And so onto another country

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- FOOD: Chicken straight from the freezer to the fryer (will my stomach cope?),

- AREA: The border town Quijarro in Bolivia is the most depressing border town so far. Suddenly transported into worse poverty as Bolivia is South America´s poorest country. Santa Cruz is very different to Brazil and I immediately liked it. Small city though with not much to do but it feels safe.

- TRANSPORT: The 'Death Train' to Santa Cruz perhaps called the Death Train due to the fact it´s on it´s last legs. First experience of overnight travel without a blanket provided.

- PEOPLE: Very laid back and friendly. The women really do wear big skirts, hats and socks and plaits! Except for the teenage girls who seem to prefer Western fashion (can´t think why!). Not much hassle - they´re all too laid back to bother.

- WEATHER: Mucho sol which I wasn´t expecting. Very hot.



Thur 12th May: My plan to go to Ecuador after Brazil failed as it's a lot of hassle to get there so I've had to make the horrible decision of cutting Ecuador out. Missing out on the Galapagos is not nice but that can be a separate holiday another time.

So after chilling all morning, we had a bit of a hoo-ha getting from Corumba to the Bolivian border and then from the border to Quijarro but made it in time to catch the 'Death Train' to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Quijarro is the dodgiest border town I've been to so far.... it seems incredibly poor (ok, I know I've just come into the poorest country in South America but still).
After paying money left, right and centre to get the train ticket sorted and our baggage (hopefully) put onto the train (tiny amounts of money but still lots of it handed out), we found the only open food place as we were starving (I travelled with the Aussie boys and Nim, from Israel).

The only open food place was a KFC equivalent with the chicken going straight from the freezer into the fryer. Thank god it looked alright enough to eat and we lived to tell the tale.
The train platform was absolutely manic but the journey was better than I was expecting. Luckily we'd been warned that there are no blankets on the train and it gets very cold at night so I'd packed a million layers. I was surprised to see TV's and even more surprised when they played decent DVD's with English subtitles.


Fri 13th: Even though we arrived on this unlucky day, we arrived safe and sound. I'd heard different theories as to why the 'Death Train' is called that - some books say it's because the journey takes you through endless, monotonous scrubland which bores you to death, others say it's because the train crashed 25 years ago and killed all on it, others say it's because locals sometimes travel on the roof of the train and get knocked off and die.
My personal theory is that the train itself is near to death - it's the crankiest form of public transport I've ever been on and it groans, creaks, wheezes and bangs constantly. It seemed to take forever to get going once it had stopped and occasionally it seemed that another train had banged into the back!
Fortunately it only stopped twice along the way although it was a weird experience waking up to see lots of little local kids running alongside the train or getting onto it to sell stuff.

The hostel we arrived at had 3 pet toucans. I got super excited seeing toucans in the distance for 2 seconds in the Pantanal and then I come here to find myself close up to them. Who needs the Pantanal?!

Santa Cruz hasn't really got much to offer except a rather plain cathedral with an amusing statue of Christ wearing a purple skirt, a relaxing square with lots of palm trees (and lots of local men that use the original chat up line of "Have you got the time?"), a not so nice park and a local market that has lots of different food and more than enough toiletries but no crafty things.
It has a very safe feel about it though and also a very laid back feel. The locals are all very friendly and don't hassle you. I like it as a town and felt more comfortable here than in Brazil.

We found a great restaurant that I had lunch and dinner in - a bit similar to Brazilian restaurants with a 'pay by weight' buffet thing going on. In the evening I was told I was boring as I didn't want to partake in drinking huge amounts, talking about laddish stuff and experiencing Bolivia's 'other' tourist attraction with the Aussie boys, a young couple we'd met in the Pantanal who we met again and Nim. Apologies boys but I came to Bolivia for other reasons - the culture, people, diversity, food and daytime attractions. Spending all day stuck in the hostel recovering ain't my idea of fun.

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