Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 15th of July
07.40 The last morning in Sucre is here. Before the trip started, we had planned a full day and two nights here but it became 3½ days and four nights after we changed the travel route. We have managed to fill the days in a good way after all. Now everything will be gathered again. It's time to leave our home, Hotel San Felipe. We're continuing our trip in Bolivia. This time, however, not by bus but by plane.
09.00 After another great breakfast enters a moment of mostly nothing before the upcoming check-out.
10.35 We will soon check out, pay for the stay here, leave the luggage for storage during the day and then embark on a few hours of city walking with activities. There is one attraction left that we did not have time for the previous days.
11.06 The big backpacks were stored in room 7, our old room that we just left. The small backpacks and we we have gone to La Torre del Companario, a tower adjacent to the Church of Iglesia de San Miguel. It offers a café with city views. It's at the top of the tower. Here it will be, among other things, coffee. This is a lovely place for us but what a nightmare to be a waiter here. There are many steps up and down every day.
11.19 We have enjoyed the beautiful views of Sucre. We've filmed and taken photos. Some Italian ladies at retirement age were here for a while. Otherwise, we'll be alone up here.
11.57 What we ordered were carried up the steep stairs here, a real winner for us. It would not have been so fun to carry it all up by ourselves.
12.28 After the coffee was finished, we paid at the tower entrance and went out into town again. In the crowd, we finally found an exchange office where we could get rid of some of our US dollars. With more bolivianos in the wallets, we are now in resting mode on a bench on Plaza de 25 Mayo.
16.03 It's pretty quiet here at Aeropuerto Internacional de Alcantarí. We're checked in and paid the terminal tax. Within two hours, we'll be in the air. The luggage was sealed, how do we open it again?
Tuesday 16th of July
Christer is on his way to Iglesia de San Miguel.
Peter near the churchbells in Torre del Campanario.
Looking down on the roofs of Sucre.
We are looking towards Plaza 25 de Mayo.
Peter is writing down what happens in the tower.
Christer´s order has been carried up through the tower.
Heading down again.
Some music before leaving the tower.
Pigeons at Plaza 25 de Mayo.
Palacio Del Gobierno Nacional, Sucre.
Aeropuerto Internacional de Alcantarí.
Peter is ready to fly.
It´s time to enter the plane to Cochabamba.
Peter is eating airport dinner at Bufalo´s Grill.
Our large room at Americana Hotel.
The evening darkness outside our hotel.
08.57 We have slept well in our wide beds. There are hopes that the upcoming breakfast is not as moody as the shower. The latter varies in both pressure and water temperature.
09.35 The breakfast wasn't moody. There were no major faults with it. We sat on a ledge just above the front desk. Now let's make up the plans for the day. We only have one day here in Cochabamba so everything can't be seen. However, we hope to pick out some mixed goodies from what the city can offer. We have cancelled a time-consuming activity, the cable car up to Jesus statue Monumento Cristo de La Concordia. 10.25 Now the moment is here. We are going to learn more about Cochabamba, which is often mentioned as Bolivia's second largest city. It is the home of about a million inhabitants. The second biggest thing is not quite the whole truth because the big city of La Paz in such statistics is divided into La Paz and El Alto, although the two cities are basically stuck together. Most residents are found in Santa Cruz in the east of the country. However, we do not have time for that city on this trip. 10.48 We have started the day by wandering around on various streets to find a restaurant (T.G.I Friday´s) that is on Google Maps but did not exist reality. A street was blocked by some protesting people, unclear why. 11.04 It's time for 11 o'clock coffee again. This time we sit at Café Paris. In addition to coffee and croissants, we will plan before we continue to stroll. The average age is high here. There are many older gentlemen sitting here reading newspapers. Wonder how many years they had that routine? 11.39 Not so much planning was done but some thoughts exist. Now we take a bench break in the sunshine at the square Plaza 14 de Septiembre. Here are beautiful flowers, plenty of pigeons and local population. In the square there is also the famous cathedral, the Catedral Metropolitana de San Sebastián, Arquidiócesis de Cochabamba.
A daylight view from our hotel window.
Calle Bolívar, Cochabamba.
Old men reading newspapers in Café Paris.
Peter is investigating the Café Paris menu.
Out in the sun again after the coffee break.
12.10 We have made a change of bench and seat. On the mountain above us, Jesus stands in the form of a statue. It's the second tallest statue of Christ in the world. It is called The Monumento Cristo de La Concordia and it is actually higher than that of Rio de Janeiro. We ourselves are not standing but sitting at the Park/Plaza Colón square. Here it is nice to sit and enjoy in the sun but the sitting here also has a different function. Right here, the city's residents have free internet via a WiFi network that we are currently using.
12.42 Today we wear benches. We're sitting at another bench here at Plaza Colón. Behind us, a statue has a mouth guard. Is the air in the city so bad? 13.14 The walk in the city continues. More is to be seen and some are to be done. 13.27 We have walked along Avenida José Ballivian, a wide avenue with beautiful plantings in the centre. There are also bushes shaped by different animals. We have now reached a significantly more modern and fresher part of the city. There are plenty of hotels and good restaurants. Soon there will be lunch. 13.56 Bourbon and Roquefort have flavoured the pieces of meat that we ordered for our lunch. The beer with the taste of coffee I intended to order was unfortunately not available here at the restaurant Paprika (http://www.paprika.com.bo). On the way here we also saw the Flag Square, Plaza de las Banderas. It is a tourist attraction with flags from different countries of North America and South America. 14.50 We got delicious food and beer, nice local and good music. Something that unfortunately damped the experience was the strong smell of paint that reached us at our table. Now there are missions for tomorrow.
Peter is reading about Cochabamba on Plaza 14 de Septiembre.
Pigeons on well kept grass, Plaza 14 de Septiembre.
Catedral Metropolitana, Cochabamba.
The catholic church El Hospicio.
Plaza Colón, Cochabamba.
A dry fountain on Plaza Colón.
15.06 Christer is right now heading into the food shop Hipermaxi El Prado. He's going to buy breakfast for tomorrow morning and something for the long bus ride to La Paz tomorrow. I sit here and guard the backpacks. After all, they are rarely welcome into the shops.
16.36 It did not go very well for me to shop when it was my turn. When the last item, a roll of Mentos, was to be scanned, the cash register broke down. It took some time to restart it. Now we are finally back at the hotel. When trying to pay for our stay here, it turned out that the card reader is in need of charging. It's not going well with the payload this afternoon. We retreated to 401 until further notice. 17.15 What is it with the electronic gadgets today? The card reader needs more than recharging. Help is on its way. 18.40 The phone in the room rang. It was Heidi at the reception, the card reader was fixed. I went down to pay. Heidi wasn't there, but it went fine to pay anyway. The man there informed me that the hotel restaurant is open until 20.00. We will try to exploit that. It is far to other decent restaurants. 19.25 It was a short road to tonight's dinner table. We have our dinners in the hotel restaurant.
On Plaza Colón you get free WiFi.
A tired man underneath a pink tree.
A bush in the shape of a bird.
Plaza de Las Banderas, Cochabamba.
Christer is having lunch at the restaurant Paprika.
20.23 It may not have been the most culinary we ate this summer but it eased the hunger. Also nice to already be at home when the meal is ready. When we were done with the food, the restaurant was also finished with its business on this day.
20.50 The US House of Representatives has condemned Donald Trump's Tweets with the votes 240-187 and considers them racist. Four of the condemners are actually Republicans. This reaches us via CNN on the room's TV. 22.07 There will be an early ascent tomorrow morning, so early that we do not have time to take part of the hotel's breakfast. It's going to be an early night tonight. We need a number of hours of sleep before tomorrow's long westward movement.
Wednesday 17th of July
06.00 Our bed side breakfast is history and over. So is also soon the stay here in Cochabamba. There is more to see here but because of our restructured travel plans, it was not possible to solve otherwise than to stay long in Sucre and a shorter time here. Today there will be a journey of the longer kind. A weakness with my breakfast is that it did not include coffee. I miss the kettle and instant coffee.
06.40 We are checked out from the second to last Bolivian hotel this summer. Now let's go towards bus station. 07.18 It was sparsely on the streets this early hour. At bus station we have got some different things done. We have fetched our pre-purchased tickets, paid terminal fee and have stepped on board the bus that will take us to La Paz. We're going with the company Trans Copacabana S. A. It's a matter of keeping track. There is another company called Trans Copacabana MEM I. 08.40 We have left Cochabamba with surroundings and move westward through mountainous regions. With a loud and convincing voice, a woman talks about the products she offers. Some, not us, have received these products. Salesmen and preachers are a recurring phenomenon on buses in countries such as Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. 10.19 The bus has climbed ever higher. It's a profitability landscape, but here are some Lamas. Today we will move from Cochabamba at 2558 meters above sea level to La Paz which is at 3640 meters above sea level.
Early morning at Cochabamba bus terminal.
We are traveling through the Andes.
We spent many hours on this bus.
A stop in Caracollo.
12.15 The bus has made a small stop in Caracollo. Here our way from Cochabamba has joined the route from Oruro. We've taken the opportunity to stretch our legs. I've been thinking about buying myself a cup of coffee, but I don't dare with the fear of being left here. It's always tricky with these breaks that you don't know the length of.
14.16 There is not so much variation in what is offered in terms of views and with passengers. The journey to the northwest continues. 16.05 The city is called La Paz, the hotel is Hotel Monte Carlo (https://hotelmontecarlolapaz.com) and the number of the room is 103. Christer's bed has wheels and does not want to stand still. It took some time to get into the bus terminal here in the city. La Paz is located in a valley and before the bus went down in it we spun around for a while in El Alto where also the airport is located. 17.47 Christer is on the internet and looking for a suitable dinner restaurant as well as what a heater is called in Spanish. The one we have in the room lacks a working on / off button and we need to ask at reception about a new one. The heater is apparently called calentador. Christer is also looking for a pharmacy. He needs to buy something that can clean an infected fingertip. 18.19 Nuevo Lido Grill, This is where we're going to eat our burgers. The restaurant is close to our hotel at convenient walking distance. We will settle for this in our first night. More exciting restaurants may be sought in the coming days. 20.09 During the meal, some gentlemen passed carrying some kind of table tops. We lost track of how many tops were brought in. They never seemed to end. The meal here ended with some weak coffee, Café destilado. Now as we are back at the hotel we will go and ask about our little heater. I think we might as well bring it. We still have no use for a button less heater. There was no purchase at a pharmacy for Christer. None of what was needed was found. He was looking for something to clean a wound.
Our room at Hotel Monte Carlo.
Avenida Pérez Velasco outside our hotel.
Hamburgers are tonight´s dinner.
Peter is having dinner at Nuevo Lido Grill.
20.15 Our small heater has been left in the hotel reception. We have been promised that a new one's coming. Now we are working on the economy, how much more Bolivian currency do we need and how do we obtain it? Now it knocked on the door. A new heater is here and it's alive. Good!
21.30 It rains there outside our hotel window. Lightning and thunder have also appeared and been heard from them. It's nice to be indoors when there is such weather. 23.28 The rain has now turned to sleet, a mix of rain and snow. I think it's the first time on a summer trip that we see snow fall. We saw it on television in South Africa in 2009 but now we see it with our own eyes. But now it's not summer here in Bolivia so this is maybe a winter trip we're actually doing?
You can see 41 photos from July 15 in this photoalbum.
You can see 52 photos from July 16 in this photoalbum.
You can see 11 photos from July 17 in this photoalbum.