Bolivia (Santa Cruz region)

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After crossing the border from Brazil, I catch a cab to nearby Quijarro and purchase my train ticket to Santa Cruz. Unfortauntely, so eager was I to leave Corumba that I now had 7 hours to burn before the departure of the train. Quijarro is little more than a collection of shacks but I do find a place that has internet and opt for lunch where most of the locals appear to be eating (the food being the usual milanese with rice and salad). The train is known as ´tren de la muerta´or the Death Train. It is likely that the name originates from when locals stored large quantities of contraband goods in the carriages; they themselves would sit on the roof of the train and occassionaly, one or more toppled over the edge, especially when it derailed which it apparently did with regularity. However, my experience is not as bad as the trains name would suggest and I manage to get a few hours sleep through the night. On the negative side, the conditions are very basic. My arrival into the carriage promised air conditioning and a tv, however, neither work and neither did any of the lighting. This meant the carriage was in complete darkness from 6pm...quite a surreal experience when on a packed train, although I did find my light which I allowed me to see what I was eating for dinner! Also, it is true that the train rocks from side to side (at times you wonder how it stays on the tracks!), crawls at a snails pace and is noisy becuase the windows need to be open owing to the stuffy conditions. The delays are also quite frustrating - the train appeared ready for departure 30 minutes before its intended departure time but left 30 minutes late (cows were apparently spotted on the track!) We are then held in the middle of nowhere for an hour at some sidings whilst a freight train passes from the opposite direction (it is a single track for most of the stretch). The following morning is then met with a surprising sight - we are stopped as a double cargo truck has beached itself on the tracks with the fuel tank resting on the track! The scene was chaos as the truck had formed a triangle on itslef and another gravel truck was in a ditch...nobody was sure how they had resulted in this mess and were miles away from any civilisation. Whilst embarassed, I think the truck drivers were pleased to see us. This was particualrly so that without hesitation, our train driver uncoupled the locomotive, attached it to the truck and pulled it off the track like it was an everyday occurance! I was cowering with some of the other passengers in case the fuel tank blew up!...certainly not something you´ll ever likely see on the East Coast line back home!

So, the train arrives into Santa Cruz (4 hours late!) and I stay in great hostel called Residencial Bolivar, which comes complete with its own resident toucan who I befriend but which mischievously steals food off plates when people aren´t looking! There isn´t a great deal to see in Sanata Cruz although it is a pleasant city of colonial architecture and flowered plazas. I hear the Jardin Zoologica is underfunded but worth a visit so I troddle off and happen to arrive shortly after schools close for the day...children under 5 get in free and 5 - 10 years old get in for half price. I pay the full price, being the quivalent of 1 pound! The zoo really is geared towards children and the place contains many childrens play areas. The underfunded issues become apparent from the sad sight of some of the animal enclosures, particularly those of the numerous jaguars, which seem to only exist to get fat in far too small enclosures. It´s also a sad sight to see bear clawing relentlessly at a cage door facing away from the crowds, presumbaly to escape all the attention. The zoo also appears to lack any educational facilities (judging by the lack of signage) and staff within the zoo is non existent leading to children placing their fingers in any cage they can access or feeding the animlas food of any desciption (on both occassions parents looking on with apparent approval!) On the whole though the zoo isnt as bad as I expected and with any zoo there is always the element of some of the animals suffereing from their imprisonment...perhaps the only animals semmingly happy in this zoo being the sloths! The next day, I head west to the more inhospitable regions of Boliva.

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