Day 19 - Potosi (National Census Day!)

There was no rush to get up this morning and I didn’t even bother with breakfast (I had my own bread and cheese with fruit juice). The morning was spent reading and going through some of my work emails! At about 12:30am I had a knock on the door; it was the lady hotel owner inviting me to have some lunch in the restaurant and also to speak with a lady from the National Census Team! After arriving I was soon presented with some very nice fried chicken and rice. I could see one of the other tables was covered in paperwork with a lady going through it all and another table with four men seated who appeared to be local and speaking English.

After I’d eaten I visited the kitchen where the lady hotel owner was (and the lady that was sat with all the paperwork), and suggested I would like to pay for my three nights now as I plan to be up early in the morning to catch a bus to Tupiza. I paid the 240 Bolivianos and was then informed I owed 11 Bolivianos for my lunch, (I actually thought it was free!) It was then that the other lady introduced herself as working with the National Census Team. I was rather surprised at the amount of questions and information that was asked of me, I just assumed showing my passport would be enough! It was here that a local man who was sat at one of the other tables came to my aid and helped with a little translation. Once my form was complete he introduced himself as Guy. I mentioned that I plan to travel to Tupiza in the morning and he then told me he was also going there, as he was attending a mineral conference? He offered to take me and suggested he would be leaving at about 9:30am, (he had some meeting early in the morning to attend to first). He seemed very genuine (he had spent 18 years in California and so spoke very good English), and so I accepted. Guy suggested we would be travelling with two others in a 4x4 vehicle and this would be twice as quick as the bus.

National Census Day in Bolivia!

I spent the afternoon doing a little more reading and sleeping. I was later told that it would be fine to walk the streets after 6pm, although by this time I couldn’t be bothered to leave my hotel and had an early night!