Day 72 - Mine is bigger than yours

Sucre to Cochabamba

Since we arrived at altitude (back in San Pedro de Atacama) the air has been so dry that we've had the occasional nose bleed, and our lips had become so dry and flaky, but a few days at a slightly lower altitude in Sucre has meant that our skin and nostrils have had time to return to normal before we travel to altitude again.

Airport mutt just before getting the boot

Cochabamba is only 330km away from Sucre but we had read that the road was horrendous, so we took advantage of the budget airlines and opted for the 25 minute flight option. While waiting in the upstairs cafe at Sucre airport we had the company of a stray dog - first time we have ever seen a dog (that wasn't part of border security) wandering an airport, and possibly the first time we have come across beggars inside an airport as well.

Once we arrived in Cochabamba we took the taxi to our accommodation. We had decided to stay in an apart-hotel, and we were given a three bedroom apartment with two bathrooms and a huge lounge area .... overkill when all we asked for was one bedroom! The weird thing though was that each room had a photo of the room on the wall, with people posed in "real life" scenarios .... creepy!

We went for a walk to see the giant Cristo de la Concordia (Christ of Peace) statue, it looked very similar to the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio, since that's what it was based on (surely they could have put their own Cochabamba spin on it). When it was built it was the largest Christ statue in the world, but now it's the second largest (the largest is in Poland).

Unfortunately when we arrived at the base of the mountain the chairlift was closed for maintenance. A taxi driver of course offered to drive us up but couldn't (wouldn't?) confirm if it would be open tomorrow. As we had a few days here we decided to try again tomorrow, and spent the rest of the day lounging around our apartment.