241218: Pizza overdose - Uyuni to Oruro

Today we said Goodbye to Uyuni and headed towards the bus terminal to catch a long distance taxi.  The terminal is three quadras away.  One of the sad things about this beautiful country is the litter which blows everywhere.  We haven't understood how the refuse system works but we have seen people putting waste in a pile in the middle of a crossroads. The sheer numbers of dogs roaming the streets does not help and you have to mind your step.  Some of the central areas seem cleaner but here in the outskirts, it's a real shame.

So at the bus terminal there was a man shouting Oruro so we approached him.  There was a people carrier.  Initially the driver told us to put our bags in the boot  We knew they wouldn't fit.  After some pushing and squashing, he gave up and put them on the roof rack.  He told us to get in and we took the back seat.  It cost 60 Bolivianos each. These vehicles do not set off until they are full and it was quite a while before anyone else signed up.  Whilst we waited, we watched a couple of juice sellers on the corner.  Each has two or three blenders and a juicer.  People come up and drinks are blended before their eyes - sometimes straight carrot juice, sometimes other concoctions with eggs, sugar, milk and fruit.  The drink is poured into a tall glass, is drunk quickly, and then refilled.  The whole making and consuming seems to take seconds.  The glass and blender is then washed in a bucket and the whole process begins again.  The electricity to run the blenders was provided from a long cable out of someone's window.  We found a similar situation on Oruro.

So suddenly the taxista had customers. A women got in the front and then three lads in ftont of us.  We were relived to be getting away after waiting about an hour to set off.   Then at the very last minute two other passengers arrived.  One squeezed in next to us and another sat in a rather dodgy looking extra seat that had been fitted between the driver and front passenger seat.  It was, let us say, cosy.  We had our rucksacks on our knees and there wasn't much room for manoeuvre. We had about 350 km to go.  Last time we shared one of these long distance taxis, there were only six people on board for a similar sized vehicle. This time it was nine.

Heading north to Oruro, the sun was shining and the vehicle was stiflingly hot.  The driver kept the windows shut and the other passengers just seemed to fall asleep unbothered by the crush.  There was a flimsy bit of curtain strung up to help shield us from the suns rays but it kept falling of it's wire.

Luckily the skies clouded over and Kevin managed to open the rear window a couple of centimetres so we got some fresh air.  The route was mainly flat and straight with the odd stray dog or camelid threatening to cause chaos.

There was a quick stop in a village where a young mother awaited with her baby. She seemed to know the driver.  We ate the pizza that Kevin could not eat the night before for lunch.

Then another hour or so and Oruro came in sight.  The bus terminal was the usual organised chaos.  We grabbed our cases and hailed a taxi to our hotel.

It was on a narrow bustling street with tens of opticians shops.  Tired, we decided to walk to the main square and have a drink.  The street were full of Christmas shoppers, with exhausted families camping on the narrow pavements. Sadly there were an awful lot of people begging - something we have not seen too much before.

So we got to the main square and there was not a café in sight.  We wandered around a bit - found nowhere.  We headed back to the hotel where we googled supermarkets and found one not too far away.  Provisions were bought.

So we thought we had better find somewhere to eat.  There were two veggie restaurants cited in our guidebooks but further inspection revealed one was closed.  So we opted for the biggest and best (according to Trip Advisor) restaurant in town.  Quite a posh looking building. It was shut. We had another look round but there were only chicken shops and meat-erias open - and not many of them for a city.

A fourth trip back to our room and we identified an eastern veggie restaurant and an Italian a few blocks away.  Govinda's was also shut.  We spotted a pizza place but they did only pizza and no wine!!  Finally we found one of the restaurants in the guides open, La Casona.  There were pastas, tortillas and sanquish (sandwich) on the menu.  We tried ordering pasta - "Only pizza!" - so reluctantly we had a couple of pizzas.  Joan had asparagus and Roquefort and Kevin had mushroom and mozzarella.  They were indistinguishable and we are getting pizza'd out.  They did have wine though.  Two pizzas and a bottle of local wine cost about £10 - much, much cheaper than anywhere else we have been.

In the main square, it seemed as if the whole town had come out for Christmas.

Back at the hotel we re-arranged our room.  The first room we were offered initially was dark and small.  There was barely room for our cases.  We were then offered a ground floor room with two double beds.  It came with a fridge but there was no plugs nearby.  Eventually we located two single sockets behind the beds and had to do some moving around.  The fridge takes up one socket so recharging phones, cameras, etc. will have to be done on a rota.

One of the Home Alone films was on TV dubbed into Spanish and not much else so we turned in for the night.