The next morning, we left right on schedule. Rolando’s neighbor picked us up with a minibus at 6:00 A.M. sharp. Emma stayed behind, while Rolando accompanied us on the drive into the city center. As we pulled away from Emma, Up Close and Jupapina, I could no longer hold back my tears.
Moving through Mallasa, I began to see first-hand all of the havoc that had been wreaked since Morales’ resignation. The city hall had been set on fire. The neighborhoods were completely barricaded and the vending stalls in front of the animal sanctuary had been destroyed. Even after the people were gone and the streets practically empty, we could feel the immense energy of it all. As we navigated our way into La Paz, the road blocks and barricades grew in number. At one point, we drove past a group of four or five men standing around a small fire, just in front of a barricade. I imagined them standing there all night, ready to protect their neighborhood, their houses and their families against angry mobs of looters and vandals.
Just as we were pulling up to the hostel near the bus stop, Rolando's phone rang. Soon we learned that because of the increasing violence and roadblocks around La Paz and beyond, the bus wasn’t going to be able to leave for Peru. In fact, no buses were leaving and no one knew when they would be able to.
That day, many of the volunteers decided to buy flights to Peru and to either continue on with their travels or to fly home from there. Josh and I were able to find relatively cheap flights to a small town in northern Chile—Iquique—leaving on Friday.
