Bolivian Adventure: And It's All Over Now...
Trip Start
May 18, 2007
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31
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Trip End
Jul 28, 2007
La Paz,
Bolivia
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The plan was for a bit of afternoon shopping, followed by a 6pm meeting in the lobby with Tully, Marcus, and the Tom's, to go find a good spot for a Gin & Tonic... Catrina and I did our shopping, and stopped for a beer and snacks, and didn't get back to the hotel til 6:15... Sadly, we'd missed our friends, but that didn't stop us. Catrina and I headed to the Hard Rock Café, a block away, and tried their G&T --- ahhhhhh....
We met the group, as planned at 7:15, and we all headed out to the Plaza Hotel for dinner at the top-floor restaurant, from where the view of La Paz is amazing
01 - Last time these mules get loaded up
. The food and wine were sadly underwhelming, but it was a very nice "farewell dinner" for the whole group (minus Ro, who had gone on with Piter to the Yungas that morning -- the Yungas are the Bolivian jungle). On the way back to the hotel, we lost Kate and Marcus, who were walking way ahead of all of us (Marcus, what was that? I thought you liked walking slow, at the back... ;-) After saying good-bye to Tom Sr., Tom Jr., Jeff and Judy (her only word to me was "...cheers!..."), Tully, Catrina and I headed to the Hard Rock Café. The place was packed with Bolivians dancing the night away! Very funny crowd... We grabbed a table, and ordered the first of a few G&T's. We had loads of fun watching the Bolivians singing and dancing, and we even sang along to a few "oldies but goodies", enjoying our last evening hanging out together.
We eventually headed back to the hotel, but heard a live band right across the street, and decided to pop up there to check things out. A tiny little café, with a not-so-good band, but loads of fun! We were the only gringos there, and everyone started talking to us. Sadly, the band finished soon after our arrival, and we called it a night too...
Back at Rosario -- good-byes to Tully, Catrina repacking her bag, and a quick 3 hours of sleep before having to wake up and say good-bye to her, as she headed off to Peru, to go visit the jungle near Puerto Maldonado with GAP.
All told, the Bolivian Adventure was awesome - lots of little and big problems, several valid criticisms for KE (and some pettier ones, too...), and much room for improvement of the whole itinerary and trip. BUT - I enjoyed the trip immensely nonetheless: the mountains were beautiful, the trekking offered enough challenge to be interesting, and the people in the group... well! What more can I say?
