Bolivian Immersion

No sooner had we arrived in Tupiza we were hassled by two girls trying to sell us a tour, but we decided to put our heavy packs down in our night’s residence before making any decisions. And what decisions were they? You’ll just have to wait and see! After a bit of faffing with our bags in the hotel, we hurried out to check out the place! We were pretty hungry by this time, too, and we would be lying if we told you that we didn’t break every rule in the book!
Rule 1: If you haven’t peeled it yourself then don’t eat it!
Rule 2: Don’t eat salad, as the water that it’s washed in may not be trustworthy.
Rule 3: If you don’t know what it is, keep well away!
Rule 4: Make sure it’s cooked through and through.
Rule 5: Try and pick somewhere to eat with decent enough hygiene levels.
Well, we didn’t peel the onions that were garnishing the dish but they were delicious all the same! The tomatoes were very juicy and we can only hope that the water that it was washed in was bottled. The smiling young lady at the food stall in the main market offered us something to try with our meal but as our Spanish isn’t yet up to speed we failed in understanding, so we simply plumbed for it. These things had the appearance of cooked mushrooms sprinkled with cheese, but had the texture of conchiglie pasta that perhaps requires five minutes more in the boiling pot. We still don’t know what on earth we ate so that’s rule three out of the window! The chicken, beef, rice and potato were all just slightly more than lukewarm, but we think it had been cooked properly nevertheless. The location wasn’t the best either, but we so chose to eat in the upstairs of the grimy market in order to sample the real Bolivia. A sorry looking bulldog with bloodshot eyes made a pest of himself at our table but we were rescued by the sweet waitress who chased him off with a broom. All in all the food was pretty nice, but the best part was the fiery, ground up chilli sauce that we finished off without any problem. Hopefully all of these broken rules won’t have any consequences!!!

Sometimes (well, for us, always) it’s better not to book rooms in advance or make reservations: just show up in a town and take a look around. This method never fails. Here in Tupiza it seems to have worked a treat: the room we have at the Hostel Valle Hermosa is quite possibly one of the best rooms we’ve had anywhere. There’s a limit to the amount of dorm sleeping one can do, so here we went for the penthouse! We have great windows on three sides, all with views out over the rooftops of the town over to the surrounding hills. It’s a quiet hostel in a quiet location, well quiet until the twilight troop of young boys play games on the dark street corners and when savage looking dogs choose to howl. There was a drum beat coming from some mystery location last night and no matter how hard we peered out, the drummer remained invisible.
Our hunt for a filling Friday night supper went in vain; the best we could find which was gringo-free was a small fast food outlet where we enjoyed salchipapas, pique and chilli con carne. Breakfast, however, for BS15 (divide by 11...) was fantastic: a massive cup of fresh coffee or maté, two local bread rolls, a scoop of creamy butter which resembled a rich vanilla ice cream, tasty marmelade and a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. For elevenses we enjoyed an empanada filled with chicken, potato, raisins and plenty of spice. Today there is not a cloud in the sky, and the surrounding mountains look very inviting. But how will we get there…?