After such a hard nights work in the ED Friday night ;P we decided to take the Monday off. We made plans to head into Cochabamba city and shop til we drop at La Cancha air market.
However, before we could go anywhere Tiff and I had to make the trip into Vinto to the fruit and vegetable market. We boarded a Trufi and made our way along the bumpy road to Vinto. This was our first excursion on our own since arriving in Cochabamba. We were excited about our independence but also a little anxious. I made a few people jump in their seat when I shouted for the Trufi to pull up at our stop a little too eagerly.
Armed with shopping bags and a list complete with spanish translation we made our way along the stalls laid out on the ground looking for the best bargains. It is ridiculously cheap here! A whole bag of tomatoes is less than 20c. One little lady grabbed our arms and chatted away too us excitedly in spanish. We caught "are you missionaries?" and "welcome" and "thankyou for coming". It was lovely to have such a friendly welcoming after the difficulties we had had with the community of Anocaraire. We were caught off guard by this precious little lady!
We successfully made our way through the list and were rather pleased with ourselves and our spanish shopping proficiency. For our last item we made our way toward a lady in traditional dress surrounded in by sacks of potatoes. "Cuanto cuesta por doce?" we asked gesturing toward the potatoes. In return we recieved a rapid monologue in a language other than spanish. Ah man, she speaks quechua!! We resorted to pointing...more rapid, more irritated speech. We mimed buying a bag of potatoes...still more rapid and frustrated speech. People around us started to watch the theatrics unfold before them. Other ladies surrounded by potatoes started yelling and spruiking their produce. Another lady tried to help us to no avail. Now quite embarrassed and no closer to getting any potatoes we made a run for it! Literally we ran off haha!
We found another lady who also did not speak spanish but seemed to understand a little more. We were in business. Just when we thought it was all solved we discovered instead of buying 12 potatoes we had bought 5kg of potatoes!!!
When we finally got into the city to La Cancha Tiffany and I went crazy! The ladies in the market must have thought all their christmases had come at once with these nutty blonde gringas. We walked from stall to stall grabbing item after item. The ladies could not keep up with us! Cuanto cuesta this and cuanto cuesta that! I only stopped because I ran out of bolivian money :(!
Laden with our purchases we made our way to the Bolivian Cultural Museum. This was amazing! They had four different section; prehistoric, pre-incan, incan and post spanish invasion. It was spectacular! In the prehistoric section they had bones of a mammoth and the shell of a giant armadillo-like creature. The pre-incan and incan parts of the museum were the most interesting. It was like stepping back into this other world. I felt a little like an intruder, ogling at the most personal aspects of their way of life. It was eerie even! They had clothes, toys, weapons, kitchen utensils, idols and musical instruments. I felt honoured though to have the opportunity to peak into the their past.
The most amazing, although disturbing attraction was the mummified corpses! They had resconstructed an incan tomb and inside were baskets full of mummified remains. One had its jaw dangling open in a silent scream! It seems that they carried their dead in baskets to tombs located in sacred areas.
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| Incan Tombs |
Another interesting observation here is that the inca people used to mould their heads into the shape of cones! Literally they were cone heads dad! They started from when the children were babies and their heads were soft and made them were hats that slowly shaped their head into a cone. Many of the corpses had cone shaped heads. It was very strange! In fact even today one of the most popular traditional head dresses is a beanie-type thing that makes your head appear as if it is the shape of a cone.
After the museum we headed straight for our fave spot "gringa cafe" Cafe Paris. We indulged ourselves with savoury and sweet crepes and cooly sipped coffee surrounded by backpackers and expats.
That night we had a huge bonfire and the American's helped us make smores. I made marshmallow choc bananas in the fire. Tiff and I put all Aussie's to shame when we failed to find the southern cross for the Americans. Our own hemisphere and we were lost! If anyone can help us spot us shoot us a message. I can't bare to lose anymore face in front of the Yankees!
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