From our first day in Bolivia, I was interested in their housing. Looking over La Paz, it was obvious that brick housing seemed to be the favorite choice.

As we traveled around Bolivia, both in towns and out in the country, I couldn't help but notice that there were piles of bricks everywhere. They were in front of businesses and houses, on the side of the road with nothing around, and pretty much, everywhere else.

At one point, I got close to some brick work under construction and took the next photo, just to satisfy my own curiosity. The bricks were roughly 3" by 4" by 8". The bricks also contained six large square holes in each brick.

I finally asked our guide about all the bricks. He said that most people build their own houses and mostly use bricks. He said that land is cheap if you go far enough from the main towns. He said that bricks are 1,000 bricks for $60 US dollars. He said that rebar and cement are also cheap. He said that 72.2 percent of Bolivians own their own homes. I'm confident that this is a higher percentage than in the US.

Our guide said that he purchased his land in the year 2000 for $13,000. He built a 2,000 square foot home for $65,000. We visited the markets where he purchased his doors, windows, etc. I have to think that such a high percentage of home ownership gives Bolivia a tremendous measure of stability.