Farewell Bolivia

With no plans on our last day in Bolivia, we just took another stroll through the vast complex of markets to drink in its sights and smells one last time. Even having visited on several previous occasions, we managed this time to explore hitherto unseen corners, including one dedicated to ceremony and offerings to Pachamama, which seem to necessitate dried baby alpacas.

What did I do to deserve this?

On the way, we discovered the section of the market populated by milliners and tailors, where the cochabambinas outfit themselves with the quintessential Bolivian skirts, hats, and colourful fabric for use as a rucksack to carry children or other effects.

Preparing food and eating on the street is as popular here as we observed on Vietnam. In the marketplace, the pavements are lined with women in charge of catering-sized pots of food, wrapped in the distinctively patterned and ubiquitous cloth in order to keep the contents warm. It is not uncommon, especially sat breakfast and lunchtime, but also at any point of the day, to see them surrounded by a crowd of hungry diners, squat on little stools, eating from plastic plates, which are then washed and wiped clean for the next customer.

Our Spanish teacher in Chile highlighted such street food to us a difference between her country and Bolivia. While she enjoyed the sight on her visit to Bolivia, she wouldn't eat "en la calle", as it was just a little too much 'in the street' for her. We, however, sat down excitedly on Avenida República this morning, as we had finally discovered a naturally vegetarian dish called papas a la huancaina. As you might have guessed, this involves potatoes.

Papas con salsa de maní

Yes, more potatoes. Say what you will about the Bolivians' Olympic consumption of carbohydrates, they cook a mean potato. And these were perfectly tender, buttery yellow potatoes with salad, boiled egg, and cheese, covered in a mildly peppery peanut sauce. The addition of the rich peanut sauce lifted the dish beyond its humble ingredients and reminded us of the Indonesian dish, gado gado.

After returning home briefly to pack up our things, the eating continued at Hare Krishna restaurant, Gopals.  The lunchtime buffet was sadly depleted, as we arrived relatively late, but we scraped together a salad and a creamy soya meat and butter bean curry with the usual vegetable soup.

Vegan in the sun

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, as we crossed our fingers for tomorrow's convoluted journey by aeroplane to Peru.