Blogs from Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 4

Part 1 - The Bus Journey Our bus from Ascuncion to Santa Cruz cost 400Bs for a 22 hour trek through the Chaco (huge wasteland once fought over by Bolivia and Paraguay) It was a bumpy ride!!! This country is in need of some tarmac, large sections of the road were completely un-surfaced and just consisted of dirt tracks, not ideal for a huge coach. At one point the driver had to stop to make some running repairs, he fixed something under the front with a bit of rope. Bus didn´t feel too shabby when we got on, but it was dark. On closer inspection in the morning it was in serious need of a good clean (It was filthy - KP)!! Several stops throughout the night for various army checks. It was a LONG journey ... read more

After a horrendous nights sleep, I got up at around 7.30am. It felt like I had turned over to see what the time was almost every other hour last night, and it wasn't because my dorm was next to the main road. I dragged my body out of bed to the other end of the hostel to wake myself up with a shower. After I had fiddled about with the shower, trying to get the temperature between scalding and freezing, I was awake and ready for breakfast. I set about frying the blood sausage and scrambling the eggs that I had bought at the market last night, just as Justine came into the kitchen. We exchanged good mornings, and she asked if i would like breakfast. It was almost an awkward question, as though I had ... read more

Tha erum vid komin til Boliviu. Vid vorum i tiu daga a Algodoal, thad var guddómlegt. Engir bilar, goturnar eru sandur, menn fara um a hestvognum og thad er ferskur fiskur i naestum thvi hvert einasta mal. Thad búa fáir a eyjunni og allir thekkja alla, naer oll gistiheimili og veitingastadir eru fjolskldurekin og andrúmsloftid er mjog afslappad. Vid gistum hja ungri konu sem býr ein med syni sinum og pínulitlum gomlum manni sem ég geri rád fyrir ad sé pabbi hennar. Gamli var mikid krútt og nokkrum dogum adur en vid fórum fékk hann útvarp sem hann stillti a haesta styrk allan daginn, vid erum thakklát fyrir thad ad hann átti ekki útvarpid allan timann sem vid vorum tharna. Bornin hlaupa frjáls um og leika ser, oft a tídum nakin, amk litli strákurinn thar sem ... read more

I went to the local biocentre that included a butterfly dome (see first photo) and an aviary. On entering the ground level of the aviary there was a large bird there about the size of a chicken (imagine if you will a supermarket free range chicken prior to the removal of his appendages/feathers, and not carrying his giblets in a plastic bag) that seemed to accompany me on the initial phase of my bird-orientated perambulations. Just as I was about to leave the aviary the aforementioned avian, or one of his fellows (I can not rule out there being a whole flock of such near-identical sentinels) came pounding down the path towards me and then hopped on a nearby handrail. I was then given a severe glowering at (see second photo) and was at a temporary ... read more

As I entered into the TWR kitchen at 7am this morning, Gary had a very sad look on his face. I walked over to the breakfast table and overheard that Walt was no longer letting the men go sightseeing and shopping with the ladies today. After we dried Gary's tears, we loaded the bus headed for Santa Cruz. We stopped on the way at a beautiful pottery shop where I purchased my new favorite accessory...a black leather cowboy hat! Once we arrived at SAM base a very interesting rule/regulation was shared...no flushing toilet paper. I know this doesn't sound like that difficult of a feat, but let me assure you it is one of those things you do involuntarily. And once you drop it...it must be fished out! No bueno! I'm going to invent a scooper ... read more