We embarked on what turned out to be a rather gruelling coach trip of 10 hours on a "local bus"and we were the only gringos. We discovered rather late in the day that the toilets on these long distance buses rarely work. In one sense, the bus was upmarket in that they showed a film in the afternoon, but unfortunately, it was " Death Race 3", one of the worst films ever made. Because the bus was three hours late, we ended up, at night time in a bus station on the outskirts of the town which was in an area very much to avoid and we had some uncomfortable moments before we found a taxi to get to our hotel.
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| Convento de Santa Theresa |
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| Nun's room |
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| Pharmacy at the convent |
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| Palacio Portales |
However, we really enjoyed our stay in Cochabamba, which in the main is rather affluent with a Mediterranean feel about it. Our hotel with its spacious, wood panelled rooms was also a real find and an absolute bargain.
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| First breakfast outside! |
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| Cake decorations in the market |
We explored the local market which is supposed to be one of the best in Bolivia, had an interesting tour around a Carmelite nunnery (though the instruments of self flagellation were a bit of a surprise) and an extravagant French style palace built by the tin baron Simon Patino. We also hired bikes (great until we had a puncture and had a long, dusty and hot walk back) and generally enjoyed some down time.
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| Just before the puncture! |
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