fresh n juicy chunks of oyster :: RTW travel blog

I think I'm in love with Bolivia. I spoke to an old(ish - he didn't look it) man today in Sucre who told me I should buy a cheap house and live here. Indeed that is what a lot of Germans seem to have done as Sucre is teeming with cafes and bars with German names, usually chock-full of Gringos but very nice places!
And this is exactly what I intend to do the next few days in Sucre: relax and enjoy this lovely city, eating good food, sitting in cafes watching the world go by, reading, writing, and consuming copious amounts of caffeine.
Which brings me to my next point: these are activities anybody should be able to enjoy but unfortunately this kind of lifestyle is out of reach back at home. I always knew that Bolivia was economical to travel in (I won't call any lovely country cheap!) but putting a number on things after I found out the actual exchange rate to the Pound yesterday was a shock. A complete lunch with soup: price of a pack of gum in the UK. The meanest, largest fruit salads imaginable: cheaper than a cigarette in the UK (healthy alternative, but then again a pack of smokes here is only slightly more). Delicious cakes and sweets: pennies. I could go on but everything in fact comes in similar price ranges.
Now I obviously feel a little bad and unethical since I am in effect trashtalking a country's economy and unfairly reaping the benefits of a ridiculously high Pound and I fully understand why some locals here are resentful of Gringos coming and living like kings and queens. I am no economist but something must be wrong here anyway - either how overpriced everything back at home is or just how wide the gaps between places really are, as cliched as it sounds. Someone must be stuffing their pockets full of cash somewhere! But probably all I'm trying to say is that it will be incredibly difficult being a good consumer again once I return.
But enough about money since it is already a truth universally acknowledged that it is the root of all things satanic and otherwise worthy of worship in our world.
And since we're speaking of Satanic, I arrived in Sucre from a warzone: Cochabamba carnival. I thought the carnival in Tilcara was bad with the armies of armed kids roaming the street but in Cochabamba the army was a professional one composed of youths and adults. A cottage arms industry of selling filled water balloons had sprung up to meet the demand for arms, thousands of cans of carcinogenous (and incidentally CFC containing) artificial-snow spray were sold and half the crowd were armed to the teeth with imitation super soakers. That, being a Gringo who's a head taller than everyone else and the folly of having worn a bright-red (and what I thought at the time as festive) shirt made me into the prized Target of the Day. I was fucked.
After several hours of punishment the sun started going down, I was freezing and soaked and I decided that it'd be best to leave. Of course not before I had my diary (of all things again - but only a few pages this time!) pickpocketed in the crowd while I must have been shivering, dodging around and trying to defend myself against overwhelming odds. I think the parade was pretty good too but to be honest didn't catch too much of it -- too much foam in my eyes. I'm such a hero!
The next day however, made up for it. Cochabamba has the most amazing market I have yet seen. It stretches for 5 blocks and you can buy (almost) literally everything you desire. And, as we've established, it's cheap. So while I had been looking for a new diary for two months in Brazil to finally find one after much searching in Buenos Aires, in Cochabamba something suitable reared it's head within the first half hour of looking. At the same time I also fell in love with the 'antique' Bolivian fabric patterns and handicrafts which are simply gorgeous! Needless to say, shopping spree ensued.
So to finish off like I started: House in sucre - $15000; 12 water balloons $0.10; Diary with 'antique' cover: $1; having to go to dinner while leaving the slow, slow internet cafe to upload the rest of the pictures: priceless. (ok, that one's lame, but I really have to go to dinner and can't think of anything right now!).

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