My name is Cory Kosche. I am a student at Northeastern University in Boston, MA spending a semester immersing myself in the cultures of South America.

So here I am. In South America. I spent my first two months teaching English in Cusco, Peru and now I´m participating in two programs through Child Family Health International.

The first month I will spend doing ¨Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine¨in La Paz and the second month with ¨Doing More With Less-Healthcare in Remote Southern Bolivia¨ in Tarija, Bolivia.

I´m keeping this blog so that you can read about my travels through the country of Bolivia, read some advice and travelling tips, and to share what I have learned.

If you want to read about something specific, use the labels to the right, I've organized the trip into Tarija and La Paz, as well as specific aspects.

If you want to start from the beginning, Click Here

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to Email Me





Cochabamba

After I finished my program in Tarija; which, by the way was very hard to leave. My friends and I had a big going away party and I'm really going to miss that place! I headed to the bustling town of Cochabamba. Cochabamba is a huge city by Bolivian standards, with many large buildings and a super warm climate.


Going into it, I had heard that the city was also pretty dangerous, and that I had to stick to the safe parts of the city, which I did so no problems there. When I arrived I checked into my hostel, made a friend, and went off exploring the city. We hiked up to the Christ statue; the second largest in the world! And I know you're probably thinking the biggest is in Rio; it's not. The biggest is in Poland.

The next day I met up with two friends from Tarija, who were also there and we explored some more, including getting lost in the largest market in South America!! It was a really beautiful city with a lot of life and almost no gringos, which I've really grown to love.

Now for the bad part: BLOQUÉO. Bolivians love to protest by blocking off major roads throughout the country. There's always one going on somewhere and the police do nothing to stop it. Probably something to with the fact that current president Evo Morales (the one who never finished high school and imposed a tax on those who didn't have children) used to participate in them himself. At this particular time people were protesting tax increases by blocking off the road from Cochabamba to La Paz. My flight out of La Paz was on a Wednesday morning and I intended to leave Cocha on Monday night by bus to arrive Tuesday morning. The bus company told me that should be fine because bloquéos usually ended before my 10:30 bus would be leaving. I confirmed at 6pm that my bus was still leaving that night and they said yes! No problems. Well, I got there at 10 and as it turns out: problems. They refunded my ticket and I was PANICKING. I had to wait until the next day to rush to a travel agency and buy a last minute plane ticket. The earliest they had was 6pm. So I got to La Paz at 7pm. Took a minibus from the far away airport to my friends apartment. Slept. Got up at 5am and was back to the airport to head home!







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