Bolivia

Between 1996 and 2000 I had a love affair with Bolivia, as well as several love affairs in Bolivia.

I have traveled over much of the country, not liking La Paz nor Cochabamba, but I adored Uyuni, Potosí and Sucre. I lived twice in Santa Cruz de la Sierra which is half way to Brazil. I rode the tren de la muerte (death train) more than 30 times between Santa Cruz and Puerto Quijarro.

But food…

I found this old photo while sorting some old recovered files.

Patty’s cabaña

It’s a terrible photo (quality) but throughout my South American meanderings the negatives went with me, through deserts, in jungles and over the Andes several times. You can’t expect negatives to come through that abuse in top condition.

But, the food….

Ah yes, in the front you can see displayed several of the local delicacies. I cant remember them all now, but there were rice cakes, tamales and, my favourite, sonso; the ones standing up on a stick. Sonso is boiled yuca (mandioca root), mashed then lumps of cheese added, formed on to a stick and grilled over leña (firewood) to melt the cheese and get a crispy finish.

I used to help Patty (one of the aforementioned love affairs) make them on the weekend.

The Cabañas are an area near Santa Cruz de la Sierra, about 8kms, by the Rio Piray. They were classed as turistic (tourism), but domestic. A place for the Cruzeños to play in the weekend.

Where there is water, there are kids

The river itself was a wide expanse of sand with river channels and deep pools where sand had been removed. The river wasn’t deep, you could walk across it.

There were 4WD motorikes, horses and many other activities.

But the FOOD!

Ah, yes. Here’s a better photo of the sonsos…