Cochabamba

After our first meal in Bolivia, we set off back up the hill through the maize  of people and traffic back to the airport up on the Altiplano.  One of our crew was not feeling too good for wear.   Not sure whether it was the altitude or what but she never had lunch.  It had been a four hour stopover,

 and we got to check out the fashion in Bolivia.  The women, called chola and the younger ones are cholitas, wear bowler hats, fancy tops and skirts that are either gathered or pleated at the middle, they generally wear a shawl or they have an indigenous blanket they use as a carry all, to carry their child or quite large loads.                    They are also not too keen on us gringos taking their photos, had to be quite discreet when attempting to take photos.  I know the feeling, I was in Government Garden in Rotorua one day taking some photos of the Bath house and there were a couple of Japanese men taking photo of the Bath House, then I looked around and they were taking photos of me, quite embarrassing actually.

 

 

 

Arrived in Cochabamba to be met my Mike and Angela and Cory where we checked into our hotel then went out walking for dinner.  Bolivian meals consist of huge amounts a meat not much room for anything else on the plate.

 

Our Hotel in Cochabamba



random bus in the street

Next morning we were picked up and piled into and on the back of Cory's truck for a tour around Cochabamba.  We up to the top of the hill that looked over the city and surrounds and of course San Pedro acclaims the highest point.

on the back of the truck

San Pedro

 









San Pedro with a special halo from the sun



Looking out over Cochabamba



Looking out over Cochabamba

A tour of this still  inhabited cloisteredConvent

Convento Museo Santa Teresa. The most interesting building in town is the noble, timeworn Convento de Santa Teresa. Visits to this timeless and gracefully decaying complex are by guided tour only and provide a snapshot of the extraordinary lives led by the cloistered nuns that inhabit it. You see the peaceful cloister, fine altarpieces and sculptures (from Spanish and Potosí schools), the convent church, and even get to ascend to the roof for a glorious view over the city. The convent was founded in 1760, then destroyed in an earthquake; the new church was built with an excess of ambition, and was too big to be domed. The existing church was built inside it in 1790. There’s still a Carmelite community here, but its 12 nuns are now housed in more comfortable modern quarters next door. It’s a fascinating visit; pacing the convent’s corridors, you could be in a García Márquez novel.



The Nuns put objects, maybe something they had made, to be sold in these cupboards then the shelves were revolved to the outside.




Names of the girls that have been in this convent.  It was sometimes considered an honour to a family that a daughter was accepted into the Convent



a Nuns room



Medicine cabinet




The Chapel-for the cloistered Nuns- they were behind a barred wall

Then it was back to Cory's for lunch, first we got to see our bikes, they had all been labelled with our names, so no fighting over bikes, loved the one they chose for me, good size.  Paola put on a magnificent spread for all of us.  Then once we got ourselves organised and changed into our riding gear it was off for a ride around the mountains around Cochabamba to get familiar with our bikes.  Experiencing a bit of high altitude (3800metres then coming back down to spend the night in Cochabamba,  ending the day with a group dinner.


Back to Cory's hacienda where his wife Paola put on a delicious lunch



Chicken and Potato pie and salad-yum

my bike for the trip a Kawasaki KLX 400




and Scott's an XR 650

 

 

Santiago Bound

Our flight from Auckland  International airport direct to Santiago was 11hrs and 20 minutes arriving in the middle of the night in Chile.  We had met one of our fellow travellers on a previous tour to Vietnam the year before, so had a brief introduction with the rest of the crew before we boarded the flight.  Waiting for our bags at the baggage carousel only to find they had been transferred through to Bolivia.  Tough, no clothes or toiletries for the night.

After our long flight we were transferred to our hotel situated in the heart of Providencia, Santiago Plaza Hotel where we were introduced to pisco sour.  Free cocktails on arrival, they were so good we had another.  Had time enough to check out this neighbourhood before later meeting up with the rest of the crew for dinner.




front entrance of the Hotel




Went out through a mall and found a supermarket, looks pretty much like any at home, same sort of products and brands but in Spanish




Interesting sculpture at Santiago Airport, maybe its lost luggage.

Our 4.45hr flight to La Paz with one stop along the way at Iquique to get our passports stamped.  It is a pretty desolate looking place in the middle of a desert, but quite a lot of people did not return to the plane from here.

Iquique is a port city on the Pacifica Coast and lies west of the Atacama Desert.






Our plane waiting for us to re-board

The views flying to La Paz are amazing

 

 

 

Well we sure felt the altitude and the heat when landing in La Paz, just standing in the queue to get through customs was so tiring, then picking up our bags to leave in storage while we had a short stop over.   We were met by Danielle who took us on a little tour down into the city of La Paz for lunch.  One reason was to get us to a  lower altitude while we waited for our next flight to Cochabamba.



 La Paz is built in a canyon created by the Choqueyapu River (now mostly built over), which runs northwest to southeast. 
The geography of La Paz (in particular the altitude) reflects society: the lower areas of the city are the more affluent areas. While many middle-class residents live in high-rise condos near the center, the houses of the truly affluent are located in the lower neighborhoods southwest of the Prado. And looking up from the center, the surrounding hills are plastered with makeshift brick houses of those less economically fortunate.
The satellite city of El Alto, in which the airport is located, is spread over a broad area to the west of the canyon, on the Altiplano. La Paz is renowned for its unique markets, very unusual topography, and traditional culture.

Our first view of the Plaza in

Scott Alison Rhondda Bryan John Robert Giff and Ian





Danielle and our van driver