Throwaway's Blog:

I am a californian who has traveled a lot and loves giving advice, mostly food related but also cultural when it's safe consensual and appropriate to the current legal climate. Contact me via email if you really must.

Tour begins (by my showing up with cash in hand and all my backpackly belongings, haggling on the spot, buddying up with total strangers) uncomfortably, as the day1 route and accomodations have to substituted because, as I find out later, town governments/councils/elders strong-arm tourgroups to extort road-repairs and other govt funds not trickling down.Maybe because my tour driver was born Aug 23, 1981, because he was a college-educated, overqualified, ironic, a frustrated Arltian big-dreamer, or maybe because I had buckets more in common with him than with the 4 30some middle class backpackers on my tour, I spent the whole time trying to get the “inside story” from him.  It was a somewhat harrowing story at times, but then, probably a lot less harrowing than those of the picturesque rural poor we encountered along the way, haggled with, rented “hostal” beds from, etc etc.

Tour begins (by my showing up with cash in hand and all my backpackly belongings, haggling on the spot, buddying up with total strangers) uncomfortably, as the day1 route and accomodations have to substituted because, as I find out later, town governments/councils/elders strong-arm tourgroups to extort road-repairs and other govt funds not trickling down.

Maybe because my tour driver was born Aug 23, 1981, because he was a college-educated, overqualified, ironic, a frustrated Arltian big-dreamer, or maybe because I had buckets more in common with him than with the 4 30some middle class backpackers on my tour, I spent the whole time trying to get the “inside story” from him.  It was a somewhat harrowing story at times, but then, probably a lot less harrowing than those of the picturesque rural poor we encountered along the way, haggled with, rented “hostal” beds from, etc etc.

Tour begins (by my showing up with cash in hand and all my backpackly belongings, haggling on the spot, buddying up with total strangers) uncomfortably, as the day1 route and accomodations have to substituted because, as I find out later, town governments/councils/elders strong-arm tourgroups to extort road-repairs and other govt funds not trickling down.Maybe because my tour driver was born Aug 23, 1981, because he was a college-educated, overqualified, ironic, a frustrated Arltian big-dreamer, or maybe because I had buckets more in common with him than with the 4 30some middle class backpackers on my tour, I spent the whole time trying to get the “inside story” from him.  It was a somewhat harrowing story at times, but then, probably a lot less harrowing than those of the picturesque rural poor we encountered along the way, haggled with, rented “hostal” beds from, etc etc.

Tour begins (by my showing up with cash in hand and all my backpackly belongings, haggling on the spot, buddying up with total strangers) uncomfortably, as the day1 route and accomodations have to substituted because, as I find out later, town governments/councils/elders strong-arm tourgroups to extort road-repairs and other govt funds not trickling down.

Maybe because my tour driver was born Aug 23, 1981, because he was a college-educated, overqualified, ironic, a frustrated Arltian big-dreamer, or maybe because I had buckets more in common with him than with the 4 30some middle class backpackers on my tour, I spent the whole time trying to get the “inside story” from him.  It was a somewhat harrowing story at times, but then, probably a lot less harrowing than those of the picturesque rural poor we encountered along the way, haggled with, rented “hostal” beds from, etc etc.

Posted 3 years ago & Filed under bolivia, architecture, musings,

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I am a californian who has traveled a lot and loves giving advice, mostly food related but also cultural when it's safe consensual and appropriate to the current legal climate. Contact me via email if you really must.