Weekend Uno- Tarata y Centro Cultural Simon Patiño

Weekends are for travelling or seeing the city, so I made the most of it this weekend.

On Saturday I went to Tarata with some other volunteers. It was an early start and after trawling the city and getting lost trying to walk to the stop (eventually I got a taxi) I managed to meet up with some other volunteers and locate the trufi (like a taxi) stop to Tarata. It is about a 45 minute trip to Tarata but it can be quicker depending on how crazy your trufi driver is. The route is a really beautiful one as we got out of the city and into the more rural Tarata. One thing to note is Evo is huge out in the rural areas, everyone has flags and spray paint on their houses in support of Evo.

When we arrived we took a look around the plaza which was really beautiful and started to look around some of the buildings there. We went into the office for culture and tourism which was basically just a single guy who did city tours. He gave us a city tour for 5bs (50p) each. It was really good, in Spanish, but I could pick up most of what he was saying. He took us to the top of the Iglesia de San Pedro where we had a fabulous view of the town and its surroundings, we climbed to the roof, which I managed to do, despite my fear of heights. Once up there I was concerned about how I was going to get down but I made it down ok. He showed us around this kind of mini-museum full of artefacts and archeological discoverys, it was really interesting. At the end he gave us a postcard of Tarata and we signed the visitors book. The last people to go on a city tour before us was 3 weeks prior, so as you can tell it is not a very touristy town, which actually is really nice, as you get to experience the real Bolvia.

We then proceeded to walk to the convent but it was closed until 2.30 so we went back to town to find some food. By this point we had walked miles and it was all on cobbled paving which is bloody hard work. My concern was to find something vegetarian, as I am aware that outside the cities, vegetarianism is pretty non-existent. We settled down in a small place where the waitress told us the four choices of which all I can remember is some meat soup, chicken, and some sort of sheep part. We asked if they had anything vegetarian to which the reply was: Do you want to try the salad? Brilliant. Yes I will TRY the salad. Though to her credit she brought me a nice big plate of salad, rice and potatoes. It was edible and actually was much better than I expected to get in somewhere so rural. I was prepared with my backup plan of getting bread and fruit from the street sellers, but it turns out I was in luck.

After lunch we proceeded to walk and try and find some rumoured pre-inca ruins, we walked absolutely miles. This included getting stuck on a bridge (which actually turned out to be an empty aquaduct) and having to climb and jump off the side of it (it was not an elegant site!) and climbing over crazy terrain, which included jumping over the tiniest stream of water, which I mocked and then proceeded to slip into and my trainer went completely into the sludgy mud , lovely. The best thing is its so dry and warm here it dried out in no time.

I do not know if we ever did find the pre-Inca ruins, we found some sort of monument which we christened the ruins as we did not know where else to look. We then walked up this massive hill and got an amazing view of Tarata the surrounding wilderness, mountains and lake. It was very beautiful.

The beauty of Tarata was somewhat tainted (and I have found this to be a Bolivian problem) by the litter. This little town in the middle of nowhere and there was just so much litter. There was a ditch where there used to be a river or stream and it was full (I mean completely full) or litter, it is so sad. Also when we walked up to the top of the hill there was litter, I do not even understand how it got there, but it is such a shame, as it ruins this otherwise perfect landscape.

We then went back to the convent and the monk came and let us in. It led into this beautiful garden, which was like a little oasis or haven, we just sat there for ages enjoying its peaceful beauty.

We left Tarata in the late afternoon, it was a long day, but one I really enjoyed. I am glad I saw this little town , and it was nice to get out of the city for a bit.

On Sunday I went to the Centro Cultural Simon Patiño. I took a Micro to get there but ended up going the wrong way and arriving in some really rural town, I had to take the entire route backwards to get back to the city and then I got a taxi to the Centro. I met some other volunteers there, who had already done the tour, but I went on it on my own. At 11.30 the tour was in English so I booked onto that, much to the dismay of the 5 other participants of the tour who were Spanish. However the guide translated into Spanish for them so it was ok.

The house was amazing! Its belonged to Simon Patiño though he never lived in it. He was hugely wealthy due to discovering tin in Bolivia, and he built this enormous house in Cochabamba. All the furnishings etc were made in Europe and shipped over. Decadent is not the word, it has inspirations from all over Europe. It was truly an amazing sight. It is now used as a cultural centre, and it currently houses a sculpture exhibit of Bolivian artists. It was brilliant, a really good exhibit and well worth seeing. After that we walked around the beautiful gardens where there were also sculptures. Being there you would not believe you were in the middle of Cochabamba, its so peaceful and beautiful, you can barely even hear the traffic and general buzz of Cocha.

Anyway that was my weekend, filled with beautiful sights inside and outside Cochabamba.