This weekend I went to Cochabamba with Brenda and Aude in order to get away from the rain in Santa Cruz and to see a little more of the country. We took an all-night bus ride on Friday night and arrived in Cochabamba at 630am on Saturday in the city known for its food consumption (according to friends the meals in Cochabamba include: breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and then post-dinner snack). Upon arriving in Cochabamba we found a hotel to stay in and walked outside to go get some eats. The first thing we saw right down the block from us was this sight:
People with disabilities protesting lack of support from the government by going on a food strike. We passed the strikers and went to a great restaurant/café called Café Paris and ate some great crepes.
Our first sight-seeing destination was the Cultural Center of Simón I. Patiño. Patiño was a mining barron who made his fortunes and moved to Europe but kept coming back to Cochabamba to visit in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He decided to build a mansion with rooms influenced by his favorite architecture styles and have it furnished with only the finest materials. In the house there is a game room designed to look like the Alhambra, a dining hall with silk tapestry walls, overall pretty extravagant and gorgeous. Unfortunately for Patiño, he got sick and was never able to return to Cochabamba to live. His house was left vacant until the 1960s when his kids turned it into a cultural center. There are now cultural centers and scholarships and grants that are all sponsored by Patiño across Bolivia. The tour we took of the grounds and house was lovely, but we were not allowed to take pictures indoors, so following are outdoor shots.
One of many long-armed shots of the three of us in Patiño's gardens.
With Brenda behind the house.
In front of a building and pool that were built to look like the Alhambra in Granada.
People with disabilities protesting lack of support from the government by going on a food strike. We passed the strikers and went to a great restaurant/café called Café Paris and ate some great crepes.Our first sight-seeing destination was the Cultural Center of Simón I. Patiño. Patiño was a mining barron who made his fortunes and moved to Europe but kept coming back to Cochabamba to visit in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He decided to build a mansion with rooms influenced by his favorite architecture styles and have it furnished with only the finest materials. In the house there is a game room designed to look like the Alhambra, a dining hall with silk tapestry walls, overall pretty extravagant and gorgeous. Unfortunately for Patiño, he got sick and was never able to return to Cochabamba to live. His house was left vacant until the 1960s when his kids turned it into a cultural center. There are now cultural centers and scholarships and grants that are all sponsored by Patiño across Bolivia. The tour we took of the grounds and house was lovely, but we were not allowed to take pictures indoors, so following are outdoor shots.
One of many long-armed shots of the three of us in Patiño's gardens.
With Brenda behind the house.
In front of a building and pool that were built to look like the Alhambra in Granada.After checking out Patiño's place and taking copious photos, the three of us headed over to the statue of Jesus Christ that sits on one of the hills surrounding the city. Apparently this statue of Jesus is even larger than the one in Rio by a few centimeters (it is 33 + meters, a meter for every year of Jesus' life and a little extra since he was 33+ when he died). There is an air tram that can take you to the top of the hill, or you can climb the 2000+ steps. I was able to convince Aude and Brenda to take the steps, but I seemed to be the only one who actually enjoyed the climb....hehehe.
When we finally got to the top after a lot of stops on the way, we looked around a bit at the Panorama and then headed back down in the air-tram and went to lunch.
In the afternoon we met up with Ronaldo, one of the people who works at CEPAD who was in town for a concert. We went out to ice cream with him and a friend of his who was also going to play in the concert. Together the five of us went to a concert by WARA, a group that Ronaldo described as the Bolivian Pink Floyd. The group has been around since the 1970s and they mix together Ayamara and rock music. They apparently also sing about socially important and relevant topics, but I honestly did not understand most of what was sung since the mics were kind of off.
Our second day in Cochabamba we headed to the market to buy handicraft gifts. Apparently the market in Cochabamba is the largest in all of Bolivia, but I did not really feel like it was bigger than the market Brenda and I got lost in when we went to La Paz. In the search for handicrafts we passed tons of open air meat vendors with selling parts of meat and fish with no protective gear whatsoever. Brenda, who is a meat eater, said that after seeing that she didn't even want to eat meat any more. Shudder.
In the afternoon we reunited with Ronaldo's friend and he took us to a park about an hour outside of the city that is part of the Patiño property. We went in two micros (vans with people packed in) first to Quillacolla, a town 11km outside of Cochabamba (though given urban spread you cannot really tell that you ever left a city). From there we went up a hillside past the Patiño country home and to a park that was full of couples and families. The nature was very reminiscent of Tilden Park and we headed up the hill to see a waterfall. The waterfall was pretty much dry since we are not currently in the rainy season, but it was a great walk and we saw impressive panoramas of the whole Cochabamba valley.
Apparently we were at a phone reception area...
Next to the small river that is usually above the waterfall.
With Brenda in front of the dry riverbed.
On the return to Cochabamba we stopped in Quillacolla to see the church of Urkupiña, a church that has a huge celebration from August 14th-18th. The church was lovely, but we rushed through in order to get to the bus station on time. Of course, as I should have expected, our bus was late and we ended up staying at the bus station for an hour waiting around with our bags. When we finally got on the bus, which we paid extra for in order to have bed-seats, I figured out that my seat was broken and would lift itself up, making it hard to sleep. We also stopped a few times, to go to the bathroom and then for a drug check, so it was not the most restive return. At 3am the bus dropped Aude and I off in Buena Vista.
There were some problems uploading pictures, so more to come later.
When we finally got to the top after a lot of stops on the way, we looked around a bit at the Panorama and then headed back down in the air-tram and went to lunch.In the afternoon we met up with Ronaldo, one of the people who works at CEPAD who was in town for a concert. We went out to ice cream with him and a friend of his who was also going to play in the concert. Together the five of us went to a concert by WARA, a group that Ronaldo described as the Bolivian Pink Floyd. The group has been around since the 1970s and they mix together Ayamara and rock music. They apparently also sing about socially important and relevant topics, but I honestly did not understand most of what was sung since the mics were kind of off.
Our second day in Cochabamba we headed to the market to buy handicraft gifts. Apparently the market in Cochabamba is the largest in all of Bolivia, but I did not really feel like it was bigger than the market Brenda and I got lost in when we went to La Paz. In the search for handicrafts we passed tons of open air meat vendors with selling parts of meat and fish with no protective gear whatsoever. Brenda, who is a meat eater, said that after seeing that she didn't even want to eat meat any more. Shudder.
In the afternoon we reunited with Ronaldo's friend and he took us to a park about an hour outside of the city that is part of the Patiño property. We went in two micros (vans with people packed in) first to Quillacolla, a town 11km outside of Cochabamba (though given urban spread you cannot really tell that you ever left a city). From there we went up a hillside past the Patiño country home and to a park that was full of couples and families. The nature was very reminiscent of Tilden Park and we headed up the hill to see a waterfall. The waterfall was pretty much dry since we are not currently in the rainy season, but it was a great walk and we saw impressive panoramas of the whole Cochabamba valley.
Apparently we were at a phone reception area...
Next to the small river that is usually above the waterfall.
With Brenda in front of the dry riverbed.There were some problems uploading pictures, so more to come later.
2 comments:
What's chicolac?
Haha, and next Athalia goes to a town know for food! You're my kind of lady. That house sounds pretty cool - kind of like a mini Hearst Castle. But I don't think Hearst was into the Moorish stuff. Sounds like at least your travels are interesting; how's work? I'm bored out of my mind.
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