By the way, I am currently in Cochabamba. I was ecstatic to leave the 8 million in La Paz, being a big fan of big cities. Cochabamba is also big, but more managable. And even better.. it is much warmer!
We arrived last night... I think this was the 22 April. We were on the bus for about 7 hours with one stop at a dusty town that was very smelly. For 50 centavos though you had the option of a squat toilet or a sit down one without the seat. I´m an old fan of squat toilets but the toilet paper wasn´t pink. A bit disappointing.
Anyway, upon arrival we were all very keen to eat. In La Paz we had a few more join our group. A UK Indian couple, (Anit and Nisha, 2 pharmacists) younger than me I think, another girl from the UK, Sue, a guy from Toronto, Chris, and a guy (doctor) from Quebec (in his 40s?). All bar the last are younger than me but the average age is no longer 22, it´s about 26 now. Unfortunately they all seem to be fans of Borac and Family man. Oh well!
Oh, and we have a new guide for this leg of the trip that takes us all the way to Santiago... Chile. His name is Hugo and he is from Argentina.
We went to a nearby corner to hail some taxis. After a while we got one and we filled that and sent it off... but no other taxis would go the way we wanted... or would stop for us. So after about 15 minutes we walked to a nearby ATM. Got some more funds and carried on. This is where my taxi was found. It had an alarming wobble and I was almost certain that the back right wheel would soon fall off. Eventually we arrived at a corner that could´ve been the corner we were to arrive at... no one was sure. Fortunately behind us the others had caught up in the taxi containing Hugo. We had 4 taxis on the go. At the same corner turning the other way was our other taxi, everyone looking confused. This was the first group - they had arrived at the restaurant, sat at a table for 16 then realised it was the wrong restaurant! So after some mid street conversations we finally arrived at our restaurant. It was ok... but service is slow and no one in South America ever seems to have change! And don´t forget to tip...
Anyways, what a crazy taxi experience. Internet cafes are fun too, my last one decided to shut and cut me off mid email. I was not impressed!
Tonight we leave for the white city of Sucre. I hear it is nice... but we have 11 hours on the bus. A short trip apparantly compared with one coming up which will be 20 hours. I hope the toilet works!
Keeping you posted...
Mezza
