Gayle, you have some pull! Told Carl today that you said he was a slacker, and he had this post up in less than an hour. This is for you Alta Girl!

What can I say except, “I’m sorry!”
I know I haven’t written on this for months and months, and I know everyone else is busy, but that is my only excuse. Now, we are back from Atlanta and Texas, we are moved into a fabulous house - so Joeline could have a yard, and now I have a little time.
I don’t even know where to start, but think I will tell you about my trip back to the States in November.
Joeline left in October for her annual visit with her “OLD” friends from Dinuba (California) - they actually met at one of the friends houses, Gayle's in Sonoma - and for her Art Workshop in San Angelo. She left the dog here for me to take care of while she jetted around the world. All went well until I tried to take it back to the states with me.
First of all, this mutt had to have more paperwork than I did, and certainly more shots. All kinds of arrangements had to be made with American Airlines and with AeroSur (the airline for around Bolivia). But, the real problems began as I was in the cab to the airport in Cochabamba.
My secretary called and said that the hotel they had me booked in, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia would not take pets. (There are no connections from here to Miami without staying all night in Santa Cruz or La Paz.) I told her to check other hotels. She said she had already called everyone on our list and none would allow the dog. I told her to forget it, that I would find one when I got there. (Much easier said than done!)
At the airport I got in a taxi and in my fluent Spanish I told the driver to take “yo to the hotelo with the doggieo”. He understood and we left immediately. For two hours - from 10pm till midnight – we drove around Santa Cruz. He took me to the worst dives you have ever seen. I mean my Dad, in the early years of our travels took us to some dives - when we weren’t just sleeping in the trucks or in the trailers with the horses - but they were in the U.S., they don’t compare with the dives here. And none of them would allow the dumb dog.
Finally I told the driver to take me back to the “airporto” and I would just sleep on a bench - my flight left at 10 the next morning. On the way back, way out of the city we passed the Coyote Hotel. It really looked bad, but by then I was past caring. I told the driver to stop. He did so, but when I told him to pull into the hotel, he refused. He kept saying, “No Aqui”. I kept saying, “Si, Aqui”. Finally I won. He pulled in front of the door to the office but wouldn’t get out.
I went in and confronted Freddie Kruger watching drag racing on a 3” TV. He ignored me until I put my hand between him and the screen. Finally, I had his attention, I know because he picked up a nightstick that had been leaning against his chair. After a few minutes of fast talking, in English of course, he got the idea that I wanted a room. He quoted me a price - I guess, but the only word I could decipher after the third try on his part was – “hora” which I know means hour. He rented these “rooms” by the hour. Getting the idea?
We settled on $50 U.S., which is like $300 in the U.S., but I was past caring.
Now it gets good!
He pushes a button and a couple of minutes later a guy that looked like Lurch came out from somewhere. He takes me outside and pulls back this huge steel sliding door. It reveals a narrow driveway with other steel doors on the left and a high wall on the right. He signals the taxi driver to follow him down the driveway, but that “ain’t happening”. I have to get my bags, and dog, out of the taxi and carry them down this driveway. Lurch immediately slides the steel door closed and locks it. We walk down this driveway to the third steel door on the left. He unlocks it and slides it back. It reveals a carport type structure with a door at the end. My imagination is really going wild as to what is behind that door.It’s too late to turn back now, so I walk into the carport. Lurch slides the steel door behind me, with him on the other side and I hear him lock it. I have a choice, lay my bags down and sleep on them in the carport, or go open that door. Evita is at the door barking at it. Oh well, I walked up to the door and then realized no one had given me a key. The door was unlocked. The pictures below are of the room.