The World Cup has taken over all aspects of my life

So all day Tuesday, Esteban and I gathered information about other Micro-finance institutions in Cochabamba. We went to 8 different MFIs and got a lot of useful information. It's really interesting because each institution is completely different. For example, some MFIs have a set interest rate that they will use for everybody who wants credit no matter the duration of the loan, the amount of the loan, the guarantees the borrower can give, or really anything else (for example Pro Mujer does this... 2% monthly for individual loans and 12% annually for group loans). And some MFIs, like Sartawi, completely personalize every single aspect of the loan for each person from the duration, the interest rate, the amount, etc. because each person offers something different and no two people are exactly alike.

Then at night, I was really in the mood for a saltena, but I couldn't find any! I still have not tried one, and it's really sad. I think today I will leave work around 10 or 10:30 to go find myself one. Instead as I was walking the streets alone at night, I got a call from Mansi who invited me to go eat pizza with her. It was a good alternative, so we met in Plaza Colon from where we would attempt to find the pizzeria that we had gone to as a group the first week in Cochabamba. We searched for almost a half an hour... we really wanted that pizza! Finally we found it and we sat down and had a delicious dinner and talked about micro-finance and my findings. Mansi is working for Pro Mujer so she was actually really interested. She also worked in finance for a business for the past few years while getting her business degree, so she will be able to help me a lot with any financial stuff I need.

Yesterday was not quite as fun. We all kind of just watched the World Cup in the office. We saw Switzerland beat Spain which was amazing (for me). I just like rooting for the underdog. Everyone else though was pretty upset. Then in the afternoon, I bet 5 bolivianos that South Africa would beat Uruguay. Well, I lost 5 bolivianos which was really sad because 5 bolivianos is about 75 cents which could have either bought me 2 saltenas, 10 mandarin oranges, or 8 pieces of bread. Darn!

One and a half more days of work, and then Mansi, Luke, and I are off to Copacabana and La Paz to hike across Isla del Sol and see the Amayra New Year (for the winter solstice) at the ruins in Tiwanaku. Pictures and stories to come by Wednesday hopefully. We have Monday off, and I will hopefully be allowed to miss work on Tuesday to spend some more time in La Paz.