Waking up in a nice warm bed with the sun slowly piercing through - arghh this is luxury. My host had stayed up late working and so she was late to get up so I spent most of the morning catching up on emails, doing some washing and trying to get over my bout of Bolivian Belly. Mid morning we made our way into the city, first stop was the migration office to extend my 30 day visa out to 90 days - the place was packed with lines out to the street but luckily there was a special line for foreigners. After a 30 minute wait, a trip to the printers for a photocopy and a que jump I was all set with my 90 day visa. Next we headed into the centre stopping at a restaurant so Nyrzha could have some lunch before her 2pm surgery. I was left in the centre to have a look around so first thing I did was went to the big food market and get some lunch, there was so much choice that I spent over an hour wondering around before I decided on a nice little place. I ordered a dish called Lomo Montado and what came out was a mountain (montano - literally translated) 1 plate towered in salad with a spicy salsa and the second plate a meat-eaters delight with a slice of beef, sausage, egg and fried plantains. The salad was fresh with big chunks of Beetroot, tomato, carrot and cucumber and the meat dish a bodybuilders protein hit for the day. I managed my way through it and as I was eating some local ladies came in and asked for what I was having and made some brief conversation with me: it is common courtesy when you enter a restaurant to wish everyone in the room "Buen Provecho" - enjoy your meal, such a nice custom and makes you feel a common bond. I joke with my new friends in Spanish that this would be me fed for the day and that I come here now for my lunch/dinner - they thought it was hilarious and for me wonderful to be communicating and mixing with the locals. I had to meet Nyrzha at 3:30pm so I rushed off to what's known as the tour street; where all the tour companies are situated and went about asking about some of the tours I wanted to do - once again having really nice conversations and just the ability to speak in Spanish made the people open up and be more friendly to me. The tours are all very similar it's just the price that differs and after an hour I had only just scraped the surface of companies and tours. I raced off to meet my host - she was about 30 minutes walk downtown, the streets here are chaotic and overcrowded to the max and to be honest my instinct tells me it is not a safe city and that I am being constantly watched. I met up with Nyrzha and we headed for a drive around the city (as much as we could) as all Bolivians have restrictions on areas they can drive during certain days; because of the massive traffic problem. Last stop was the market in San Miguel where Nyrzha wanted to get a few things for dinner; I had told her about my love for salad, avocado and tuna and she was planning to make a Bolivian style salad. In the market I got to see some very strange things like llama jerky - which I really wanted to try but we had to buy a huge chunk of it which we both agreed would not be a wise idea. I tried sweet and salty banana chips and some fresh strawberries. I was thankfully starting to feel a bit better in the stomach - but unfortunately that was short-lived. At about 9pm a friend of Nyrzha's came around to join us for dinner, her name was Samantha and she was a lovely half Brazilian, half American Physiotherapist/Palates Instructor living in Bolivia and in the past Namibia. She has a love of red wine and had brought around an Argentinian Shiraz to die for, I new it was a bad idea with my stomach to have alcohol but I opted for a small glass and after not having a good wine in months it was like liquid gold to the palate. Samantha therefor spoke perfect English and we had a great conversation about life, travels, Bolivia whilst Nyrzha made the salad. The salad was made with fresh lettuce, Tomatos, red onions, boiled quail eggs, avocado, local hams and some delicious tinned tuna. They eat quite late here and by the time it came out we were all starving and a little tipsy from the wine. The salad was delicious and just what my stomach needed, conversation flowed and I was once again reminded why I travel and how similar we all are. Nyrzha had also made this warm barley drink for after meal refreshment and the wonderful smell flooded the house - that of rich barley. It was quite tasty but unfortunately at this point my stomach started to act up and there was no eating or drinking anything else. It wouldn't of been an hour later and I felt that uneasy feeling in my stomach and rushed to the bathroom - it was on again. What proceeded was one terrible night of diarrhea and throwing up; being much worse then the previous nights episode and even worse the water I was trying to consume was also being thrown up- sorry about the graphic explanation. All I can say is I am very luck to be with my wonderful host Nyrzha, in a big house, with my own bathroom and not on some 20 hour bus ride across some foreign continent.