Random Musings Upon Leaving Bolivia

Tonight I´m saying good-bye to Bolivia and hopping on a train from Santa Cruz to Quijarro at the Brazilian-Bolivian border.  I´ve heard three things consistently about Brazil: how much fun it is, how good the breakfasts are at the hostels, and how expensive it is! So that´s how I can tell I am nearing Brazil. Already the breakfasts are better. For breakfast, my hostel here serves fresh papaya, bananas, avocados, and watermelon and papaya juice. Yum! I had long been tiring of bread rolls and tea for breakfast.  All of the fresh fruit is such a welcome sight. Yesterday, I wandered to the local market for a delicious fruit salad of fresh papaya, apples, bananas, under a papaya milkshake sauce. All for less than a dollar.

Fruit salad stand at Mercado Florida

I´m hoping that immigration will be a lot simpler leaving Bolivia than arriving.  If it´s any indication of how much Evo Morales likes the United States, "norteamericanos" are in the special immigration group reserved for terrorist watch list countries like Afghanistan.  So while all of my fellow travellers waited in the normal immigration line to cross the Bolivian border from Chile, I was escorted by our tour driver to a special line.  The officer took my passport, placed it in a manila envelope, stapled it shut, labeled it, and wouldn´t let me have it back.  The driver was charged with keeping my passport for the four days of our trip, then escorting me to the immigration office in Uyuni where the immigration officer opened the package. 

These last few days in Santa Cruz have been exceedingly lazy.  I actually feel a little guilty about it.  I suppose I could have done the Che trail to visit where the Bolivian military killed and buried him.  Or I could have visited some of the Jesuit missions.  But somehow, I haven´t felt like doing more than wander the city, read, eat ice cream and fruit, and run errands. 

In some ways, I don´t feel like I´m in Bolivia just because this Bolivia is so different from the prototypical Bolivia in the brochures and tour books. Santa Cruz is the largest city in Bolivia, but this isn´t the altiplano or Andes with women wearing traditional braids and bowler hats. It´s modern and tropical, with palm trees populating the main plaza.  It´s the most affluent city in Bolivia. I was surprised to pass an Osh Kosh B´gosh store and a Victoria´s Secret store today.

There´s a pet toucan that roams the courtyard of my hostel. This morning, he wouldn´t leave me alone and kept nipping me at my ankles while I tried to eat breakfast. Yesterday, I accidentally almost hit him in the beak while I was throwing my trash away because he was sitting on the chair next to the garbage can. 

The offending toucan

I´m looking forward to Brazil, but also reluctant to leave Bolivia. I felt ready to leave Argentina when I left, so I´m not sure why a part of me is holding back. Maybe it´s because I know that Brazil is my last stop before I go home. And I don´t want to go home. Not yet. And I can see why for some people, not ever.

NOTE:  A few people have written me to say that they tried to post a comment, but couldn´t.  I think I fixed it.