Blogs from Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, South America - page 4

We arrived for the second time in Cochabamba's seedy southern part of town. The area smells like a developing country, the streets laden with garbage and full of people. The streets in the southern part are not appealing in the least, the buildings almost universally appear to be in some state of decay. Walking north the city changes quickly, the buildings began to appear cleaner and the litter lessened to nothing. We walked past the central plaza and the cathedral and checked into a huge hostel/hotel hybrid. After much faffing about town, we sat in a huge American style (searching for the right word....) restaurant, Globos. The menu had a huge array of cakes, ice creams, elaborate drinks and eventually a huge selections of sandwiches. We ate well and there was cake left over. Watching Brazil ... read more

Knowing we would be hiking the inca trail few days after arriving in Cusco we spent our time relaxed and preparing. We visited markets, enjoying the meals there for less than £1 and walked around the beautiful city. We had our briefing on the trek, which made us all nervous as they discussed hours of walking uphill, cold weather conditions and carrying large sleeping equipment. The first day didn't start well when our alarm failed to go off (at 5am) and our guide is at our door wondering why we weren't ready! Secondly we quickly learnt that 3 Aussy guys and us were the only people daft enough not to pay for an additional porter. It wouldn't have been a problem if it wasn't for the weighty sleeping bag and mattress we needed to carry with ... read more

Having spent 14.5 hours on an overnight Bolivian bus journey from hell, we were very happy to arrive in Samaipata. It's not actually that far from Sucre but the lack of road makes for a very slow bus ride. And by lack of road I mean dirt track that you would probably only consider mountain biking on back at home. Our bus lacked all the mod cons - no aircon, no curtains, an empty tv cabinet with wires where the tv should have been, and comfort breaks that consisted of squatting at the side of the road next to everyone else. At least it was dark but I still wished I'd been wearing a skirt!!! Anyway, we found a real gem of a hostel in Samaipata. The name escapes me but it was run by a ... read more

Der Grenzübertritt von Peru nach Bolivien verlief unkomplizierter und lockerer als erwartet. An einem Tischchen unter dem Bild mit dem dekorierten Evo Morales wird ein einfacher Stempel in den Pass gedrückt. Die einzigen die sich abmühen mussten, waren die US-Bürger, die ein Visum für 135 USD lösen müssen und dafür einige Zeit aufwenden. Nach kurzer Fahrzeit treffen wir in Copacabana ein, treiben ein Taxi auf und lassen uns zum Hotel Chasqui del Sol fahren. Das Hotel ist nett, hat seine beste Zeit jedoch bereits hinter sich. Copacabana ist ein herziges Städtchen, mit einigen Lädeli-Strassen und vor allem einer Imbiss-Buden-Strasse am Strand vom Titicacasee. In einigen dieser Buden assen wir die Beste Forelle die wir je hatten. Das Forellemahl wurde zum festen Tagesbestandteil während unserer paar Erholungstage in Copacabana. ... read more

day before halloween. I dont have a costume and actually right now my stomaches not entirely ok. Think Im still going out which is Ironic. Many moments have arisen that actually make me contemplate what the hell Im doing. For example drunk watching the sun come up and after sitting at jose luis's house at 8am drinking a beer. ... Seeing 3 sunrises back to back... I worked security at this discoteca called Tequilas and failed sort of at stomping randoms from approaching the band. I managed to somewhat succeed in my new job but they may just like me and have decided to just let me in for free and give me a few drinks. I also joined a rugby team "National Rugby team of bolivia" only because theres only 6 different teams in the ... read more

So it’s been somewhat of a rocky start to my trip. I’ll spare you the details but what is important is that I still have my health and my laptop, so that’s good. It took around twenty four hours for me to get from SFO to La Paz counting all the layovers and transfers. When I landed I thought I had escaped the dreaded altitude sickness that I had been warned of, La Paz is something like 8,000 feet above sea level, but later that night I felt the effects; nothing too bad, similar to a pretty bad hang over. La Paz’s landscape is beautiful, massive snow capped mountains hover in the background. Homes whose color all match the dusty mountain on which they climb extend up and over the apex into the altiplano suburb ... read more