We arrived safe and sound in La Paz the folloeing morning. However, getting our refund for the bus tickets wasnt so straightforward. Our agent tried to tell us that the bus company only refunds half of the fare, and insisted there was nothing she could do. So we asked she call the company, so we could talk to them. First she refused, then she called them and told us they were too busy to talk. We refused to accept this, and called them ourselves. As it turns out, it was our agent who was keeping the rest of the money, because she charged us double the legal price for the tickets, and tried to get away with keeping it!!!! We were furious, and managed to call in the tourist police who, after lots of explaining and heated arguing, made the agent give us back our money. The whole episode took 2 hours, but it gave me a good opportunity to argue in Spanish!
I spent the afternoon relaxing, reading and buying some cheap DVDs, not to mention gorging myself on another rather sizeable icecream!
That night, I bid my farewells to La Paz, and boarded a night bus to Cochabamba. Given the bus trip was 7 hours, I was surprised at how cheap the ticket was, even by Bolivian standards. However, it made more sense when I saw the dilapidated old bus; Even more sense still when I watched the bus driver loading my luggage into the bus toilet cubicle, because they had run out of room in the bus storage! IT was quite entertaining when the toilet door flew open halfway through the night, and everone´s luggage came pouring out into the isles. Ah, Bolivian transport is a wonderful thing!
I arrived in Cochabamba the following morning, but only stayed there half a day. This big bustling city has a lovely plaza, some nice shops and tasty cafes. However, I had my heart set on continuing to Sucre, and so continued the journey that evening by bus. This time, I forked out a little more for a cushy bus cama, and got a great nights sleep!
