1 cockerel, 2 pigs, 3 chicks, 2 puppies & 7 kids
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2008
1
209
230
Trip End
May 27, 2010
Trinidad,
Bolivia
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Hotel Moxos, Trinidad, Bolivia
Just right
So we stayed an extra day in Trini and have been rewarded with cool weather allowing us to walk around without dodging into the shade every 10 seconds, or, having to have a cold shower every half hour. Today we're happy to just be.
After breakfast we had a leisurely stroll around town, stopping off at the market to have a papaya milk shake. The market was in full swing despite it being a Sunday, much of it being used for eating. The market is just off the part of town dedicated to hairdressing as opposed to plastic hoses, opticians, or rope. This system of grouping products and services is practiced all over the world and makes life a lot easier for simpletons like us.
I'm struck by the number of limping and disfigured dogs (not the pampered pooches but the street animals) I have seen since I've been travelling, also, the number of naked or semi naked women advertising such things as alcohol, fertilizer, paint thinners and gaskets, to name but a few. We are so used to NOT seeing them in Europe these days it's a bit of a shock to come across them here. The dogs are regularly struck by vehicles but not treated for injuries, we have seen some quite peculiar shaped legs and back ends, where limbs are permanently broken or dislocated. The women are presumably trying to make a living.
I forgot to mention the family we saw in San Borja on our way to Trini. An Indian family of 9, 7 children, the eldest being a girl of about 13, the youngest just a few months old, and mum was heavily pregnant. The only person wearing shoes was dad, and he carried the least amount of baggage - an axe and 3 machetes. He was also the only person who smiled during the half hour I spent watching them, something to do with the giant wad of coca he was chewing perhaps. Mum spat and grunted her words in the local dialect, grabbing animals and children alike by the scruff of the neck when they needed reigning in.
Each of the children (except for the youngest) was in charge of an animal, the eldest girl had the cockerel , a giant of a bird almost as large as a 2 year old child. There were 2 piglets, 3 chickens and 2 puppies. When one of the children allowed a piglet to wander under the bus Mum barked something at him and grabbed him by the hair shoving him under the bus after the piglet. He managed to grab the animal by the hind legs, and that was enough to drag it, screaming and kicking out from under the bus. Mum had a large cooking pot and was also carrying the baby in a sling across her front. There were no discipline issues in this family, when mum spoke the children jumped and when mum sat down cross legged on the ground they all followed suit, watching her and waiting for the next command. Dad was quietly and contentedly aloof, chatting to the others waiting to get on the minibus. What a different life they must lead, my 30 minutes glimpse not enough to even begin to understand how it might be for them.
We spent the rest of this morning in the beautiful Plaza Balliviana reading, doing Spanish and looking for the 3 toed Sloth that apparently lives there. We didn't find it.
Tonight we might eat Chinese, if we can find the one and only Chifa in town, although they say the steaks are pretty good here. It is, after all, cattle country.
laters
