COCHABAMBA - Favorite Market and a Big Jesus

The face of the Jesus statue photographed through a tree.

Accommodation

Thanks to Pascal's brilliant idea of looking for a hotel on the spot (we arrived at around 5 am), we arrived at the Hotel Milenium around 5:45 am, 10 Bolivianos less (for a two-minute taxi ride, which the lady at the terminal had advised us due to a looming risk of theft at dawn). There, we first took a rest. For breakfast, we had among other things Coca tea (coffee was always gone), a bun, a bit of butter, and some orange marmalade. Plus, ultra-delicious strawberry juice on the first day and moderately delicious fruit juice on the second day. We skipped the desserts twice, they looked dangerously sweet to us... Overall, one can say: For 120 Bolivianos and 2.5 nights incl. twice breakfast, the whole thing is very solid. The cleanliness could have been improved a bit, but from our room, we could climb onto the roof and had a great view. View of the city from our improvised balcony.

SIM Card

We used the SIM card from Santa Cruz.

Sights

Metropolitan Plaza 14 de Septiembre and Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica de San Sebastian
Santa Clara Church
Museum Convent Santa Teresa with Monastery of Santa Teresa and Francisco de Granado Square
Colon Square
Portales Palace (unfortunately under renovation - but we took a look at the park and a cute and quite hidden art exhibition in the basement of one of the buildings plus a grotto)
Martin Cárdenas Botanical Garden (has stupid opening hours and we were standing in front of the closed gate)
Cristo de la Concordia (the third highest Jesus in the world, 4.2 meters higher than the one in Rio de Janeiro; we took a taxi (for 25 Bolivianos each) up and down, as the cable car has been out of order for a while and the walking path can be quite dangerous due to pickpocketing) And now the markets <3
Mercado 25 de Mayo
Mercado Fidel Aranibar (huge street market with absolutely EVERYTHING you can imagine! Highly recommended!)

Transportation

The standard price for transportation was 10 Bolivianos within the center. If you wanted to go a little further, you had to pay about 12 Bolivianos. Anja bargaining with the taxi driver for a better price.

Food and Drinks

At the "Mercado 25 de Mayo“ market, we ate delicious grain soup with pork slices twice. Then, "for tasting“ they served us a plate of "Asadito“ with rice and kidney beans, potato, and meat. With that, we had two limonades. We paid a total of 14 Bolivianos - that's only 1.90 Euro! Unfortunately, the nice lady was not open the following day, and we couldn't go to her again. The next day, I ate a "vegetarian“ quinoa soup with chicken thigh for 5 Bolivianos in another market hall and Pascal a "Pancho“, a schnitzel on rice with a fried egg and bell pepper salad, for 10 Bolivianos. We also drank delicious drinks for 2 Bolivianos each: peanut and mote with peach (or so). We also tried sugarcane juice - once with ginger and once without. Very delicious! We also bought a variety of fruits (guanabana, carambola and granadilla) for a total of 21 Bolivianos (2.85 Euros). Then we ate 15 lychees for 10 Bolivianos (1.35 Euros) and yellow dragon fruit. At the street market, we also bought a coconut for 5 Bolivianos. This was all topped off with two huge ice cream bowls at the "Heladería Isabel“, where we ate "Melva de Frutilla“ and "Fressita“ for 15 Bolivianos each. Incredibly delicious and especially very rich in strawberries! Finally! And in the end, of course, you need something healthy: Coca leaves with Lejía (a plant charcoal stick) for 5 Bolivianos. The sugarcane juice is freshly pressed on the street by sticking it through a gas-powered roller.

Cafés and Restaurants

As mentioned, we ate in different halls of the market and at the "Heladería Isabel“. Highly recommended in terms of culinary! The city will certainly remain in our memory for its delicious and cheap food, and we felt very comfortable.

Plants and Animals

Nothing worth mentioning comes to mind.

Number of Germans in the City

Two Germans on the bus to La Paz.

Contact with Locals

We had a little chat with our receptionist and with a lady during our lunch at the market.

Expenses

Only for food, taxi, and the entrance to the monastery. For 25 Bolivianos each (foreigners have to pay 10 more than locals), we treated ourselves to a super interesting private tour through the "Convento Santa Teresa“ museum. The kind lady explained everything in a comprehensible way and we could also go up the tower and enjoy the great view of the city. We could also take a look inside the church. The photo permit would have cost as much as the entrance fee (locals), so we don't have any pictures of that - but that's not bad, so we could enjoy the tour even more! Traditionally dressed mother with children at the market square.

Standard Stall Offerings

Fruits, sugarcane juice, orange juice, peeled garlic, traditional female clothing, and so much more! Just awesome <3

Laundry

We did not wash laundry here.

Unsolvable Mysteries

What gathering of the indigenous people were we able to observe on the 16th of March at the "Plaza Metropolitana 14 de Septiembre“?

Bus to La Paz

With "Trans Copacabana“ we traveled in a very new bus in the first row to La Paz. We paid 106 Bolivianos (14.30 Euro) for the night bus. The journey started at 23:00 and the arrival was around 6:30. Bolivia is so incredibly cheap. We love it!

Bus from La Paz to Lima

Our bus from La Paz to Lima left at 7:30 am. We just had a little time to have breakfast: coffee for me, tea for Pascal. With that, we also had to get some food. We decided on rolls with chicken. Well, there was unfortunately no vegetarian option in the combo. In addition, we bought cake and a rather disgusting cheese roll. Seven of us tourists traveled to the border at Lake Titicaca in a minivan. We were accompanied by a driver and a guide who helped us with the border formalities. Pascal felt very, very bad and suffered terribly from altitude sickness. Pascal waits in front of the border crossing building for his Peru entry stamp. With a mototaxi, we then went from the immigration agency (without a bag search and without any problems) to the bus terminal. There, our guide gave us salt crackers, water, and a sandwich with cheese or avocado. With a first delay (reason: unknown) and a second delay (reason: flat tire), we left the city in the afternoon, two hours after the scheduled departure, and got underway. Pascal let the whole bus hear that the contents of his stomach came out again on the bus toilet - it sounded really bad. In addition, we sat directly underneath the speakers of the built-in monitors and the sound came completely overdriven and super loud out of the speakers. At least a good movie was playing: SING 2 :) With ultra-long breaks at the terminals (2.5 liters of water costs 8 Soles at the gas station by the way...) we still arrived on time at the bus terminal of the company "VIGO“. Who would have thought... Fortunately, we already had an Airbnb in Lima and went with Uber to the apartment in Barranco, where we were greeted by a cleaning hostess.

Post Scriptum

If you would like to see the Jesus statue in its full glory, you can find it and other pictures at https://hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/u7unpEOh7.