Supply, Demand, and Thanksgiving.

I'm spending this mild Thanksgiving day in Atlanta with planks of oak (nearly as hard and obstinate as I). My austere friends provide little in the way of insightful intercourse so my thoughts turn to introspective reflection and burgeoning calculation. I have found, amid my musings, much to be grateful for, Family, Friends, an amazing Dog, and more opportunity than is available to most. In addition to these I'm particularly thankful for my association with the Economics department at UTC, an esoteric crowd whose unwillingness to cower to the wills of the Business School got them banished to the School of Arts and Sciences. I have been treated well there, receiving superior instruction and liberal access. They have made me more dangerous than I was before arriving and I can easily say that it's the best educational experience I've ever had. If I do manage to reach Law School it will be due, in no small part, to the Economics department at UTC. Gobble, Gobble!!!

Into Bolivia

   I'm revisiting this post from August 20th and adding a video documenting my entry into Bolivia.  

  Following a prolonged fix for the bike I departed Arequipa late in the afternoon, just in time to catch a desert sunset.  The bike still possessed a slight vibration which I found disconcerting, however, it seemed to me that stopping to check it was no longer an option so I continued across the desert. The cold night eventually saw me make it to Puno but in reaching the town it was was impossible not to notice how run down and filthy it was, so I kept riding. I curled southwest along the edge of lake Titicaca periodically passing through little resort towns, each more decrepit than the last, and my search for a safe place to stay was a difficult one.
        After a total of seven freezing hours on the bike I found myself in yet another desolate town on the Peru/Bolivia border. High pressure sodium bulbs were casting a dingy orange light on the deserted streets and I wondered, what now? The only thing preventing me from getting into Bolivia were two lengths of chain stretching across the road, both of which I could have easily bypassed. The first of these was mounted out front of a very abandoned looking National Police Station which a black lab had claimed as his. The perro negro barked in protest as I dug through my luggage, as if to say, "I'm the only stray sleeping here tonight". I imagine his dismay was great as I produced a tent from my left side pannier. Overwhelmed with sadness he rose and lumbered slowly down the road while offering up a couple of half-hearted howls. I made camp and at 3AM I was asleep in front of a police station on the Bolivian border.


The 5 days spent here were the most Adventurous of the trip and there is plenty to show. Here is the first of 5 videos