After a 6 hour bus ride from Vallegrande to Santa Cruz I had a brief stop before a 12 hour overnight ride to Cochabamba. During the night we were stopped and searched by a very official looking army policeman. He got on the bus, woke everyone up and checked our bags. On arrival in Cochabamba I thought, oh dear, I am glad this is only a stopover. Cochabamba is a dump! Home to just over 500,000 people and set below some big mountains. Other than the fact that the city smells like a toilet, there's not much to write about Cochabamba. For that reason, I will use this opportunity to express my dislike for Bolivian people. In general they are a miserable bunch. Granted, a lot of them are very poor so I can understand that they might be miserable. However, they are also the rudest people I have ever encountered. Frankly, I am shocked at some of the treatment I have been getting. For example, I was recently at the bus station to get my much wanted ticket out of town. About three women just pushed me out of the way and the women at the 'service' counter just ignored the fact that I had been standing patiently in front of her for 15 minutes. I decided that enough was enough, turned around and, in Spanish, ironically questioned the other women "Sorry, isn't there a queue here"? One woman just said no! I proceeded to wave my arms at the saleswoman and say "hola" as if to imply that I was not invisible. Despite the fact that I spoke to her in fluent Spanish, she was very blunt and very unhelpful. I decided to go to a dfferent bus company because rude ignorant people don't deserve to serve good honest people. The next woman was even more rude! I asked her all the necessary questions in polite Spanish. She barked something back and turned away. I found myself talking to her back! The place where I finally got my ticket was not much more attentive (the woman was preoccupied with her mobile phone and serving all the people who were trying to push in). At this point I just thought to myself...all these people are f*cking rude b*stards and, if I wanted to, I could pick them all up and throw them to the back of the queue! It seems that you have to be rude to get bye here. It won't be long until I use physical force if these ugly, rude ignorant people carry on treating me (and each other) like dogs. Read on if you want to hear more bad things about scummy Bolivians cos I need to get this off my chest! Sadly, the Bolivians seem to have absolutely no self respect, pride in their own country or ability to treat other people like human beings. Every day I see people spitting in the street - men, women and children alike. They also litter without problem - throwing things out of bus and car windows - lazy f*ckers! Personally, I have had enough of Bolivia. I feel like a walking pound sign. These people might be poor but I have encountered poor people in Cuba and Argentina and they are more than congenial when it comes to begging. People here just treat me like I'm a f*cking coin dispenser. Everyday I have people coming up to me and asking for money, trying to shine my flip flops and dancing impromptu dances and expecting money - they don't even bother to smile. I feel sad for them in a way but they would be much more successful if they looked like they wanted to make me smile. I hate the fact that I can't help these people because I am no revolutionary. I find it hard to give to beggers because you can't seperate one man from another or treat people differently. If Bolivian's understood how much money tourism could help their economy then I am sure that they would be much more polite. Argentina has suffered a massive setback recently, but at least the people there are able to treat me like a human being despite their need for help. I found myself helping Argentines financially because they were genuinely nice people with a hard life. There is no reason for poor people to be rude - the Bolivians need to take a lesson from thier southern neighbours. I am sooooooo looking forward to Peru now! Tomorrow I am on a 7 hour joy ride back up to the altiplano. My next destination is La Paz - the de facto capital of Bolivia.