Arrival in Cochabamba, Bolivia

I have arrived in Bolivia! Cochabamba is a beautiful city (east of La Paz)....altitude @8500 feet...so it is taking a little time to get used to the elevation. The climate is warm (it's summer here in the global south), the green mountains surround the city and my Bolivian host family has been so very kind and helpful to me. The first 48 hours of my journey were a little crazy! First the zipper on my large suitcase broke just before leaving for the airport, so we made a quick trip to the store and bought two smaller bags. Then at the Asheville airport I set off the security alarm and had to be "patted down" and all my articles scanned...yikes...what a hassle. I later found out in Miami that the security culprit was my silver bracelet that I didn't remove in Asheville before entering the scanner.  Then as if I had not already exhaused Murphy's Law...my luggage never made the transfer from US Air to American Airlines in Miami...so I arrived in Bolivia but my suitcases didn't!!! Good news...the luggage did arrive yesterday (Sat) and I am now settled into my lovely room looking out over the mountains and the city. My host is a pediatrician...and his wife and two adult children live in the stucco home that you enter through a courtyard filled with flowering plants. Tomorrow I begin my Spanish language classes at the Maryknoll Language Institute. I can walk the five blocks to the institute from my host's home. I am hoping that the Spanish I learned in HS and college will gradually return as I hear and speak more each day. Buenos noches from Bolivia!