Gran Hotel Santa Cruz

... some Boney M classics such as 'daddy cool' and 'Rasputin'. At first we enjoyed the entertainment and the odd choice of music but it was really loud and as such we were relieved when it finally stopped. I went over to the bar carrage to grab some Coca Cola, between wagons you were basically outside with just a railbar as protection, so I went nthere once and not twice. Two movies, 3 stops, a women fainting, and an incencent ballet of ...

... sunflowers, Bayer advertise their drugs and concoctions and then there's always Stihl, you're always going to need a chain saw!<br><br>Talking of concoctions, we stopped off at San Julian (before los Troncas) for a cold drink and the market was in full swing. We saw several stalls selling 'health' drinks, some of them weird and wonderful mixtures and colours, and lots of people drinking them. I should try them, when I pluck up the courage!<br><br>laters

... up for a few days. The city is the economic capital of Bolivia, I'm not the biggest fan.<br><br>Today i walked to the university of Bolivia. I met a student on the bus who goes to school here. I try to call him up, but we never seem to meet. I walk around the university for a few hours and become annoyed of all the attention i receive. I was probably the first gringo to step foot on that campus. Believe it or not i become tired of all ...

... in Nehemiah we saw that the service was God initiated. Jesus needs to be at the centre of our lives and all our service. In the passages Nehemiah first discerned where the need was most important and then all the people served and worked together, in community with everyone taking responsibility. These are principles that we need to apply to our service. We need to spend time discerning where the needs are, rather than just going in and ...

<br>We didn´t set out to spend three nights travelling non stop on buses from the jungle in Bolivia to the jungle in Argentina, just kinda turned out that way. <br><br>Once we left Villa Tunari, we made it to a town we still don´t know the name of, sat on a typcial plastic set of table and chairs on the side of the dusty road, drinking 2L of coke and eating the usual Bolivian combination ...

... I´ve managed to use it though. Went out to watch the England game. Made a mess of the time difference so missed the first half. Went to the city´s irsh bar which was perhaps the quietest Irish bar in the world. After the game had a wander round and grabbed lunch. Discovered that there´s absolutely nothing at all going on in Santa Cruz (some guys in my room when i checked in were on about going to ...

... for a cambio automatico (my Spanish sucks) or ATM. Apparently they hide them upstairs near the International Departures gates because that's where she pointed me. To my surprise and chagrin, the ATMs in the Viru Viru airport give out Bolivianos OR USD! I could have gotten the visa fee out at the ATM and only paid my normal 1% fee! I just found out a minute ago from a couple of well-traveled coworkers that you can also get USD ...

... highlands of Bolivia being dominated by indigenous groups is strongly in favour of the Constitution with EVO written everywhere, while the lowlands where more of the wealth and the more European looking people live is strongly against with NO written everywhere! It is sad to see a nation so divided and from my limited understand of the politics it seems Evo is relying on this division to keep him in power (the ...

... we went back to the platform and boarded the train in a hurry, expecting it to leave quickly. Of course this turned out not to be the case. We waited on the train for another hour and a half. Since this is santa cruz its humid, and hot and we are not moving so the air is not moving. I dont think you have to buy tickets for all the kids you have and there were a lot, sleeping under the seats etc.. Someone kept *******, need I go on, it just wasn´t a good time. Finally my friend regula ...

... all to be party to a small ritual to Pachamama (Mother Earth), whereby he places coca leaves on the ground. We then selected 3 each, along with a small stone and then blew in the direction of each mountain before making a wish and placing the leaves and stones in a small pile. As lame as it sounds, my wish did actually come true.....Pachamama figures pretty heavily out in SA. Once the little ceremony was complete we then pushed on to the next ...