Tarija

Another 8 hour night bus took us from Tupiza to Tarija;

A rant about Bolivian buses: in South America you have to get overnight buses everywhere because everything is so far away. In Peru the buses are awesome; reclining leather seats, and you get films and a meal. Whereas in Bolivia the buses, although a third of the price, are about 40 years old, falling to pieces and terribly uncomfortable. They haven't worked out the heating on these buses either, they're either freezing cold or boiling hot, the bus we got to Tupiza had heating but we were freezing, yet the bus to Tarija didn't have heating and we were too warm. Its a mystery. Its not just the buses either, that roads are a terrible state too, hardly any are paved. Our bus to Tarija started out really well, we got the front seats so we had no one in front of us and we had a view through the drivers window, we also had half a roast chicken and a massive tray of carbs for our tea. The chicken was delicious but we didn't get any sleep. The Bolivians are clearly used to travelling like this because they're all fast asleep within 5 minutes of leaving the bus station and they don't have to get off at every opportunity for a wee like us gringos do (nor do they try and fail to pee in a coke bottle - Ric Stopher!) 

We got to Tarija at 4am, rather tired and ratty. I tried to buy some hot water from a man with a stall at the bus terminal but after waiting for it to boil for 15 minutes and getting interrogated by a crazy old man (little over a metre tall who claimed to be the same height as me), we realised the chap hadn't even turned the stove on! Then the next lady I asked for water ignored my request, prefering to shout "rice pudding" at me a couple of times, much to my annoyance.

We decided to walk into the night looking for a hostel. After a fair walk and a tube of pizza Pringles we came across Hostal America. It had a big sign so we thought it would be alright. But no. Horrid horrid place.

"Ric what's that noise?"

"Mice, rats and carrier bags..."

The hostel was falling to pieces, it was dirty and our beds appeared to be constructed from cardboard. We slept a couple of hours then got the hell out of there. I argued with the receptionist over paying but we still had to pay for a full night. More annoyance.

We changed to Hostel Zaballos, which has a lovely sunny courtyard and lots of plants. And the owner was really friendly.

Tarija didn't make a very good first impression, especially when I couldn't find anywhere for my morning coffee. But we eventually managed to turn it around. We found a nice plaza with some fancy gringo restaurants selling excellent coffee. Later we went for a walk along the river and I had a paddle, it was quite lovely.

On the way back into town to get dinner we stopped at a bar for "one drink". Sitting outside on the plaza one drink somehow turned into 3 bottles of wine, 2 pieces of cake and a bowl of the best nachos I have ever encountered. Tarija is wine country and so we felt somewhat obliged to do some tasting.

All in all, LOVE Tarija. Didn't have the best first impression but it turned it around. Its hot, busy, has amazing restaurants and lots of good wine. We've eaten like kings here.