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Protests along the streets of La Paz
Protesters chant:
"Protect the Bolivian Clothing Industry" and
"No more Prawn Cocktails for Natty" Yes indeed, B is for Bolivia. And B is for many other things like B-log Readers.
Well, B-log Readers I´d like to promise you another thrilling installment but the thrills will have to wait until next week. Instead, here is an update on what we´re up to with today´s special letter, the letter B.
B is for Bolivia-
Which is where we remain. In fact we are still in La Paz.
B is for Bathroom -
Which is where poor Natalie has been spending most of her time for the past 5 days with a tummy bug. She is now on the mend though and has been enjoying the packets of chicken noodle soup that make up her breakfast, lunch and dinner.
B is for Bacteria -
Which is the cause of Natalie´s extended stay in the bathroom. Not quite sure where from but possibly the restaurant here in the Hotel Presidente as it is the only place she has actually eaten in the past week or so.
B is for Barmy Food -
We decided to splash out on the Hotel´s gourmet restaurant on the 16th floor...with views across La Paz. All seemed pretty
Stomach Saviour
The Mighty Vegemite Saves the Day.
How glad Natalie is that Jon rationed the travel-sized Vegemite jar for emergencies. good, especially with a welcome cocktail. But once the selections had been made from the menu it went downhill. Nat´s starter of prawn cocktail smelt a bit like Minehead beach on a bad day...possibly the cause of the sickness. For main course I had selected the Partridge ´"Princess Diana" - just because of the name and I´d never seen a partridge with a fringe - but it was off the menu. So instead I went for Pork Chops in Grand Marniere sauce (I thought, you can´t go wrong with that!). I received three mini pork chops (fine) with the strangest topping I´ve encountered. It was as if they´d taken the fruit out of an apple struddle and dannish pastry and put that on top of the pork. So I had pork with slices of apple, sultanas and glacier cherries. Interesting!
Nat´s chicken was a bit strange too.
B is for Bedrooms -
Which we had to swap twice after the cleaning ladies spilt a large puddle of industrial strength polish next to the room´s ventilation shaft thereby slowly poisoning us...OK, an exageration..but we moved rooms.
B is for Burger King -
Having lost confidence in the Hotel food I have opted for a Burger King two streets away. I have had more Burger Kings (three) in the past three days than I have had in the past three years. In a scene reminiscent of Pulp Fiction, I ask for El Whopper...the quarter pounder is called El Lomo (cos´they have the metric system) etc...
B is for Beeping -
Bolivian drivers have the same affliction as drivers in Asia...the inability to drive more than 10 metres without using their horn. Using the horn must be some symbol of virility or something. For absolutely no reason a mini-bus (of which there are many thousands in La Paz) will start beeping. If they are stuck in traffic that has no way of moving forward they will beep. If they are travelling along the road with no possible hinderance in front of them and pedestrians safely on the pavement they will beep. They drive pretty erratically, possibly due to the fact that they have to steer, change gear and gesticulate all with one hand...as the other one is stuck to the horn.
B is for Bangers -
Not sausages but the firework kind. La Paz has been the scene of a week long protest about something. In fact the day that Natalie is feeling better (today) they have departed. So perhaps they were protesting about that prawn cocktail.
The official line is that they are garment producers and workers who are protesting about some of the government´s plans to do with the clothing industry. There have been daily marches down the main street...with people setting off fireworks all the way...police out with tear gas guns (which they didn´t need to use I think)...official buildings and banks protected by guards with pump-action shotguns. The works! Anyway, bangers have been our soundtrack for most of the stay here.
B is for Brazil -
The place we were going to go to for some R&R in Rio. Luckily we hadn´t booked the tickets before Natalie became sick. The reason we scrapped it was the 14 hour flight+stopover time to get there and the even longer journey to get to Cusco 5 days later.
B is for Better Times Ahead -
Which start tomorrow when we head to Lake Titticaca for a couple of days. A change of scenery (scenery that is supposed to be pretty stunning) and a chance to get a bit of walking in before the Inca Trail which we hope to be on a week today.
B is for Border -
Which we´ll cross on Wednesday into Peru and on the way to Cusco.
And finally B is for Bye Bye for Now.
More news and hopefully some pretty piccies from our next stop.
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