Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Alan and Amy's Excellent Adventure
We checked out of our horrible room in Corumba nice and early to make our way over to Bolivia. As the small towns of Corumba and Quijarro are right next to each other, we crossed the border fairly easily. We did have to wait an hour for immigration to open though, as we had forgotten that Bolivia was an hour behind and the guards were still having there siesta. Once all the formalities were completed we took a short taxi ride to Quijarro train station, ready to take the infamous ´death train´to Santa Cruz later in the evening. Unfortunately when we arrived at the station we were told that the train was cancelled, but we weren´t sure why.
As we didn´t want to waste anytime in a small border town, we decided to bite the bullet and take the bus to Santa Cruz (It doesn´t sound as scary as the death train, but the buses are decades old, have no toilet or air conditioning, and struggle to make the 11-hour journey over unpaved roads!). We bought our tickets and some supplies for the journey, then sat around in the station - which was more like an un-used warehouse - until the bus was ready. Finally we stowed our bags and found our seats, only for everyone else to get off several seconds later. The man behind us said that this cancellation was due to fighting, but we didn´t know what he meant. Nevertheless, we were back off the bus and in a queue to refund our tickets.
Once the bus fiasco was over, we decided that we might as well find a place to stay since we were stuck here. We had seen some adverts for a nice place that was close, so we had a walk down there. When we arrived, the receptionist explained that the travel delays had been going on for a few days, due to political protests that have been blocking the main transport routes. Despite initially being annoyed at the delay, we were quite happy again once we saw the hostel complex, which was more like a holiday resort. There was a pool, and we had a nice air-conditioned 8-bed dorm all to ourselves. Much better than the night before in Corumba. We had a quick dip in the pool, then spent the evening relaxing in hammocks.
The next day we woke up for breakfast, and found out there had been no developments with the transport delays. We spent the morning moping around the hostel waiting for more news, but none was forthcoming. Later that afternoon we overheard a few others in the hostel mentioning a flight to Santa Cruz. We asked then for more information, and it turned out there were daily flights for around 45 pounds a seat. That days flight was full, but we headed straight out to book ourselves some tickets for the next day. With the Inca trail coming up in a couple of weeks, we couldn´t afford to hang around any longer. That evening I played football with a few locals, who kept calling me ´gringo´, but I showed them a thing or two!
We had to check out of our rooms at 11am on the day of the flight, but we were allowed to stay in the hostel so we took full advantage of the pool. Irritatingly, we found out that the trains were running again, but I guess by flying we still gained a day. We caught a taxi to the airport a couple of hours before departing, then took the hour long flight to Santa Cruz. We arrived in Santa Cruz in the early evening and took a taxi to our hostel. After we had packed, we went to a Mexican restaurant around the corner, then got to bed. The next day we had a look around the main square and the cathedral, then spent the evening catching up on our blogs. We were off to Potosi the next day without seeing a great deal of the city, but we had to catch up after our delay, and we had a couple of exciting destinations coming up soon...
As we didn´t want to waste anytime in a small border town, we decided to bite the bullet and take the bus to Santa Cruz (It doesn´t sound as scary as the death train, but the buses are decades old, have no toilet or air conditioning, and struggle to make the 11-hour journey over unpaved roads!). We bought our tickets and some supplies for the journey, then sat around in the station - which was more like an un-used warehouse - until the bus was ready. Finally we stowed our bags and found our seats, only for everyone else to get off several seconds later. The man behind us said that this cancellation was due to fighting, but we didn´t know what he meant. Nevertheless, we were back off the bus and in a queue to refund our tickets.
Once the bus fiasco was over, we decided that we might as well find a place to stay since we were stuck here. We had seen some adverts for a nice place that was close, so we had a walk down there. When we arrived, the receptionist explained that the travel delays had been going on for a few days, due to political protests that have been blocking the main transport routes. Despite initially being annoyed at the delay, we were quite happy again once we saw the hostel complex, which was more like a holiday resort. There was a pool, and we had a nice air-conditioned 8-bed dorm all to ourselves. Much better than the night before in Corumba. We had a quick dip in the pool, then spent the evening relaxing in hammocks.
The next day we woke up for breakfast, and found out there had been no developments with the transport delays. We spent the morning moping around the hostel waiting for more news, but none was forthcoming. Later that afternoon we overheard a few others in the hostel mentioning a flight to Santa Cruz. We asked then for more information, and it turned out there were daily flights for around 45 pounds a seat. That days flight was full, but we headed straight out to book ourselves some tickets for the next day. With the Inca trail coming up in a couple of weeks, we couldn´t afford to hang around any longer. That evening I played football with a few locals, who kept calling me ´gringo´, but I showed them a thing or two!
We had to check out of our rooms at 11am on the day of the flight, but we were allowed to stay in the hostel so we took full advantage of the pool. Irritatingly, we found out that the trains were running again, but I guess by flying we still gained a day. We caught a taxi to the airport a couple of hours before departing, then took the hour long flight to Santa Cruz. We arrived in Santa Cruz in the early evening and took a taxi to our hostel. After we had packed, we went to a Mexican restaurant around the corner, then got to bed. The next day we had a look around the main square and the cathedral, then spent the evening catching up on our blogs. We were off to Potosi the next day without seeing a great deal of the city, but we had to catch up after our delay, and we had a couple of exciting destinations coming up soon...
- comments