Cine Europeo
20 November 2005 (Sunday) – Santa Cruz, Bolivia
I was assaulted by numerous offers to go to Paraguay, Brazil, Buenos Aires, even to Chile… when I got off the bus at Santa Cruz. “¿Para dónde vas? ¿Para dónde vas? (Where are you going?) ¿Paraguay? ¿Buenos Aires? ¿Brasil? ¿Iquique?…”. I tried to be ‘funny’ and deadpanned, “Santa Cruz. Ya he llegado, gracias.” (Santa Cruz. I have already arrived, thank you.) This guy stared at me, unmoved, giving me the ‘don’t-try-to-be-funny-look’. Well, don’t mess with me after an overnight bus please!
After settling down in a little hotel, I rested a few hours before heading out for some food. Santa Cruz, at 400+m above sea level, was an utterly different face of Bolivia. My friend Alexis in La Paz had told me I just had to come and take a look at Santa Cruz. Yep, he was right. Here, it was hot and humid, but with a slight breeze so it was not oppressive. The Bolivians here were dressed in sexy short skirts and tight tacky blouses. Yes, they must get their clothes from nearby Brazil. As it was a Sunday and most shops were closed, I would have to check out the goods on sale tomorrow (any chance they sell tonnes and tonnes of plastic hair-clips??). Frankly, from the shop windows, it does appear that here is the place for the new-rich, with lots of fancy modern items for sale. The other side of the coin from La Paz.
I had lunch but felt like vomitting right after. I walked around the quiet town centre, feeling horrible. I found a juice place and had a glass of juice, but I still felt terrible. So, I returned to my hotel and slept some more.
By evening, although I still did not feel well, I forced myself to go out and walk around a bit. I suspect it is the greasy food of Bolivia that is making me sick. And I wonder how to get out of the situation. Frankly, looking at menus from restaurants already turned my stomach. There is really not much variety of non-greasy food here. I wonder how I could try and feed myself these few days.
The Cine Europeo Festival is in Bolivia now. I had come across the poster in Cochabamba a few days ago, and now here in Santa Cruz. If I had known about it when I was in La Paz, I might have caught a handful of movies there. But now in Santa Cruz and today being the last day of the festival here, I headed out to Cine Bellavista, near the stadium and checked out what were the movies being played tonight. One was from Italy and the other from Denmark. Alright, since the prices of tickets in Singapore would have been 3 times more… I got both tickets as I LOVE film festivals. Had a thoroughly enjoyable evening watching both movies, espeically the dizzy Reconstruction!! Excellent!!
Tags: 09) Bolivian Rhapsody, Santa Cruz
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