Due to booking with a certain nameless tourist agent in Pipa, I'm drafting this blog on a day-long trip from Cochabamba in Bolivia back to Brazil, that will be bringing back through Paraguay and Argentina. Not to worry, I have a feeling it'll mostly be slept off anyway.
I said my goodbyes to the extended family in Santos, and called in friendships in São Paulo to spend a couple of nights there before an early morning flight on the 14th. The bus from Santos to SP has a really beautiful stretch in the hills, if you can take your eyes off the huge lorries that are whizzing past you on the hillside, ever more dangerously. Rather than getting collected, I offered to make my own way from the bus station to the closest Metro in São Paulo to the friends, and was further determined when they scoffed that I wouldn't be able to handle it at rush hour. As it happened, heavy rains had blocked off certain roads, so I had to take the metro. For about 15m up to the edge of the train platform, on boths sides, in at least 4 stations, (including the one I embarked on), was a solid heaving mass of Brazilians trying to get home. Gone was the ever-present Brazilian cheer and easy-going nature of the North. Sao Paulo had sucked it out of them.
If it wasn't for some lovely hospitality, it might have done the same to me too. The buildings, the pollution, dirt and people all crowd in on top of you, and thankfully I was brought to one of the very few small parks to breathe again. A city of about 18 million has it's upsides though. Food of any sort is available, and I indulged in my own personal pecadillo in the Japanese quarter. Of course, everything is overpriced, and paying an entrance to an 'Irish' bar was when this really came home. In any case, it was an experience, and I was keen as ever to see cheap-as-chips Bolivia.
A friend has set up shop there for the next few months as part of the 'Sustainable Bolivia' project, in the nicely temperate city of Cochabamba, which is enclosed in a valley at 7000ft. The project is full of foreign do-gooders, making a difference in the area, and having a good laugh doing it. I, of course joined in the merriment with gusto, but caught a couple of tourist attractions too. The statue of christ on the hill was the first, and the short hike made me acutely aware of the altitude. The view was fantastic, but equalled a few hours later when I placed 9 euro on a table that had recently held Argentinian steaks the size of surfboards, two bottles of wine, and a buffet salad bar.
Just as cheap and delicious was the fish of the man-made La Angostura lake, where we rented a boat to have the lake to ourselves. Once we got far enough away from the road, we encountered complete silence on the lake, apart from a few twitter posts from the birds. It was so spiritual and stuff. We had a n-ice cold dip and headed back to the city. Five days wasn't really enough for Cochabamba alone, and some of the planned weekend trips of that gringo group sound amazing. I'm fairly envious for another whack at Bolivia, so watch this space. My upcoming plans are hazy, but everything is after hitting a favela funk party last night. Tell us more you clammer? Nah.
Love y'all
Alex
I said my goodbyes to the extended family in Santos, and called in friendships in São Paulo to spend a couple of nights there before an early morning flight on the 14th. The bus from Santos to SP has a really beautiful stretch in the hills, if you can take your eyes off the huge lorries that are whizzing past you on the hillside, ever more dangerously. Rather than getting collected, I offered to make my own way from the bus station to the closest Metro in São Paulo to the friends, and was further determined when they scoffed that I wouldn't be able to handle it at rush hour. As it happened, heavy rains had blocked off certain roads, so I had to take the metro. For about 15m up to the edge of the train platform, on boths sides, in at least 4 stations, (including the one I embarked on), was a solid heaving mass of Brazilians trying to get home. Gone was the ever-present Brazilian cheer and easy-going nature of the North. Sao Paulo had sucked it out of them.
If it wasn't for some lovely hospitality, it might have done the same to me too. The buildings, the pollution, dirt and people all crowd in on top of you, and thankfully I was brought to one of the very few small parks to breathe again. A city of about 18 million has it's upsides though. Food of any sort is available, and I indulged in my own personal pecadillo in the Japanese quarter. Of course, everything is overpriced, and paying an entrance to an 'Irish' bar was when this really came home. In any case, it was an experience, and I was keen as ever to see cheap-as-chips Bolivia.
A friend has set up shop there for the next few months as part of the 'Sustainable Bolivia' project, in the nicely temperate city of Cochabamba, which is enclosed in a valley at 7000ft. The project is full of foreign do-gooders, making a difference in the area, and having a good laugh doing it. I, of course joined in the merriment with gusto, but caught a couple of tourist attractions too. The statue of christ on the hill was the first, and the short hike made me acutely aware of the altitude. The view was fantastic, but equalled a few hours later when I placed 9 euro on a table that had recently held Argentinian steaks the size of surfboards, two bottles of wine, and a buffet salad bar.
Just as cheap and delicious was the fish of the man-made La Angostura lake, where we rented a boat to have the lake to ourselves. Once we got far enough away from the road, we encountered complete silence on the lake, apart from a few twitter posts from the birds. It was so spiritual and stuff. We had a n-ice cold dip and headed back to the city. Five days wasn't really enough for Cochabamba alone, and some of the planned weekend trips of that gringo group sound amazing. I'm fairly envious for another whack at Bolivia, so watch this space. My upcoming plans are hazy, but everything is after hitting a favela funk party last night. Tell us more you clammer? Nah.
Love y'all
Alex
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