Ahh, the much anticipated Santa Cruz... let me explain: A while back we met an Aussie couple that told us about this Bolivian city, but more importantly the hostel they stayed at which had a tame pet toucan. I (Monique) got myself so excited about the possibility of playing with the orginal Toucan Sam but as the days ticked on we realised that we were running out of time and we didn`t think we would be able to make it to Santa Cruz as it involved traveling East from Sucre when we really needed to be heading West...

Kevin was so kind to me and decided that we could make it work so we headed East and enjoyed a few chilled out days in the sleepy Samaipata and then on to meet Sam. This was all part of my birthday celebrations! :)

We left Samaipata and got into a taxi where on clOser inspection we realised had a big hole on the dashboard on the co-driver`s side. Driver`s drive on the right here (and therefore most steering-wheels are on the left) but this taxi was clearly a DIY job... they had merely removed the steering-wheel from the left-hand side and put it on the right. Quite a funny sight to see the all the instruments in front of the front passenger! This was only the beginning of our fun... Our taxi then went on to break down. The driver didn`t seemed too phased (like this possibly happens often?) and just got his bottle of water from the boot and then called some guys sitting around to give him a push. We and the other passangers just sat in the car while the guys pushed. They didn`t seem to be making too much of an effort so Kevin hopped out to help. He must have got them going because shortly afterwards the engine started again. Our driver dropped us off at the travel agent where we paid for our flight tickets from Santa Cruz to La Paz. This was the first flight we took as the bus journey would have taken too long. We then walked to the hostel (me with much excitement!) and Kevin spoilt me to a lovely room as a birthday treat. I dropped my bags and ran off to find Sam....

I soon discovered that "Sam" was actaully called Simone. What? How can you have a pet toucan and call his anything other that Sam? What were they thinking? Anyway, Sam wasn`t all that friendly with people he didn`t know. This was heart breaking as I had big dreams that we`d be best friends from day 1 (lol.) Sam had a tendency to try and bite you but his huge beak doesn`t give him much leaverage so he lands up just nipping you and makes this strange noise while his beak is open. It`s a bit unnerving at the beginning but you get used to it. Kevin managed to get Sam to pearch on his arm and then passed him to me. I explained to Sam that him and I need to become friends fast as it was my birthday the next day. We played a bit, took a couple photo`s and then let Sam down and hop off around the hostel as he does most days.

We headed out for dinner and manage to find a resondable priced restaurant for dinner where we had a lovely meal. After that we found an ice-cream shop and ordered the biggest tub between us. They do quite a cool thing in Santa Cruz - the shops have tubs of toppings which you can help yourself to for free...hello chocolate sprinkles. We then went and sat on the plaza and watched the people go by. It landed up being the evening of Earth Hour, so there was a little event happening on the plaza which we took a look at but once again, everything was in Spanish. We wandered back to our hostel and then went to bed.

The next day was party time with Sam! The hostel owners don`t usually let him out of his bedroom until after the guests have finished breakfast as he is a bit naughty, but on special request they got him out for me. Kevin tried very hard to co-ordinate Sam sitting on me, the camera and lighting my birthday candle. Sam wasn`t interested in the slightest so we weren`t off to a good start. We managed to get a photo of me, my birthday cake and Sam in the background...sigh...this was not what I had imagined. Luckily Sam realised the importance of playing along so we was much oppligizing and posed for many photo`s with me. I just smiled while Kevin snapped away....so much happiness!

After getting far too many photo`s of Sam we packed up our bags to check out. As fun as my birthday celebrations were, we had a lot of traveling to do to get back on schedule. This involed a flight to La Paz and then a bus from la Paz to Copacabanna - the town closest to Lake Titikaka (the highest lake in the world.) The flight went ok and we boarded the bus which was jam-packed with locals. Our big bag was chucked on the roof of the bus and we were hurried inside. The road out of La Paz was awful. It was raining, everything was muddy and there were big traffic jams as cars, taxi`s, buses and cows were trying to get through the same stretch of road. Once we got past the chaos, we found that the roads were in quite good condition.

Our bus then stopped and everyone started getting off. We assumed me were at our destination but as we learning very quickly, don`t assume anything in Bolivia! Oh no, we were merely going to cross the river. We had to take a little speedboat which was, once again, crammed with locals while our bus (plus our bags) crossed on a barge. This was again one of those times when Kevin and I have just looked at each other and said "This could end so badly..." Thankfully everything got to the otherside in one piece and we headed off for the last leg of our trip to Copacabanna. Finally we arrived in the town and found ourselves a hostel. After an awful sorry excuse for a shower, we crashed into bed.