After the departure of the ladies I continued to do not much, spending way too much at the internet cafe, stretching in the afternoons, cooking at home and laughing with the French folk. Meeting all the different folk coming through Jardin and Samaipata I was again reinforced with the idea that, away from the limited gringo trail, Bolivia attracts adventurous and long-term travellers, often interested in trekking and nature. In any case you have to be adventurous to even survive here for any period of time, I think. In discussing the culture of the Bolivian people with Jonah, he (of his own accord) also offered the opinion that they were like children - this made me feel a little better for my many previous criticisms of them.
From afar my long, lost Thiess friend Shea and I made contact - unfortunately in the end we weren`t able to see each other face-to-face pero de todas maneras buen viaje, amigo! With Jere and Jenni I went to El Fuerte, the highly promoted pre-Inca/Inca ruins carved into a gigantic rock at the top of a mountain close by to Samai. Unfortunately we visited on the foggiest day since I`d been there - as such our vistas were very restricted and along with not being allowed to get close to the rock itself made for a bit of a lack-lustre experience. A little frustated with the lack of good photo opportunities I jumped the fence for about 1 minute to take a couple of close-ups, then was promptly reproached by an unhappy guardy-type person - a $US300 fine apparently! Whoopseys! Lo siento mucho, mil disculpes, señor. * As he walks away `Suck my balls`*
That evening we took a delicious meal at the Latina Cafe with Martin and Marieke, who`d just cut short their intended 1 year volunteer stay at a bar in Samai and were joining the Finish the next day to amble for a few days through Che Guevara-land and the pretty mountain landscapes to Sucre. After finding out the best route to Argentina is through Sucre and with myself running short of readies I decided to cut short my own stay in Samai to join Siobhan and Jules and the others in the white city. It would mean having to travel the world`s worst bus trip again, but hopefully I would live to tell the next tale.
My afternoon stretching/yoga/random exercise sessions were becoming popular with the youth of El Jardin - at times I was leading a group of 8 or so kids all imitating and playing and running around like kids. Sandrine and I intercambioed language lessons - I took my first ever hour of training in French and she some simple past tense in Spanish. On the Wednesday night I said goodbye to all at the Jardin - thanks for making my stay so peaceful and pleasant to all who stayed there with me and to Yan, Candi and the employees too :) Abraaazos, y un besitito x
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