Hanging in Santa Cruz with Charlie

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The flight to Santa Cruz was great...if indirect. We made a scheduled stop in La Paz to pick up a few folk along the way, which meant we had a wonderful chance to see the fantastic scenery in the area...from the high Andean peaks above the city to the phenomenal Altiplano extending out from the great step upon which the City sits all the way to Lake Titicaca...certainly one of the great airport approaches of the world.

We were to be staying with a friend of Laura´s dad, Charlie , who moved here some time ago for a new life...the irony of the name in what is widely regarded as the Cocaine capital of South America was not lost on us. Unfortunately, we hadn´t figured on there being two airports in the city....he went to the wrong one.

We somehow managed to catch up later on and had a lovely meal out in town in what I would call a locals´ place - steak, pizza and plenty of noise...great! We were really in the mood for chilling out here after the last few weeks´adventures and a little too much sightseeing. Santa Cruz isn´t known for it´s tourist attractions, and so seemed perfect...tv, beer, local markets and nothing whatsoever to see.

The latter comment is perhaps somewhat disingenuous to the local area, which certainly has things to see, but we weren´t going to make any effort to do so...not on this visit.

We did go to the local "beach"...not exactly a beach, but the banks of the nearby river, where young lads and their crew go every Sunday to chill out and drive 4x4´s, horses or quadbikes around like the drunken headcases they are...all to the sound of wandering mariachi bands and the smells of countless, identical local food places.

One thing which has certainly struck us about this place is the wealth gap...there certainly is a lot of money here...much of it in the hands of quite young guys...brand new 4x4´s are generally out of reach of people of their age in the UK, never mind in Bolivia where the average income is 2 or 300 US/mth...where does it all come from, I wonder....could be drugs, but there really isn´t much evidence of a drug culture here. This is a working city, certainly a moneyed one, but something doesn´t add up.

What also strikes you here is the different cultural makeup...Santa Cruz is not at altitude like much of the rest of Bolivia, in particular La Paz and Potosi, etc...and the locals certainly do not look like the same people. You do see indigenous people on the streets, but not so many, and they are not the people driving the 4x4s. We were told on a number of occasions that there is little love lost between the two parts of the country, and that the Santa Cruz area was looking to vote on independence of a sort in the near future.

Anyway...this isn´t for us to dwell upon...we´ve really enjoyed the city as a place to come and relax in , as well as a place to go out in the evenings. The balmy weather and bountiful array of bars and restaurants has kept us busy...we even attended a local music bar / restaurant...lovely food (who says Bolivian food is bad...we´ve not seen it yet) and some local songs on acoustic guitar.



Might even buy myself a new guitar in the market in town...extremely cheap...

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