Holita de Rhia

Hello all!

I´m making a pretty good recovery, thank heavens. It was the kind of tummy bug that makes you feel pretty sure you´d be better off dead, especially when you´re being jostled halfway there in a big jeep on rattletrap roads. Anyway, my miracle soup and toast came from Minuteman Pizza in Uyuni, and should you for any reason find yourself in this part of the world, you really must go. The pizza is amazing too!

The wait for the train was long and cold. By the time we´d wandered the tiny town two dozen times, seen most of a cow skinned and stacked up in the back of a station wagon, stocked up on food for the journey and had our supper at Minuteman, it was all of 8:30. We headed for the station waiting room, hoping it would be warm. It was not, particularly, but around 9:30, we had some tea in an attached cafe and played some rounds of rummy. Then it was back into the cold (and the baños were actually out on the platform)to pretend to sleep for hours and hours and hours and hours. Around 12:30 they let us onto the Salon class carriages. Which were colder than the waiting room. We were very glad for the fleecy blanket we´d bought. (you know what a weird side-effect of the altitude sickness drug we´re taking is that it makes your fingers and feet tingle. Gross.)

Anyway, the train did eventualy get underway and they did eventually turn the heat on and I did eventually get some sleep until at 6:30 they turned on some lovely loud music and then showed some bizarre football movie, but I went back to sleep anyway. John watched it, you can ask him about it.

Anyway, we ended up here in Oruro in a reasonably plush $25 hotel with a good shower and we tried to sleep and John succeeded and we skipped breakfast and were super cranky with eachother when it came down to getting lunch, which we were late for and people were starting to close up, and in general I´m finding Bolivia pretty frustrating.

We looked around a few markets, including one that had all kinds of llama fetuses and other fetishes and were sort of repelled and fascinated at the same time. Did a bit more stocking up on warm clothes, napped some more and checked out a place billed as the local ´Cordon Bleu´option. It didn´t quite live up to that but we did have some amazing lamb with wine and bread and salad and everything for .... not quite $10.

Slept really well. We planned to move on to La Paz today around lunchtime, but apparently the road is closed for some kind of international bike race. There were originally plans to see Cochabamba, which seemed pretty nice, but we seem to be a bit behind schedule and don´t want to be shortchanged for Macchu Picchu. Anyway, we´ll get on the three o´clock bus. We came up to the Plaza del Folklore, which should anyone come to Oruro, they should make a first stop, because it made me a lot more sanguine about the city. They have bleachers here and close the street for their Carnaval, which looks amazing. Apparently there´s a dress rehearsal on Sunday, but I don´t think we could possibly find anything at all to entertain ourselves here until then. We were going to visit a museum to see us through to lunchtime now, but it´s closed til Friday. Ah Latin beaurocracy.

Anyway, just trying to find somewhere to sleep tonight... no way to upload photos here even though the speed seems decent. I´ve sort of given up.

Weather in Oruro - feels like about 10 degrees and windy, unless it feels like 2 degrees and windy.

Things about travelling.

I have new standards for cleanliness. I settle for germ-busted by sanitizer hands most of the day. I will wear the same clothes a few days in a row. Heck, on the jeep tour I was sleeping in them and then wearing them (we were severely understocked on warm clothes.) All our bags are deeply ground in with desert dust.

The Canadian politeness is wearing off a bit. It´s not very useful here.

I am getting used to being the kind of person who packs up everything she owns every morning and sets out for points unknown.


Things you might not pack while traveling and will wish you had:

- nail brush (having clean nails improves outlook a great deal.)
- more hand sanitizer than you think you could ever use (it is grimy)
- many many tiny ziploc bags (they have been invaluable)
- toilet paper, the good kind (even just one roll. You can get it wherever you are, but it won´t be the good kind, and if you´re sick...)
- conditioner (don´t think you can get away without it.)


Things we packed that haven´t come in very handy yet:

- Sleep sack. (We´ve just being staying in nicer hotels than that for the most part)
- Envelopes (I thought they´d be good for leaving valuables in hotel safes but mostly we just lock them in the bags or give them the money belt.)

Actually, I think that´s about it.


Ok.... over and out. Need to walk off this tingling. And find some non-instant coffee.