MUNGO EATS Latin America

We have been on the altiplano for quite a long time.  Finally, we are starting to descend.  The altiplano is a flat plain that sits between 3500m and4500m in Bolivia.  Yesterday we completed our drive to Tupiza, a supposedly ¨pleasant town¨, at about 3000m.  We went from very dry desert to an almost lush valley.  There are actually trees and a little bit of water in the river bed! The town is surrounded by red rocky cliffs, which are carved by wind and rain into hoodoo-like formations.  Most people visit the town to horseback ride or take a jeep through these formations.  We are not doing either of these things.  Kevin is spending the day working on the brakes of the van, which started making nasty noises yesterday.  I am in hunt of laundry and groceries, the never ending quests.

We are staying at a hotel, which seems okay.  They do not have a garage, so we have to park the van in a private parking lot a block or so away.  When we first tried to park the vehicle there, the garage was closed, but a hour or so later, when we were taking Mungo out for a pee, we saw the gates open.  Kevin went back to get the van and I walked up to the garage owner, with Mungo, to ask him if we could park there.  He said it was fine, and so we just waited for Kevin to return.  As we were waiting, we were approached by a VERY drunk guy.  He stood in front of me for quite a while, watching me, and then out of the blue, he hauled off and kicked Mungo in the gut!  Mungo, the big brave hound, did nothing but give a little yelp, but I shoved the guy back and told him to get lost (I am pretty sure I didn´t even swear!).  The garage guy intervened and tried to get the drunk to go home, but he just stood there and stared at us some more.  Finally, he decided to push his luck just a little further and kicked Mungo again.  This time I didn´t shove the guy, I punched him in the face 4 times!!!  I gave him a bloody nose.  I know my Mom is reading this and thinking, ¨ What kind of a young lady have I raised?¨  Sorry Mom, no one messes with my dog!!!  In any case, that was the end of the altercation.  Oh sure, the drunk had a few choice names for me, but a guy on the street, thought it best to get the drunk away from me and my precious dog.  I knew that kick-boxing aerobic class would come in handy one day!

We aren´t terribly impressed with the ¨pleasant town¨.  The choice of restaurant is as bleak as the last town.  EVERY restaurant is a pizza place and EVERY place has the exact same, extensive menu.  I mean exactly the same menu, same cover, same printing, EXACTLY!!  The thing is though, that the menu is only a suggestion of what MIGHT be available.  For lunch yesterday, we all thought we would order a simple sandwich, but the waitress told us that they didn´t have sandwiches, because they had no bread.  After trying unsuccessfully to order something else, we went to another restaurant.  They seemed to have everything we ordered, but then we saw them dash out at least 3 or 4 times and buy  an ingredient that they were missing to fill our order, including bread!!!  One more day…one more day…  we hope to be out of Bolivia tomorrow.  I hold high hopes that Argentina will be different, more civilized.  Hopefully my boxing career ends here!