Give it a rest already

So as it turns out our fears about leaving the comfortable city Sucre - and travelling to the city that few gringos visit - were unfounded. In a nutshell we have been totally spoiled since we got here. At the beginning Sarah did some serious leg work and found a bunch of different places to stay. It is to her credit that we ended up with options.

In the end we went with a house in the area known as Cruce Taquiña (north-west Cochabamba; in close proximity to the Taquiña brewery). This house had been found by two Germans – Kristen and Till – who had been hunting since being robbed twice at their previous premises. Both of these guys are incredibly talented, hard working (volunteering at a local school) and good-natured. On top of all this the place is very nice and VERY affordable.



So now we are settled we have bought a bed, table and towels and established some routines around going to the produce market which is a mere 30 metres away, the kiosko that is literally across the road (supplying us with beer and wine) and the Internet cafe which is next door to the kiosko. These activities are positioned around our main endeavour which currently is, of course, learning Spanish.


Spanish is fun so far. My tutor is called Delma. She has a warm, clement proclivity and is good at encouraging me while simultaneously putting pressure on to up-my-game. The lessons are through Sustainable Bolivia which has also been a handy place to meet people. As far as we can tell SB is the social nexus for 80% of the gringos in this town. Through SB we have met a bunch of decent folk. I cannot recall the last time I made this many acquaintances and was not been apathetic about it. This Saturday will be football in the ante meridian with SB (I am hopeful that it can fill that gap the basketball used to take care of). The game will be against a team of locals.

I could go on all day about how all my needs are currently taken care of. It is enough to make anyone sick, to be honest. Being vegan in this town is great, the hills behind our home (and in fact Cochabamba) recall Kapiti Coast without the coast (i.e. are mountainous), there is excellent weather and climate, the truffi system is brilliant, Hester has arrived, La Cancha is immense and contains real-life-pickpockets. When I go for a run in the afternoon the neighbourhood is unlike anything I have seen before: dusty, cobble stoned, massive incomplete brick-houses and soupy-green swimming pools, cows walking free, children looking at me like I am an alien and men clapping me on mordantly.

It is all coming together very nicely in Cochabamba. And all this makes me wonder what is going to happen in a week when we have to renew our visas. We will be taking a trip to Chile. If this was a movie and not real life now would be the time where the nemesis/antagonist materializes in a merciless yet surreptitious way...