Blogs from Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, South America - page 10

Blog to appear at a later date.... read more

I believe I left off at the point of arrival in Cochabamba. I wasn´t in the best mood, due to hardly any sleep, and I kept thinking "I left Sucre to get on a cockroach-infested bus with the devil at the wheel to come here?" Cochabamba is pretty much a big city and that is it. There is nothing particularly special to do, apart from get a cable-car up a hill to look at a big statue of Christ (five centimetres taller than the one in Rio de Janiero. Brilliant). We dutifully went up in the cable-car, looked at the Christ, took some photos then headed back to our hostel for a lovely little siesta. Siestas are the best thing in the world I have decided! Now I am currently back in Sucre I have a ... read more

For this eventful day we headed to Bolivia with our new Brazilian friend, Leiga, where she had heard there was going to be a ritual to welcome the New Year. Once across the Peruvian border into Bolivia, we went took a boat to Isla Del Sol: The Island of the Sun. This island is on Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, and is an ancient Incan place of worship, with numerous temple ruins still remaining on the island. The island is very dramatic. It rises steeply out of the water and you can hike up and over the hills to the other end in about 4-5 hours. We did this hike on our second day and we were just blown away by the beauty of the landscape, with its inviting beaches, grassy hillsides, the ... read more

The national park of Torotoro is in the centre of Bolivia, 138km from the city of Cochabamba. Few tourists make the trip (it wasn't even in our guide book) as a public bus only runs on Thursdays and Sundays. The fact that it is so remote was one of the biggest attractions for us. We caught the 6am bus from the outskirts of Cochabamba. The bus was packed with locals returning to Torotoro after the weekend market, most were chatting to each other in Quechua. When the seats were occupied, the aisle filled with people sitting on sacks of corn, bundles of sticks, crates of god knows what and everything but the kitchen sink - that was on the roof! As usual my knees were jammed into the seat in front, my penance for being tall. ... read more

So meine Lieben, übermorgen geht mein Flieger zurück nach Hause - 3,5 Monate Bolivien sind vorbei…irgendwie ist es doch schnell vergangen und trotzdem kommt es mir so vor, als wär ich schon ewig hier… In meinen letzten Wochen war ich noch ziemlich unterwegs, war zum Beispiel am Dienstagsmarkt in Punata - hab mich natürlich gleich auf den ersten Metern verlaufen, bin dann meloneessend von Autoreifen zu Unterhosen, weiter zu Hüten, Kochtöpfen, Röcken und piepsenden Kücken gestolpert. Irgendwann bin ich zwischen Kartoffeln und Bohnen stecken geblieben und hab von weitem eine Kuh erblickt - der Viehmarkt war der Burner! Mitten in der Stadt standen plötzlich Kühe, Esel, Schweine und Schafe herum… Außerdem hab ich noch das Sozialprojekt von Alans Frau, Niki in Uspha Uspha besucht. Uspha Uspha ist ein Vorort von Cochabamba. Sie arbeitet dort in einem ... read more