home of nearly 8 million Peruvians.

We arrived in Cuenca this morning. It’s nice to be back. Classes start on Monday.

Bolivia’s still a mess: today protesters unsuccessfully tried to block the road linking La Paz to its airport. And for an excellent re-cap of what all the fuss is about, see “Bolivia’s Gas War,” which ran recently in CounterPunch. Benjamin Dangl writes:

A new cycle of conflict has developed in Bolivia as worker unions, coca farmers and ordinary citizens unite to prevent the sale of the nation’s gas reserves to the United States through a Chilean port. In a country whose economic identity has been strongly shaped by U.S. pressure in the war on drugs and IMF structural adjustments, The Gas War is the most recent case where the Bolivian public has vehemently protested against foreign interests taking priority over the country’s economic well being.

We’re in Lima now. And we’ve almost made it back to Cuenca.

We had to leave Puno a day early–our airline changed our Lima to Guayaquil departure time from 10:45 a.m. tomorrow to just after midnight tomorrow. So we bussed 7 hours from Puno to Cuzco yesterday and–get this–were held up by roadblocks (yes, more roadblocks!) outside Juliaca, on the way to Cuzco.

The reason for the trouble: a disputed soccer championship, astoundingly. Apparently the team from Juliaca lost to Puno’s squad in a controversial match, and Juliaca’s fans blocked all highways in an attempt to be awarded the crown. These protesters, though, unlike Bolivia’s, lacked logistical organization–our bus driver simply diverged from Juliaca’s main drag, where some rocks were strewn haphazardly about, and took an alternate route through town.

We flew from Cuzco to Lima today; we’ll arrive in Guayaquil early tomorrow morning and then we’ll be in Cuenca by tomorrow afternoon.