Best Western House Inn And Sui Santa Cruz

For my last day in Mexico - and my birthday - I decided to treat myself and not to return to the Centro Historico. Insteat I went to the more upscale Zona Rosa. A nice place, really, with dozens of good restaurant (and not that expensive), clean pedestrian streets, pink-colored pavement (hence the name) and a friendly, lively ...

... actually an island built on a large lake. Very large! And now, because it is so populated and contains so many structures, cars, etc..., it is starting to sink! Some of the older building - the most beautiful but also the most heavy - are sinking which is causing the sidewalks to become topsy-turvy. The sidewalks are actually curved! The beautiful cathedral we visited actually has a pendulum inside that is moving! The government is working to correct the ...

... a bunch of his friends on BMX’s (they were adults) just standing around. It was about now we seriously thought we might get robbed. But we didn’t.
45 minutes later we reached the haunted Island of the Dolls. The Island of the Dolls was an island inhabited by a hermit. When a young girl drowned nearby he tried to appease her ghost by fishing dolls out of the canal and creating a shrine for her on the island. Before long, he accumulated so many ...

... Shopping here is quite a different experience from anything at home and I love it! Though I´m being careful and not spending too much. I know some things here that are way cheaper than at home and so I´m trying to get those types of things. One great example is manicures! I think I´ll be going with my host sister this afternoon for manicures, because here it should only be about $5 which is much ...

As soon as you set foot on Santa Cruz, it's hard to believe you are still in Bolivia. Coffee shops and boutiques filled with light skinned westernized people have you questioning what's going on. Where are all the Indians? Santa Cruz is the city of the rich, and it may be the only place in Bolivia where anti-Evo Morales graffiti can be found. There are few poor begging here and the streets are not filled ...

After a really interesting train ride through Bolivia's plains to Santa Cruz, made lots of fun by the kids on 'swine flu holiday' selling snacks, we changed for a bus to La Paz. This gave us time to eat some burgers, sit in a lovely square and get ready for the first of Bolivia's notorious buses. It turned out to be really nice and very comfy though. Strange to go to sleep in the jungle and wake up on the Andean plains.

NEXT day we flew to Santa Cruz, only just making the flight. Here we had a day and a half to chill before we took the night train to the Brazillian border and the pantanal. I could really the Brazillain culture starting to blend with the Bolivian here. Skin tones, music, more confidence and attitude. We went to the cinema to see Wolverine in Spainish! There was little else to do on a Sunday morning, and it was only two pounds ...

I am sure those of you that are reading, hoping for some sort of interesting update are getting annoyed... especially John's friends... so! Here! Today! Something of great interest :) We are now in Mexico City! Yay! And John is sick! Not Yay! Nothing to worry about, just a sore throat. NO, he did not eat something weird, or drink the water. He started getting sick in Toronto. He is sleeping, and I am hoping he will be his normal perky self by morning. We had a pretty ...

... it is not a warning or a signal, they just blow it all the time. E.g.: one is supporting the green traffic light, waving to the passing traffic; number 2 is giving a stop sign to the already stopped cars. Whistling. Once in a while, they DO waive the traffic through, when it is already red. Then, the 'victim cars' for whom it is green, but are stopped, blow their horns. All of them. If possible, the police is ignored. Cars drive through red till it ...

... arrives to pick up their portions on the 5th. I was able to meet 26 of the 36 families during this exercise. My role was to measure up the contents of the handouts and to greet the families. (see my pics under my Bolivia, Santa Cruz entry on this blog.
We also spent a whole afternoon making and baking bread!! (see pics). I had never done this before so it was a great learning experience. We made over 400 rolls and over 70 empenadas with onion and Cheese ...