Blogs from Cochabamba Department, Bolivia, South America - page 3

Aurora 3 Guarbi 1 (Part 4) A very low key match on a Saturday evening in Cochabamba at the Felix Capriles Estadio. This was a Liga A game and the attendance was a measley 2,000 or so. A little on the disappointing side but Cochabamba is a much smaller city than Santa Cruz so what can you expect. Quality of footy was the poorest we've seen ot the trip so far, these lot would make Blackburn look good! Aurora are mid table and Guarbi are adrift at the bottom of the league so that may explain things a little. Tomorrow we´re off to a Liga B game with Cochabamba´s other team Wilsterman, expectations aren´t high!! Despite the low numbers, there were still a few fans who made the effort, banging drums and setting off flares and ... read more

Ey up Gringos We’re in Arequipa , Peru . But uuughhh I’m dying. I’m ill. You wouldn’t understand. Uggghh. I would kill everyone in this hostel just to be back at home on the couch with a cup of Yorkshire Tea and a couple of slices of toast. But I’ll fight my way through it cos I’m a man, a man’s man that just gets on with it and does it my way. I always say, ‘what would Chuck Norris do?’ He’d probably punch himself in the stomach until he was better. Beat those bugs up with his fists, no time for those white blood cells to sort it out. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. “Cheers love.” Judith’s just got back from the shop with a bottle of water for me and a bag of ready ... read more

Well it´s been a very long time since I´ve blogged so this is going to be a long one! I left off in Peru as we were about to head to Cusco. We flew from Lima in a tiny plane (much to my horror) but arrived unscathed in Cusco in the early morning. At 3300 metres above sea level, the altitude hits you right away, I felt like I´d downed a bottle of red after getting off the plane! We spent the next two days aclimatising as we were all feeling pretty horrible from altitude sickness but got to know Cusco as quite a cool city with good restaurants, bars and markets. There are lots of tourists here as it is the gateway to the Inca Trail. Unfortunately I came down with a head cold the ... read more

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