Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Santa Cruz, Bolivia - slideshow

The Super Pullman, a step up from the death train from Corumba to Santa Cruz got stuck behind a derailed freight train for eight hours, so instead of a 16 hours trip it took 24 hours. But it was actually not so bad. The train was fairly comfortable and I got a lot of reading time on the train. It also helped to have Marcos and Karina sitting right behind me and knowing that the two Danes we met when we left the Pantanal and the Canadian and Irish girls in our horseback ride group were in the same train.

Santa Cruz is a nice mid-size city of 1.1 million people, with modern cafes and restaurants around Plaza 24 de Septiembre and of course, with plenty of smelly markets a little farther away from the 8X8 block square that comprises the first anilo, first ring, where things look plush, around the Plaza. The city has a total of five rings and it is very easy to get around on micros, which are fairly comfortable, uncrowded small buses.

But as I leave the city, I am very disappointed about the crafts here. My Lonely Planet Guide informed me that Parque Arenal, north of the center had a handicraft market but it was the usual junkie manufactured stuff with English written on shirts and tennis shoes trying to imitate Nikes. The huge market at Barrio Lindo was equally disappointing. It does not help that I arrived Friday evening and the stores around the nice area of town closed at noon on Saturday and all day today. I considered staying until Monday but I don't think the city deserves another day, so I am moving on late this afternoon to Sucre, 370 miles south of here, 14 hours by bus if I am lucky. I bought a sleeper ticket but I was informed that there is no toilet and only one stop. This reminds me that I need to stop drinking water just about now. I already gulped down two liters today to cover it.

But I haven't told you this story in sequence. I still need to tell you about my first five minutes experience in Bolivia before I close down my computer and look for a cab to the Terminal Bimodal. |Here it is: as I entered the Bolivian immigration office at Puerto Quijaro on the border of Corumba (Brazil), the officer looked at my passport, and after examining my yellow fever card, he didn't accept it because it was not officially an “international” document. Apparently I had to go a Brazilian agency where they gave out such document. “So, do you want me to take another vaccine after taking one only two weeks ago?” I asked. "The paper I have indicate I am current, it is just not on the proper paper,”I continued. Another officer then came to meet me in a less public place and said he could give me the stamp, but mentioned something in Spanish that I figured it had to do with money. I had never had to bribe anyone and felt stupid and helpless as he confirmed money would do and opened my passport for me to insert a few bills into it. I decided to give very little, like $10 Reais (US$5) and I envisioned him asking for more, but he didn't. Later I laughed at the idea of negotiating the amount for a bribe.

I was not very happy about this strange welcome to Bolivia and I am still affected by this. Did I undermine the system? Did they? And regardless of the amount of money, I felt violated. I also found out later that they didn't even ask for any vaccine document to half the people I knew on the train, which is even more infuriating.But my experience in Santa Cruz has been positive and I hope it continues this way. I am curious to see what will happen when I cross the border again in Peru.