At the Cocha, Cochabamba

Today was orientation time in the Bolivian town of Cochabamba. It is great to be in our own flat again and to have control over space and meals. Breakfast was fried egg, avocado and bread, with some puffy cereals that everyone everywhere in Cochabamba seems to sell.

Breakfast 'Bolivian' style

We walked the few blocks into the centre of town - the city is mostly based on a grid system, which occasionally gives room for a grand square or two.

Plaza de 14 Septiembre

To help our orientation, we searched for tourist information centres indicated on the map. However, our search was in vain as most were nonexistent or turned out to be a small booth, which was closed.

Fruit and juice for sale

Most people seem to sell things from carts or stalls on the side of the street or at the marketplace. However, as we progressed north of the centre, into the more well-off area of town, the small tiendas give way to boutiques and supermarkets.

Plaza Colón

We dropped in to Hipermaxi supermarket to pick up a few items more difficult to find on the street. We soon discovered that everything is at least double the price on the shelf and fancy imported items are extravagantly priced. Nevertheless, we bought a few things and tried to pay on credit card, but also discovered that the Bolivian anti-money laundering system requires identification. Without a passport, we paid using effectivo and went to the market for some reasonably priced items.

Flowers for sale

At the market, we had some friendly conversations with the (exclusively female) stallholders, who did not seem accustomed to gringo faces poking about the produce. Dealing with transactions is now a lot easier since we left Chile and the prices have dropped by two orders of magnitude, from approximately 1000 pesos for every pound sterling to 10 bolivianos. Also, Bolivian Bolivianos are known as BOBs, which amuses me greatly.

Hats

From one seller near our house, we got a couple of cups of mocochinchi. This is a drink made from dried peach (a lot like mote con huesillo) spiced with cinnamon. This version also had half a pear floating in it, which went superbly with the warming spice. Apparently the Bolivian people have been encouraged to drink this and other traditional beverages in an effort to rid the country of Coca-Cola. This is a slight failure, as Coke and its branding are everywhere, even supplying much of the bottled water consumed here. It might also be a good idea to wage war on Nescafé, whose café instantáneo is pervasive, while Bolivian-grown coffee beans are nowhere to be found.

Avenida Aroma, on which we are staying, lies on the boundary between the town centre to the north and a distinctly sketchy looking area to the south around the bus station. We have been sensible and safe thus far but decided to head north when agreeing to meet up with some friends we had met in San Pedro.

The couple happened to be in Cochabamba before moving on to La Paz tomorrow, so we met for dinner. None of us knowing any better alternative - and knowing that much of Bolivian cuisine is centred on meat - we suggested going to Tulasi vegetarian restaurant, which we had passed earlier in the day.

Tulasi is a Hare Krishna restaurant, in the mould that we have come quite familiar with by now - bright lighting, simple tables, and posters extolling the virtues of a vegan diet and the ills of the meat industry. As is also typical, the place was empty and the owners were idiosyncratic.  The reception was odd and the owners seemed positively baffled that we might choose this place over all the other more tourist-friendly venues.

Even after our friends had arrived, whose Spanish is a little better than ours, we struggled to make ourselves understood and concluded that the waitress may only speak Quechua, the indigenous language. To keep things simple, we all ordered silpancho - originally a Quechua dish from Cochabamba that is, as seems to be the Bolivian predilection, high in carbohydrates. In the meaty version, silpancho is a plate of rice layered with sliced boiled and fried potatoes that are then covered with an enormous patty of minced beef mixed with breadcrumbs, topped with a fried egg (or two) and a 'salad' of cubed tomatoes and onion. This vegan version sadly omitted the eggs and came with cold rice, one cold potato, an admittedly tasty lentil patty standing in for the beef, and a few scraps of tomato - even in the original, the vegetables play second fiddle. Still, we couldn't complain, as, with soup, we paid the princely sum of 10 BOBs each. This left us with enough cash to go a few doors down to Café Paris on Plaza 14 de Septiembre, which seems to occupy the same world as the locations in the film Amélie. Despite feeling completely at odds with the surrounding Bolivian culture, we indulged in their long menu of fancy coffees and tempting crêpes.