March 13th to 17th - Santa Cruz, Bolivia

This week is a time share exchange.  It was the only week that was available and we assumed we needed to see this part of the country and Santa Cruz to complete our tour of Bolivia.  Everyone we talked to asked us why we were going to Santa Cruz.  Apparently even the locals think there is no reason to visit the place.  So this has now become our rest week.  We have a nice place with a pool and the weather is hot and sunny so we will enjoy ourselves even if we don't go anywhere.  However, we are planning to do some touring.

Sunday, March 13th

This morning we slept in, went down for breakfast about 9:30 and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon on our deck in the shade with a beautiful breeze blowing.  Gillian and Randy went down to the pool but it was too hot and sunny for me so I stayed up in the shade and did some blogging.  My usual time to go to the pool is about 4:00 when it gets a bit cooler and there is more shade.  By then they were done so we spent the early evening back on our balcony then had happy hour with some cheese and crackers and wine.  About 7:00 we wandered down the street to the local steak house but found it was closed so ended up going back to a burger and wings place.  The food was good and the staff was friendly and it was only a few blocks away so that was good.  We did a bit of grocery shopping on the way back to the hotel and the sat around for a while reading or blogging until it was time to go to bed.  Doing almost nothing all day was a great change!!!

Monday, March 14th

The other two were up early but I llept in a bit today.  For some reason I'm feeling a bit dizzy or light headed.   We joked that it was probably too much oxygen now that we're down at only 400 metres instead of up at 4,000 but I don't really think that's the case.  It could be going off of the prednisone that the silly South African doctor gave me to combat high altitude sickness and I guess it could be but I was only on them for two weeks.  Maybe it's just plain exhaustion after nine months of travelling.  Who knows?  All I know is that I took it easy today.  We had some boiled eggs, cheese and bread for breakfast about 10:00 and when the others went down to the pool I sat in the patio in the shade again doing some reading and blogging.  It's definitely not a bad way to spend the day.  Randy and Gillian went out for dinner but I stayed in and had a cheese sandwich.  More blogging and reading and the day was over.

Tuesday, March 15th

This morning was another slow relaxing morning.  About 9:00 we had to really get moving to have breakfast (poached eggs, bread, cheese, juice and coffee) so we could leave about 10:00 and get a taxi to Guembe Park.  The guide on our Bolivian tour recommended we go there and several others mentioned it as well so we decided to go.  The park is almost 60 acres of forest and parkland in a big city so it is unique just for that.  However, it also has a bird aviary with parrots and toucans and other brightly coloured birds, a butterfly park, a butterfly breeding area, a tortoise area, a botanical and organic garden, a museum on evolution of the universe and life on earth, etc.  As well as this side of things it has a number of pools for swimming and some natural pools for kayaking and other activities.  One of the islands in one of the pools is Monkey Island and it had a few monkeys on it.  There were also restaurants, bars, cafes and some small shops.  We got there about 10:30 and spent the first very hot, sweaty hours walking all around the various sites.  They were interesting but nothing special.  My favourite was seeing a toucan from about 3 feet away and having him actually stay put for a picture.  Their shape and colour of their beak just doesn't look real.  It looks like a piece of orange plastic has been stuck there but they are still nice.  My other favourite is the big blue Morpho butterfly.  It is absolutely beautiful but you just cannot get a decent picture of it - and I have tried many times down here in South America.  After seeing all the exhibits we spent the afternoon by one of the pools swimming, relaxing in the shade and having a late lunch.  It was very nice.  The pools were clean and there were very few people around so it was quite quiet.  We left about 5:30 and went back to the hotel, showered, changed and had some drinks and snacks for dinner and that was it for another day.

Wednesday, March 16th

I had another slow start today and woke up with a achy head, jaw, neck shoulders and back.  I don't know whether I just slept wrong or what but I've never awakened to such a mass of aches and pains.  I took a long hot shower, did some light stretching and exercise, drank a lot of water and did a fair amount of groaning but nothing seemed to help.  Eventually I took a couple of Tylenol and eventually things seemed to be better.  We had French toast and cheese for breakfast with coffee and juice and banana, and then we set off to walk to the old city centre.  The front desk clerks gave us directions but thought we were crazy for walking.  Personally, I kind of agreed with them but the other two wanted the exercise.  First we went to find a laundry mat.  The closest one, the one we thought we would use, took three days to get the clothes back so that wouldn't do.  We walked further and found one n the mall that would have it back by tomorrow.  It was 11:30 before we left there and started the walk downtown, which took us one hour with a few quick stops on the way but no detours.  That means it was about five kilometres from the laundry mat.  That's about my normal walking speed.  The other two could have done it faster.

The main square, Plaza 24th of September, is very nice.  There are a lot of trees and benches and there were a lot of people sitting around.  Some of the tables were set up with chess games and some of the older men were playing chess.  Most people were just sitting and relaxing but there were two other groups of people.  One group was protesting something around the main statue but as their signs were all in Spanish we didn't really know what they were protesting.  And protesting really wouldn't be the word for it.  Most of the time we were there the protesters were just sitting around or laying down sleeping.  They were pretty easy to ignore.  The other group was much nosier and more active.  We didn't know all the details again but we believe they were fighting for change to subsidies and/or facilities for handicapped people.  They ad one buy on a wheelchair hung up on the side of the building and two girls suspended in the air as well.  It was an incredibly hot and humid day and they were in the sun so it would not have been a fun time.  Eventually the police, ambulance and fire truck came in to get them down, which was probably a good thing.  The rest of the folks were still there protesting when we left.  Basically we just tried to avoid and ignore both groups.

We arrived at the square around 12:30 and toured around a couple of shops and alleys.  We decided to meet again at 2:00 for lunch and split up to tour various buildings in the meantime.  Well, it turns out that everything is closed form 12:00 to 3:00 so we couldn't do much at all.  We went for a bite to eat and sat for quite a while.  Eventually it was time for Gillian and I to do some touring.  Randy decided just to walk back to the hotel.

The Basilica Menor de San Lorenzo Martir, or Basilica of St. Lorenzo the Martyr who is the patron saint of the church, is on the one end of the square.  It is reasonably new, just 101 years old having been opened n 1915 and celebrating its centenary last year.  It was the home of a very popular Cardinal who is now buried in the church, and it has been visited by a couple of popes:  Francis just recently and John Paul maybe ten to fifteen years ago.  The church is a light brick structure on the outside and looks quite different than the surrounding buildings.  It has a tall bell tower and a tall clock tower and a high main facade.  The designs. Include arched windows, rounded corners on square towers, inset carvings and details, and circular patters in the bricks which looked quite unusual.    On the inside it is long and narrow with only one centre aisle bordered by pillars and an aisle on each side.  The interior is very light in colour except for the pews and the ceiling which are a dark wood.  The front altar piece looks quite unassuming from the back but once you get close to it you see that it is totally drones in silver and the carvings on the silver is really quite intricate.  We went into the museum as well and the artifacts were all religious in nature and from the 15th to 21st century with a heavy emphasis on the 18th century.  There were old paintings and sculptures, religious cloaks and lots of symbols like crosses and chalices with most of them made from silver.  Even the cloaks had silver thread in them, reminding all that the area was rich in silver.  It was a small museum with no English signs so it was good that we had a guide who could explain some of the objects to us.

We then went to find the Museo do Libertad, which was supposed to be on the square.  It was on one map but not the other and we never did find out exactly where it was.  We did eventually find the Museo de Historian and went through that.  It was in a very nice old colonial building with a big courtyard on the interior.  Over half of the building on two floors was museum space and it covered various things from the important people in the area to household items to musical instruments to funerary urns.  It was interesting to see but it didn't take long as everything was in Spanish and we didn't understand what most of the signs said.

We also took a quick look in some of the other old colonial buildings mainly because we wanted to see them.  There were art galleries in them so we did a really quick view of the artwork as well - too modern for me.  There were other very lovely old buildings on the square.  The city's cultural office is now an art gallery.  The current social club was in a building that used to be very important, and there were also other large government buildings.  All of these buildings look very colonial with two stories and pillars, balconies and some carved/bricked decoration. 

After our touring we found a place to buy some water and then we headed home.  We took a tax though because we were lazy.  Once back at the hotel we jumped in the pool to cool of then happy hour down by the pool.  Dinner was light but it was good - just an empanadas snack from the local grocery store.  Then we had some bananas and ice cream and Oreo cookies and finally it was time for bed.  Another busy day in Sanda Cruz.

Thursday, March 17th 

As this is our last full day here we decided to go back down for breakfast in the restaurant.  We did that around 9:00.  The rest of the morning was trying to get on the Internet, which is almost always impossible for Gillian and I but Randy sometimes gets on, visiting and doing some blogging.  After breakfast Gillian took off to the zoo that is nearby.  There is also another museum there.  I wanted another day of doing nothing but blogging to hopefully get caught up on the Bolivian portion of the trip at least - and maybe also have a dip in the pool.  

Santa Cruz is a city of over two million people and it is a modern bustling city.   It has three ring roads and well laid out spoke streets that are wide and many with boulevards.  The other circular streets are smaller and often one way but the traffic flows easily and there are very few traffic jams, unlike in the other cities we've visited.  Heck, these drivers even stop for pedestrians!  It's a newer city and flat.  It's not in the mountains so that definitely makes it easier.  And it has hot weather all year round which also helps.  Since we've been here it has been hot (in the 30's C) and humid with very few clouds in the sky and no rain - unless it rains at night and dries very quickly so that we don't even notice it.  But for all of that it is more of a foreign city than anywhere else in Bolivia.  Fewer people speak English here and when they speak Spanish they do so very quickly and drop a lot of the endings so we can hardly understand anything.  It is hard to find a tourist information centre or even a good map.  All the shops and museums and other places close for 3-4 hours in the afternoon so they are not very accessible (especially since we couldn't find a tourist place to tell us this!) and all of the museums have signs in Spanish only.  I guess the fact is that very few tourists come to Santa Cruz so nothing is set up for them.  And since nothing is set up for tourist I'd say it would be better to stay away from this side of the country unless you just want some warmth and relaxation.  Heck, even the locals in the west say don't go to Santa Cruz because they don't like it.  And there really isn't much to see within the city.  You have to go hours outside the city to et to any real tourist attraction such as the early missions that were established or the national park.  We decided not to do any of those tours but just to stay put in the city and relax, and that works well for me.  Besides, we saw the top three sights: Guembe, the Cathedral and Plaza 24 September so we saw everything we had to see.  And all of that is to explain why I decided not to do much today.

The pool was lovely.  I got another blog done - Potosi I think - and I did a lot of reading so it was a lovely day.  The others returned during the afternoon and joined me at the pool.  Then about 5:00 we went up to get cleaned up and changed and had happy hour.  Then we went out to go pick up our laundry and have some dinner before heading back to the hotel to repack and sort and get ready for the start of another adventure tomorrow.