Ruminations on Bolivia

Well. Bolivia is not cooperating with my plans at all. I am in Coroico right now, which I stopped in in order to break the long trip up north to go to the jungle, but with the civic unrest, the north is not currently a recommended region for foreign travel. Neither, as it happens, is the south or the east. Given that I´m almost on the western border, the undeniable implication is that travel here generally is not currently recommended. Sigh!! And to complicate things, that nasty bug I caught in Copacabana required antibiotics to clear, and well, antibiotics and anti-malarials do not mix well. This is so not the plan!

Anyway. I guess that travel in South America implies that the traveller needs to be able to adapt to unexpected circumstances, yes? I expect that if I were travelling with someone else, or better yet, with a group, that the current unrest would seem like less of an issue, but as matters stand, the idea of taking a 17 hour bus ride into an area where people have been killed lately seems at the very least, unadvisable. I am going to try to get to the Uyuni salt flats before I give into the inevitable and leave Bolivia for Argentina, Peru or Chile (depending on which border crossings are not blocked), but I am not counting on that working out.

For the moment, I am going to spend today by the pool if weather permits, getting over my cold and reading a book from the book exchange. And perhaps having a cup of Yungas shade grown organic coffee in the afternoon. There are worse ways to wait out civic unrest... and worse places to do it in. But still.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Lots to ruminate. Good call on sitting by the pool and enjoying the moment. I hope you get to see the Salt Flats -- you talked about those more than the jungle in all of our conversations. Enjoy Coroico and send me some gourmet shots once you are back on a more explorative solid diet. :-) It sounds like you are taking good care of yourself...that pleases me.
Anonymous said…
Hey!! I hope things have improved - Mum said maybe you can go to the rainforest after all?? Fun!

I hope you are feeling better - sounds like that bug was pretty bad. I hope the cold ends soon too!

Love you tonnes - have a great time no matter what you end up doing!

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