Imaynalla, sutiyqa Hannah**

I write to you from the airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia! Only two more flights until we reach our final destination. As I was brushing up my knowledge of Bolivia on the flights today, I came up with 10 things about Bolivia I bet you didn't know:

1. Outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, fleeing the Pinkerton Detective Agency (later the FBI) met their demise here.

2. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America and also has the greatest degree of economic inequality.

3. God got pretty creative when it came to wildlife here... jaguars, flamingos, pink river dolphins, piranhas, alpacas...


4. 2/3 of the population are from the Quechua and Aymara ethnic groups, which are descendants from the Incas

**This means, "Hello, my name is Hannah" in Quechua

5. Che Guevara also met his demise here.

6. 200 coup d'états in 180 years of independence. Whoa.

7. Tarija, located in a valley, boasts a microclimate that gives it the name "the Andalucía of Bolivia"

8. Tarija is also the epicenter of Bolivia's fledgling wine industry, where grapes have been growing since Jesuit missionaries brought them 400 years ago. The high altitude vineyards increase solar radiation and oxidants, intensifying the wine's aroma. I feel a marketing strategy coming on. Hoping to visit a vineyard (maybe this one called 'La Concepción') with Sara and Eva to see if the entrepreneurs might have opportunities to get involved in the industry.

9. There are dinosaur fossils out here!!! Read Job 40:15-18 and get excited!!

10. I'm officially fascinated by Jesuit missions that were established outside of Santa Cruz in 1587. These frontier towns built massive churches in the colonial style, learned orchestral instruments such as the violin and harp, composed music, etc. The Jesuits were then expelled by royal and papal decree in 1767. Tom and his wife visited them and said it was awesome.

That's all for now... qhipurkama ("See you soon" in Aymara!)


~Hannah