We had breakfast at some cafe this morning as the hostel breakfast was terrible value. Food was OK and only 22 Bolivianos for scrambled egg, orange juice, coffee & bread. I tried to pay with a 50 note and the guy said he had no change. Totally unhelpful, he just sort of stood there. FFS, it's not like I tried to pay with a massively overvalued note. In the end I paid with the 50 for Stefan's as well and ended up giving the surly fucker an undeserved 6 Boliviano tip.
First impressions of Bolivia are that it is distinctly 'un-Western'. I find it odd to see all these old women walking around in shawls and with what look remarkably like bowler hats. I am used to that sort of display of 'traditional' costume being reserved for museums or what have you.
There is something of a third (or maybe second) world feel to the place. This may be sheer prejudice on my part, I have no idea. Chile is clearly a much wealthier and more developed country, though.
First impressions of Uyuni were that it was a tiny shithole, the roads were terrible and flooded and it looked desolate. Once you get into the slightly more central regions of the town it looks a lot better, the roads are properly paved, some of the buildings are quite attractive and it's clearly a town rather than just a few isolated houses. It was market day when we arrived so it was quite cool to see the stalls crammed all over the main street.
There is an old woman (regulation traditional dress, though no hat) sat to my right. She keeps making this weird crooning/yelping sound. She is obviously not totally nuts as she spoke to Stefan earlier about the weather.
Earlier on she kept yelling "Potosi" at someone travelling with her who presumably struggles to remember where they are going.
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