Sitting in Copacabana

We are just finishing a lunch at a small restaurant in Copa. For just 15 Bs. we had soup, a main dish, and mate. We also got some dark and very sweet beer - Bi Cervecina - from the Cerveceria Boliviana Nacional brewery. The rain has been falling for a while now, and due to the high humidity, it is getting quite cold. During lunch, Rafys received a message from her phone company saying that they were giving her 20 free text messages, and she sent off 3 immediately, hoping to hear word of her motehr. (She just got a call from her friend - right now - and the look of relief in receiving that call was amazing.) Also during lunch, we learned that the transportation strike may well continue for another day; that we wouldn't get a bus until maybe 7AM tomorrow. The TV in the restaurant keeps showing images of drivers blocking roadways in La Paz and of policemen firing gas and taking many detainees. Very little in the local (Bolivian) news anymore about the aftermath of the Chilean earthquake, but news of the 6.4 earthquake in Taiwan (just a mention of them). Rafys found out about her parents, her red-haired cousin and her brother, all are well, and her brother was selling the food from her father's restaurant's refrigerators - a stop-gap measure, and likely means of feeding the family as well. The rain doesn't appear to be letting up any, but I think that we will be going to the Museo del Poncho this afternoon instead of staying in this restaurant or climbing Calvary Hill.