Further South American bar reviews

Left the hostel about 9:30 (the laptop is, touch wood, grinding away at the backlog of photos to upload) and wandered vaguely over to the town centre. The one bar mentioned in my shoestring guide (Cafe Pub 4060) was easy to find but looked a little sterile so I walked past.

I wandered round a bit and sort of found a couple of places but nothing really obviously open or appealing. I remembered I had seen a bar next door to the one I visited earlier and am there now. It's rather wanky to be honest, the barman is wearing a tie, which I never regard as a good sign, and a suited young woman served me at a table. (She completely served me the wrong beer, but as I struggled with the language during the order I kept schtum.) I suspect I will finish this (taking my time) and go for another wander. I have no idea how late the nightlife goes here (or when it starts), but I have to be careful as I think the altitude may make me more prone to alcoholic effects, so I don't necessarily want to be out particularly late. But there are so many vagaries when it comes to the effects of alcohol that it's difficult to be sure. I do know I struggled to finish the litre earlier but that wasn't necessarily altitude related.

As a purely random observation, I have tried chewing coca leaves. I had been dubious while in the UK purely on the grounds that they apparently make you test positive for cocaine use for a few days, but now I'm here it seems silly to worry. I was offered some a couple of times on the Uyuni trip as they are supposed to help with the altitude, although I seem to think I read something saying they don't. I was also offered some at the bottom of the mine (they're suppose to help there too, I suspect they are suppose to cure whatever ails you), and in fact had a massive wodge stuck in my cheek during the fatal climb which I gobbed out afterwards as they were interfering with my desperate water swigging.

I can take them or leave them (no pun intended) I think. They're not unpleasant but I see little inherent attraction except for the alleged health benefits.

Hmm, feeling a certain tight headachey quality, presumably due to the beer, although I guess I had a mentally and physically stressful day. I really would have hoped I'd be getting acclimatised by now, this is my fifth day out of San Pedro. Oh well. This casts a certain doubt on the going for a wander after this beer plan. I guess I'll finish it and go out and see how I feel.

It's not particularly warm here and it rains a lot. It's not all that cold, but I have been wearing a T-shirt, fleece and thin jacket most of the time, albeit the latter two are often open. I would naively have expected it to be warmer this far north, but I guess it's the rainy season and it's high up.

It occurs to me that I entered Bolivia without a ticket out of the country. This is no problem, since they let me in, but I have been led to believe in general you can get strife from immigration officials if this is the case.

I also observed from hanging around with those guys I met on the Uyuni trip that they are a bit more concerned about money than I am. I guess I have been a bit extravagant and hope (partly for reasons of economy and partly with a view to meeting people) to avoid hotels in favour of more basic accommodation in general, but it's not as if I got the impression I was substantially better off than them.

It's midnight. Just got back to the hostel. The fucking flickr upload screwed up as per usual and maybe 4 photos have been uploaded. It had done 4 when I left it.

I didn't go for another beer, I left that bar and walked back to the hostel. About 20m from the door a fucking dog was barking its bloody head off and I had to turn back. Oh for a fucking gun. Since I figured I'd have to get a cab back anyway and as my head had cleared slightly I walked back into the centre to Cafe Pub 4060. They were shutting in 15 mins so I walked to some nearby plaza, opposite the cathedral. I hung around there for a few minutes trying to soak up the atmosphere but the place was dead. Got a cab back for 6 Bolivianos, which is nothing but it's annoying I needed to.

The bar I was in tonight may or may not have shut at midnight, I don't know. But since both the small bar I went to this afternoon shut at midnight according to the menu and Cafe Pub 4060 was the same I have a nasty feeling it may be standard here. I guess I will have to pursue this further in La Paz, tomorrow night I won't want to be out late anyway.

Oh well. Will restart the laptop upload just for grins and at least I can get up when I feel like it tomorrow for the first time since IIRC last Sunday.