Cochabamba - City of Valleys

Main Plaza

Our stay in Cochabamba wasn't too adventurous, but made mellow by health constraints...
However when we first arrived, we enjoyed a sunny day in the local mercado. We experienced all the unique smells and flavors. Ivan got a watch (finally!), and Kristin found some stretch pants. We enjoyed some fresh smoothies (a daily fave), bought some local fruit, some Chilean Cabernet, and the questionable cheese wedge. The market was a bustling hub of activity and was the center of the towns commerce (we never once saw a supermarket or even a small grocery store). Later that evening, Ivan opened the wine with his leatherman (no easy feat! :) ) and we headed off to a spectacular music performance by a very famous Bolivian folk-music band called Savia Andina. The 6 man band amazed us with their guitar harmonies, cochanga strumming, and of course the beautiful zampona reed flute. The concert was 2 hours of some of the most amazing music we have ever heard (it made Los Lobos look like clumsy school girls). We bought their entire discography for $1.00 too! The crowd was also very much a part of the musical performance and were compelled to clap with the complex rhythms. Definitely our best night out for music or enrichment.

A beautiful boy in a beautiful theater!
The Zampona!

Unfortunately, the following day Ivan was bulldozed by a very nasty stomach flu (perhaps caused by the innocent looking cheese, or the spicy empanada...). So the next 3 days really weren't remarkable other than nurse Kristin babying the fallen giraffe, and way too much bad daytime TV. When we could venture out into the harsh daylight, we decided to take a trip up the gondola to jumbo-Jesus and enjoy the panoramic sunset. A plaque claimed its the largest in the world, but 2 Brazilians were adamant that the one in Rio is far bigger (Ivan agreed, since a cab driver that day said Bolivia is the only land-locked country in the world... Paraguay their neighbor is too, but erroneous!!). The enourmous statue was pretty cool, and was over 40 meters tall and took 7 years to construct. Their was a wedding at the top, and whole lot of entanlged couples. The sunset was incredible and silhouetted the city beautifully. Be prepared to see a whole lot of J-Dawg....he was our photo MAN




Other than that, not a whole lot has happened... Well, we did encounter a very rude and residentially challenged individual in the main plaza today who simply got up from the bench next to us (he had that one alll to himself...), stepped over to our bench and told us that he wanted to sleep there. After asking him what the difference between the two benches was, he told us he didn't want to look at us and commenced to lay down and started to stretch his feet out over Kristin. We got up and Ivan politely told him he was crazy, and in response we got an emphatic "come mierda!" A good laugh for the morning, and had quite a few locals gawking (I think they were more surprised by how calm we took it). Too much leaded gasoline exposure, maybe?


Tonight we are catching a cramped 10 hour bus ride to the beautiful town (and sort-of secondary capital--look it up, its convoluted) Sucre. The next blog should be about the Dinosaur footprints!!.