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Not a lot to report from the last week but thought I´d cover it now as the next week in Brazil looks to be action packed...
From Tupiza we caught a bus to Potosi which took about 8 hours. It wasn´t the most comfortable bus, and it had no toilet, but it was fine until they turned the music on full for the last 45 minutes. The problem is in Bolivia, no speakers are good enough to handle full volume, so it was like have a bee stuck in each ear.
We were only in Potosi for one night, and unless your keen on the confined spaces and asbestos possibilities of a mine tour, there´s not a lot to do there except check out the buildings that remain from Potosi´s golden age (should be silver age, as the metal led to the town becoming the biggest in Sth America for a short time).
The highlight of Potosi for us has to be to lomitos. For 5 bolivianos (less that $1US) you get a short of steak sandwich with onions, tomato, chips, mustard, salsa picante and plain old tomato sauce, all in a bun. So good (and cheap) we had to have 2nds.
From Potosi it was a much shorter bus ride (c. 4 hrs) to Sucre, once the fully fledged capital of Bolivia, now only the legislative capital. We stayed for three nights, and managed two mornings (4hrs each) of Spanish lessons while we were there. At the time it felt a bit of an overload, but already we´ve noticed how useful all that conjugating verbs was. Our confidence at speaking Spanish has jumped up a notch too (all that fumbling through conversations about NZ with our tutor [NZ is muy verde...] must have helped).
In the afternoons we didn´t get up to much apart from try in vain to find decent mosquito repellent (we succeeded in Santa Cruz, thankfully), and eat saltenas (a bit like cornish pasties, filled with chicken or beef).
From Sucre we flew to Santa Cruz, mainly on the advice of our tour leader in Central America (it´s what the gap tours do to avoid a hell bus ride through the mountains). Santa Cruz was the first place since before Cuzco at under 2000m above sea level, so it was a lot warmer and muggier than we´ve become accostomed. the city itself is large, but outwardly appears wealthier than La Paz, Sucre or any of the other smaller towns in Bol. we visited, and a lot more laid back. (Now that I´ve spent 5 hours in Brasil, I´d say Santa Cruz has a Brazillian vibe).
Today we flew from S. Cruz to Puerto Suarez in order to avoid the ¨death train¨ (20 +hours ). All this flyinf does feel a bit like cheating, but it wasn´t that expensive and has saved us a least a day, and probably more in terms of energy.
From P Suarez, we caught a taxi to the Brazillian border (10mins), then had to wait an hour for the Bolivian immigration office to open to give us our exit stamp. On the Brazillian side, we were told just go to the bus station at Corumba for the customs formalilties. After another taxi (3 times more expensive than the Bolivian one to hammer home the difference in prices between countries), we found the bus stations customs was closed until tomorrow morning. So much for tight controls around the border for cocaine etc.
It´s even hotter here than in Santa Cruz, but nice to be rocking the shorts and jandels look again after a long hiatus.
We have a 4 day tour of the Pantanal wetlands all booked and paid for, leaving tomorrow (after we have our Brazillian entry stamp), which includes a transer to Bonito and the end. Fingers crossed for some great wildlife encounters.
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