The bus to Cochabamba was very good – I appeared to have booked myself on a luxury one. The video system worked well and there was an interesting film shown (it was about the Nazi Rudolf Hess). The seats reclined and I slept very well while the bus slowly zigzagged down from the altiplano. At 5:30 in the morning (16th January) I arrived in Cochabamba. I found the recommended “Hotel Familiar” where I had agreed to meet Paul and Rachel later that day, checked in and had some more sleep.

Late morning I wandered up to the viewpoint at the top of the hill (“Concordia”) standing above the city centre. I pondered the question of which route to take south… I finally decided to take the route back west via northern Chile. It will be sad to miss Salta and northern Argentina, but I can’t see everywhere, and I fear that Santa Cruz, and the route south to Argentina, will be very hot and quite humid.

So, the decision made, after lunch I got a ticket for the evening of the next day to get the night bus to the small city of Sucre to the south. Back at the hotel, some postcard writing was eventually interrupted by the arrival of Paul and Rachel. We then wandered around town with no particular objective other than soaking up the feel of the place – it had a different characteristic from La Paz and the altiplano – the Andean clothes were not so common and people had rather more European facial features.

We ended up in a pizza restaurant and were just tucking in when something dramatic flashed up on the small TV hanging from the wall. There was news footage of warplanes taking off, and of explosions, with excited commentary. In large letters on the base of the screen it said “Operación Tormenta del Desierto” – Operation Desert Storm…

It appeared that the long build-up of allied forces to free Kuwait from Iraqi occupation is over, and that a comprehensive attack on Iraqi forces has just commenced.

Back at the hotel, I listened to the reports on the BBC World Service. It all sounded quite dramatic, if a long long way away from where I am right now:

In the morning (17th January) I noticed that my eyes felt uncomfortable when I put my contact lenses in. I couldn’t work out why – I wore them for a bit but then took them out in favour of my prescription glasses which I have only tended to use in the very dusty places I have been to. The glasses have the advantage of automatically turning dark in sunlight, but I don’t like them really.

Paul and Rachel appeared – we went to the street market area and had fish for lunch. I had told Rachel that I will be flying to Auckland in 2 months time and she said she will write to her parents there to ask them to let me stay with them while I’m in Auckland. This is very kind!! She gave me the all-important address and phone number.

Later, after posting the postcards that I’d written, and finding a decent ice cream shop, our wanderings eventually took us to the top of the Concordia hill overlooking the town. I took a farewell photo of Paul and Rachel, and Rachel took one of Paul and me, which she duly supplied to me…

4768 hr RTW 16-17 Jan 1991 Cochabamba Bolivia

4769 hr RTW 16-17 Jan 1991 Cochabamba Bolivia

Malcolm in Cochabamba

It has been good travelling with them – I’m aware that by heading for Sucre I’m departing from the main “Gringo trail” and may be on my own for several days. We went for a final meal of fried chicken, said goodbye, and I went to catch my night bus.