One of Bolivia’s important days of commemoration is Día del Mar. During this ‘Day of the Sea,’ the country remembers the War of the Pacific in 1879, during which Bolivia lost its access to the Pacific Ocean. In La
It’s a parade worth watching.
The Bolivian cuisine is not as diverse as its landscape (but then, Bolivia’s variety in landscapes is hard to match). Even though there are regional variations between the lowlands and Andes Mountains, traditional Bolivian meals are mainly a result of versatility in the use of the country’s staple food of potatoes, corn and rice.
Let’s take a closer look.
Every day – roughly between twelve and two-thirty – a large part of Bolivia closes down.
It’s lunchtime.
For everyone.
Bolivia is one of the world’s producers of Arabica coffee. While the Yungas (north of La Paz) is Bolivia’s traditional and principal coffee-growing region, the country’s largest exporter is situated in the department of Santa Cruz – in Buena Vista, to be exact.
A friend suggested visiting a coffee plantation-cum-factory and, of course, to taste some high-quality, organic coffee.
We were on our way to Hacienda El Cafetal.
For the past couple of weeks we stayed with friends in Cochabamba (Bolivia), who have a beautiful garden. Gardening is something I miss in our life on the road and I loved getting my hands in that soil again.
Just outside Guayaramerím, in northeast Bolivia, we stumbled upon Ituaba Eco Hotel, a hotel-cum-animal-refuge-center-cum-recreation park.
During our visit the animal refuge center was home to two blue-and-gold and two scarlet macaws, two toucans, two ocelots (medium-sized wild cats), wild boars, a young tapir and a couple of emus.
Can we stop hunting and trafficking them, please?
We need to get work done on the Land Cruiser, but since our workshop does not have time until tomorrow we decide to have an “online workday”, as we call it. All we need is WIFI.
Right, where can we find that?
When we arrived last night, Domingo informed us that the Private Pilot Club does have toilets but no shower. This didn’t pose a problem as we have a shower bag. It isn’t the grandest shower in the world, but it does what it has to do.
With 1,5 million inhabitants Santa Cruz, in eastern Bolivia, is the second-largest city in the country.
Where can we spend the night?
The owner asks what I’d like to have. I can choose between
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there”
~George Harrison
In the Jesuit Mission of Santa Ana we take a look at the map and conclude we will have to return to the mission of San Rafael in order to be able to reach San Miguel. While we are discussing this, Flora, the caretaker of Santa Ana’s Jesuit Mission, chimes in and says there is another road.
It is a short cut.
I have fallen in love. Again. It’s been a while, but boy, does it feel good. I look at Coen and I know the same has happened to him.
Yet, we haven’t fallen in love, again, with each other.
Outside it is bloody, bloody hot with temperatures high in the thirties and everything dripping with humidity. We feel like we’re slowly being cooked in a pressure cooker. We’re thirsty.
I could use some water!
“The sound of silence”
~Paul Simon
My parents had an album by Simon & Garfunkel. I loved listening to it and when I started learning English in high school, one particular song triggered me: The Sound of Silence.