Spent 7 hours on the bus from La Paz to Santa Cruz, as per usual just turned up at the bus station and paid half the price they asked for. Also incredibly the bus left on time but as per usual with La Paz buses spent an hour filling the bus in El Alto (which is a really poor city on the rim overlooking La Paz). First 3-4 hours was driving along the vast expanses of the altoplano (not very exciting) altho did get a very tasty kind of mashed pototo filled with something snack from one of the local vendors who get on the buses along the way. The drive then heads over a high pass (damn cold, bits of snow lying plus raining) before descending down to 2500m to Cochobamba.
Cochobamba is a friendly little place, some good bars and restaurants. Spent a couple of hours in the square (well it was more like a roundabout with gardens) watching the newly married couples getting all their photos done plus watching out for the local shoeshine boys didn´t swipe nything from us (dodgy little muppets). Stayed in Hostel Jardina which was basic but fine. Got good mexican for dinner!
Next morning headed to the bus station for 6.45am ... managed to just about get on the 6.30am bus for a cheap 25 bols (we could have got the 7am but it costs more the earlier yo buy your ticket!) for the trip to Santa Cruz. Its 10 hours but the first 4 hours are incredibly spectacular. Cochobamba is still very dry and sparse and brown but has a few trees and from there head up over another ridge of mountains until suddenly everything turns green and from sparse altoplano landscape into cloudforest. Really sudden and surprising. The road then winds down thru steep valleys of cloudforest until a couple of hours later it hits the lowlands which is all very tropical and green. The temperature also goes from about 10C in La Paz, a pleasant 20Cish in Cochobamba (called the city of eternal spring) to a humid 30C in the lowlands. Bit of a shock to the system but nice to be back in hot weather and shorts again!
Santa Cruz is a lovely city, very modern, clean and feels more like a 1st world city then anywhere we have been so far. Staying in a great hotel for 9 eur per night for an ensuite, pool, fan and cble tv (which is pure awful 100 channels of poo but occasionally I get to see premiership highlights). Food is great here too. Huge portions tho - it baffles us how much food they can eat here in one go!! speaking of which off to some brazilian style buffet for lunch to stuff our faces for a couple of euros each and then it will be siesta for the afternoon!
Leaving on the train to the border tomorrow ... 20 hours on the so called ´death train´as its so slow and boring you risk dying of boredom! From there trying to sort out some panatal tour which could be interesting as sounds like lots of people trying to rip off gringos there.
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