Yesterday we went to visit the US Embassy in La Paz. (True, we had had no embassador here since 2008 when Goldberg was kicked out, but we do still have an embassy.)
All the other embassies on the street look cozy and inviting. They are open buildings with cultural flare to match the host country.
The US embassy rises above them all: a cold, bare, many-storied, rectangular building hidden behind a 20 foot cement wall. ¨The wall keeps getting higher,¨I was told, ¨because people keep throwing bombs over the top.¨ I wonder if the walls are high because people throw bombs, or if people throw bombs because the walls are so high.
Inside the wall, the grounds are well landscaped. We all agreed it looks like a cross between a prison and a fancy country club; I kept waiting to turn the corner and see a pool with Ralph Lauren umbrellas. The US state seal is even trimmed into the hedges. No lie.
I entered the building expecting to speak with some old politicion who has a big smile, and the ability to talk his way around our pointed questions.
Instead, we spoke with a perky girl who looked like she could easily be a current UNC student. Im not going to lie, I was sceptical at first.
When our long question-answer session was done, I was pleasantly suprised and refreshed. This embassy employee has a history of activism and her views are quite liberal. She recognizes that she is working in ¨the system¨ and she does what she can to make a postive difference. She was open and candid about the current political situation and her opinions. I never thought Id say this about a politician, but I am actually proud that she is representing US citizens.
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