March 30, 2000
Day 161 To Cochabamba
We pack up as the family is awake to see us off. Patrick gives the man 50 Bolivianos for the “chicos”.
We continue to climb another 20 km’s or less. Then we have a 12 km’s downhill. We are passed by lots of trucks filled with people. We pass one stopped truck trying to load a squealing pig. The pig is smart enough to fight getting on the truck to market.
There’s another climb, we stop to eat and dry the tent. After we reach San Benito, the road continues up a valley without much serious climbing. We reach the outskirts of Cochabamba early afternoon. One stretch of road is being worked on and traffic is diverted to a very rough side road, but it's only a short stretch.
We enter the city through the chaos of local markets. The streets are heavy with traffic, the roundabouts have no order or rules. We continue on. Closer in, Patrick asks for “Centro” and closer in, the traffic becomes less chaotic.
We find Hotel Colonial. It has a nice courtyard patio, we can wheel the bikes into the room. We clean up and go explore. We are hungry for lunch, and find hamburger, fries and coke. We pick up e-mail messages, find a store selling Belgium chocolates and one selling marzipan!! There is an e-mail message from John & Susan for us to call Amex. We find a phone center to call and Patrick gets information about the account. To make the call, you are given a booth with the phone, dial direct and a meter keeps track of time and cost. When finished, go to the counter and pay for the phone call. Amex had a question about our last purchase that came through as USD rather than Bolivianos. So it was a good catch by them. We could also verify our last deposit to cover for the Antarctic trip.
Later for supper we have pizza and found a shop that must cater to westerners. It has cheese whiz and lots of Kraft products and what luck!! Peanut butter, just when we had used the last of ours. We thought we would have to wait until La Paz to replace it. Peanut butter has become a staple, when nothing else is available for food.
Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 5,327 km (3,308 miles)
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