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Published: August 10th 2005
Well getting here was the first big adventure! we were very organised and bought our bus tickets in the morning to leave that night, full cama so we were looking foward to a good nights sleep. All was well we got to the bus station in plenty of time and our bus ticket man told us he was changing our bus but it was still cama so we agreed and made our way to the bus. hum. not quite what we had expected! no toilet for one! and the chairs were worse than the number 1 bus, okay not that bad but hardly cama, hardly semi cama! So as cross as we were we got off of the bus to have our first argument in spanish!
Dom used every single spanish he knew, and plenty of english - even if it was irrelevant- and i resorted to pointing at things! We were very determined not to get on the bus, or at least to get some money back so stood our ground even as the bus drove off...untill we realised our bags were on the bus so threw in a few choice hand gestures and ran jumping onto the moving
bus, it was like a scene from indiana jones!
well the last few days we have been in cochabamba which is entirely different to Santa Cruz, the first thing that hits you is the smell! Its like nothing we have ever smelt before! But once out of the markets and into the main city its not so bad.
We havn´t found much to do here but in true Dom and Laura style we found the tourist shops on our last day and went a tiny but crazy! But by crazy i mean spendung B$40 on a huge silver necklace...thats about 2 pounds!!
We also went to the scaryest museum ever, not the buggest, but it was worth the 70p to get in! There are lots of Inca potery etc and some terrifying mummies including children, one of which still has hair! Its well worth a look if you ask me!
The thing we have been finding the hardest is the poverty, i cannot count the number of old men and women begging on the streets, as well as women with children. Its hard not to give money to every single person you see but its
just not possible. Its hardest when chilodren come up to you asking for money, but unfortuantly the sad fact is, even the very small ones, wont use it for food etc. Dom and I have decided to give food to people rather then money, it seems the safest option to know people are getting what they need. It´s heartbreaking to see a man on the street with two calculators, trying to make a living from their sale; worse still to see a lady with a set of bathroom scales waiting for people to want to weigh themselves to support her.
We also found a lovely old lady who knitts finger puppets on the side of the road, me and dom kinda bought her out! we bought 30ish and are now handing them out to the tiny tiny children living on the streets, unfortuantly it dosnt look as if 30 will be enough.
Yesturday was spent walking and walking and walking! we walked to the statue of Jesus which is much taller, and much more impressive than the one in Rio, the view isnt of paradise beaches but its still spectacular!We paid B$3 each to take the cable car
up the 2000 metres (cochcbamba is already more than 2000 metres up, so it was harder to breath than was comfortable - we were out of breath after a small flight of stairs!) After spending a while just admiring the view, and eating ice-cream, waiting for Jesus to open so we could climb up inside, which he didnt, we decided to give the cable car a miss and walk down!
And of course we counted all of the steps, each and every one of them, all 1,385 of them! It wasnt all that bad, we bought bags, yes bags, of water from a man at the top and stopped to watch the cable car go past a few times and we now have extremly toned legs!!
Foods a lot better here aswell, we have found chocolate heaven!! Real Bolivian chocolate, and as tehy grow coco here its amazingly rich and lovely! Although we did get ´gringoed´ by the man selling it who insisted it wasnt possible to buy only one bar we had to get two, not that we complained to much!
We have also discovered the biggest fruit you could imaginge, tomatoes the size of apples, papaya
which is just crazy size, pineapples the size of watermelons, and watermelons the size of small dogs! and the bananas! oh my gosh! they come in all shapes and sizes, from ones as big as my thumb to as big as the pineapples!!
Well we are off for yet another night bus tonight, we were going to stop here for a while and have spanish lessons but we are a little bored of it here already so we decided to get a full Cama bus i.e bus with bed! to La Paz at 10pm tonight, so we will be in yet another cuty by 6am tomorrow!
hope all is well and everyone is getting a great tan, like us!!
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RODRIQUEZ TRAVEL AGENCY
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WE ALL LOVA OUR MOMMIES!!!
HEH!!MY FREENDS!!!SO YOU HAVE EXPERIENCED LOTS YEAH!!,THEE COACH COMPANY ISA OWNED BY JULIOS UNCLE SYLVIO!!!,NO TOILETS ISA OUTRAGE,I PHONE HEEM AND SAY "NO TOILETS,NO RODRIQUEZ TOURISTI!". NOW YOU HEAD TO LA PAZ,NOT FAR FROMA BEAYTIFUL LAKE TITICATA!!!JULIO WOS INNA MUMMY MUSEUM BOT SAYS SOMEONE TOOK HEEM FOR A MOMMY ANNA HE FLED...I SAY "JULIO,YOU JUSTA MAKA THE TRAIL SAFE ELSE NO PAY!", HEES OK NOW. THERE ISA LOT OF POVERTY ANNA IT EES NOT NICE, GIVING FOOD ISA VERY GENEROUS,THANKYOU ARRIVA!!! THEE JOURNEY EES NOW AT HIGHER ALTITUDE SO TAKE CARE ANNA DONT TRY AND DO TOO MOCH AT FIRST,I WILL CONTACT JULIO BY AR G.P.S.SYSTOM,LAST TIME THERE WAS NO ANSWERE FOR 3 MONTHS AS JULIO GOT LOST IN THEE CORDILLEROS!!!!!!ONDRE ONDRE EVYYAH!!!!!!!