Shopping

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Day 260 (Correction on previous days) - Monday 16 June

Once again I arrived safely and made my way to the same guesthouse I'd stayed in last timè. I'd phoned ahead so they had my room waiting for me.

I needed to spend a day tidying up ends and todays going to be it. First of all there was my visa extension. They'd only given me 30 days visa on entry but i´m entitled to 90. As i´ve only got a few more days left on it I went down to the immigration office for my extra 2 months.

Being out in the jungle the past few days I'd lost touch with the world so hit the internet to find out whats been going on. I´d also missed all the Euro Championship football games the past few days which hadn´t bothered me but now that its at the final group stages and i've not much else to do I watched this afternoons game.

The new Indiana Jones film has just hit the cinemas in La Paz. I think a film like thats always better to watch on the big screen rather than on tv and its only 10 B (66p) to see it. I went down in the evening to watch it. Luckily its in English. Im off to Peru in a couple of weeks it will be interesting to see if its the same as in the film.


Day 261 - Tuesday 17 June

After waking up I decided to hit the market and do all my souvenier shopping. So the whole morning was spent getting a feel for the prices at various stalls before I was ready to start my buying. I think I ended up getting a good price but you never can tell. I´d bought so much stuff that theres no way ill be able to carry it all so had to go to the post office so I could ship it all home. That took longer than I wanted.

I'd missed the first 15 mins but managed to catch most of the France v Italy game. Once the football was over I headed off to the bus station to get a ticket to Santa Cruz. I'd liked it there when I´d gone almost a month ago so Ive decided to go back for a bit and study Spanish there. Its also a chance for me to go on a date with Asunta. We still keep in touch. It was quite interesting at the bus station. I turned up half an hour before all tonights buses leave and its quite a bit cheaper to buy your ticket just before it leaves rather than the day before. Obviously theres no guarantee that they´ll be any seats left but if theres lots of companies going then you should be ok. I've always bought the day before but not anymore. As I can speak enough of the lingo now I also found another route to Santa Cruz. Its a bit of a hassle as you have to change buses at 5 in the morning but its half the price.

Having decided to leave getting my ticket until tomorrow I went back to the guesthouse. I ended up watching a film about Che Guevara. I keep hearing his name but know nothing about him. It was about his pre-revolutionary days. It turns out before he was an ordinary traveller just like myself, and he and his mate seem to be a bit like me and Russ.

Day 262 - Wednesday 18 June

My bus doesn't leave until tonight so I had ages to kill. I managed to pass the morning researching my trip to Peru and packing up before watching this afternoons football. Sweeden V Russia, it was rather a dull game.

As soon as the game finished I went out for a quick bite to eat before I had to leave. I noticed the streets where deserted which was a bit strange. There wasn´t a single person about and its broad daylight in the middle of the city centre. There were no cars either. Suddenly a whole squadren of riot police ran past me all tooled up. There must be another riot going on. I´ve seen tonnes of them now. Hopefully it will be over before my bus has to leave.

Luckily it was and I managed to get safely to the bus station. The good news is my bus is running. Theres quite a bit of political trouble at the moment and cities like Potosi and Sucre are completely blocked off. I've heard Potosi where I visited only a couple of weeks ago is nearly out of food. I hope it doesn´t spread to Santa Cruz when i´m there

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