Third and final trip: Off to Cochabamba!

My last vacation during my six-month stay in Bolivia. Alek and I chose Cochabamba as our destination, a city between Santa Cruz and La Paz. We were simply looking for a couple relaxing days. And that’s exactly what we found.

Of course, the beginning of the trip is identical to all others: catching a bus in the afternoon, a 12-hour trip and finally arriving the next morning. But at least this time… I slept! And thanks to my tired state, the ride seemed a lot shorter.

First impression of the city: amazingly beautiful. Well, at least compared to the other Bolivian cities I have had the pleasure of visiting thus far. A city very easily explored. The first day we wandered around. Nicky, one of the volunteers at the clinic, had lived in Cochabamba while in language school for two months before heading to Santa Cruz; she recommended a couple of local spots so that's where we headed. The local market, La Cancha, didn’t impress us. It wasn’t much different from other open-air markets around Bolivia. However, the plazas were beautiful. Not like in Santa Cruz, every couple blocks you found a plaza, park, or round-about full of grass, trees, and flowers. You could tell a little more importance was put into the city’s ambiance.

DON'T HONK!

colorful city buses

cathedral on the main plaza

Cochabamba

For lunch we found a cochabambino restaurant, our favorite discovery: Restaurant Tunari (named after the mountain range Tunari that surrounds the city). There we found the best chorizo that I have ever eaten, chorizo criollo. My food of choice, Sillpancho (tenderloin, two eggs on top with rice and French fries underneath), wasn’t bad either.

chorizo criollo

my sillpancho

And to end a long, tiring day, a quick walk down El Prado, one of the city’s main avenues and back to Tunari for the famous Pique Macho, a cochabambino original. This delicious dinner included fried chicken, udder, Argentinian chorizo, blood sausage, beef, chancho (pork) and my favorite chorizo criollo. All on top of French fries. Mmm mmm.

Pique Macho!

nighttime on El Prado