Highlights:
Meeting Franca, one of the friendliest, most accommodating people I
have ever met.
Lowlights:
Got sick: fever, diarrhoea and felt faint. Bruno and I also found
ticks on us, how disgusting!!!!
Banking problem: I withdrew R1800 but the ATM malfunctioned and
didn’t give any cash.
Getting harassed by Interpol: Interpol stopped us in the street on
the way to Franca’s place. They asked us for our passports, they then demanded
we enter their car. We refused and told them they could search for whatever
they needed right there in the street. They meticulously looked through every
single item in our bags. We suspect they were trying to find something wrong to
demand a bribe. Fortunately, they had nothing on us.
Fabien, a French guy stole R500 from me. He was a backpacker that
Franca picked up on the same day we arrived, he thought it was a good idea to steal
R500 from me. He went through my stuff and took a third of my money thinking I
wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately for him I did notice and I managed to find out
it was him by laying a few traps and letting him dig his own hole. Eventually
he was so deep in lies that he submitted and returned the money. I was so close
to punching the daylights out of him.
Places:
24 Septiembre Plaza: a beautiful plaza with a church behind it. The
plaza was surrounded with great restaurants and coffee shops.
Jardin Zoologico: saw many of the Bolivian animals here, such as
Llama, Jaguar, Capybara, Parrots, Toucans, etc. However, zoos are not my thing as I hate seeing
animals in confined spaces. The animals look very troubled.
A strip of Brazilian Restaurants alongside a dried out river, we
had a few beers there.
Biocentre Guembe: its main attractions are the Butterfly, Bird,
Orchid, Termitarium, Apiary, Hormiguero and Monkey Island. It also has
beautiful natural areas with trails, ponds and pools and recreation spaces. We
canoed here and swam. The place was a bit artificial and expensive to enter but
it wasn’t bad.
Country Bar: Marcello’s brother’s bar. We ate alligator, had a few
drinks and played cards here.
Ganesha: An electronic nightclub that’s decorations were inspired
by Hindu gods. We all (Carmen, Anni, Bruno, Franca, Atu) had many Jaegerboms
and “Sex on the Beach” cocktails with Sky Vodka
at the pre-party at Franca’s place. The DJ had the same M-Audio
equipment as me, he was playing tech-house and other electronic music. Franca
bought me a Tequila Sunrise at Ganesha which was really strong. CRAZY NIGHT!!!
People:
Marcello: Bolivian, black hair, tall, was studying tourism, very
friendly, liked electronic music.
Janet: Bolivian, Marcello’s friend,, short girl, was also studying
tourism.
Huan: a Columbian backpacker
who was staying at Marcello’s place and was working temporarily as a
chef (his occupation) for Marcello’s brother.
Activity:
Franca saw a ghost as well as Anni the prior day.
People:
Franca: Brazilian, studying medicine in Bolivia, very funny (always
cracking jokes), tall, skinny, health conscious, very helpful (helped me sort
out my bank problem & my VISA extension), kind-hearted, excellent cook,
made delicious smoothies for us every morning, cooked lunch and supper for us every
day. I got really close to him and felt sad when we had to leave.
Carmen: a Cameroonian girl, who lived in Brazil, studying medicine
in Bolivia, she ran away from her home to Canada for 2 years, spoke French
& English & Portuguese, very friendly (had many deep conversations with
her).
Anni: Brazilian, studying
medicine in Bolivia, got lost on a bus with her.
Atu: Brazilian, studying medicine in Bolivia, crazy about rock,
plays the guitar.
Foods:
Lagato – Alligator
Franca’s Meals: soup, breakfast rolls, pasta, churasco, feijoada,
baked sonso(yuca con quiejo), creamy chicken, mince, etc.
Pique Macho : heaped plate consisting of bite-sized pieces of beef, sausage (chorico), and french fry-cut potatoes. Added to this mixture are onions, locoto, boiled egg, mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup
Drinks:
Quinao: a grain that has a similar texture to oats and is served with
condensed milk
Franca’s smoothies: banana, kiwi, papaya.
Words:
Gente: a word that can be used in many contexts to show feelings of
being amazed or surprised, or just for the heck of using it.
