Taxis, alpacas, and jose cuervo

Saturday, first weekend in Santa Cruz!
After waking up to roosters at 5am, we braved the notorious Santa Cruz traffic and walked (aka dodged oncoming traffic) to the Hipermaxi grocery store (a behemoth of a market) to change dollars to bolivianos. I was thrilled when I gave them 60 dollars and got back 450 bolivianos. The dollar goes a long way, but not for long... billboards here advertise that 'if the dollar falls, don't forget we have euros'
Negotiated our first cab ride into the center of the city, the Plaza Principal. Getting cabs is interesting- they see gringos coming and see dollar signs, so before we get in the cab we have to negotiate a price. They say 10 bolivianos, I say 8, and they say fine. It's ridiculous negotiating over the equivalent of 25 cents, but it's the principle of the matter!
Walked around the Plaza Principal, or 'Plaza de 24 de septiembre,' and explored the little shops/vendors. Beautiful jewelry/crafts, sweaters made from alpacas (and who knew that baby alpacas make an entirely different kind of wool than adult alpacas!), stopped into a cafe for cafe con leche, cunapes, empanadas, and other typical bolivian snacks, and then sat on the patio of an Irish pub for our first delicious Bolivian beer- Pacena.
Went out with the other volunteers living in the house (Sharon, a social worker, Yuna, a med student, Matt, Loyola 4th year, and Erin, Loyola resident), along with the volunteers' Bolivian friends, to Club Jose Cuervo. Mini-kegs, tequila shots, and insanely loud latina music made for some great gringo attempts at latin dancing. I discovered that height-wise I am quite the norm in Bolivia, so I felt right at home among a crowd of 5'2'' bolivians.