Where did I leave off? Oh right! So we got to La Higuera, met Guadalupe, a campesina in charge of the museum there. She told us we could pitch our tent in the basketball/soccer court of the school and sleep for free on th condition that we come to her house in he afternoon to have fresh bread and tea! Of course we said yes! So we pitched our tent, visited the museum which was one tiny room with maps of Che's journey, quotes, historical facts and memorabilia leftover from people all of the world. In the afternoon we cooked lunch on Javier's camping stove, relaxed and he played soccer with guys from the community and the Cuban doctor. Later we went to Guadalupe's house where her husband Ismael was taking bread and cheese empanadas out of their adobe oven! The smell was incredible and we sat there talking about how to make the oven, what kind of things you can cook in it and Ismael started to tell us about his experience as young boy living in la Higuera when everything happened with Che! Oral histories! We passed the night drinking hot chocolate, eating bread and listening to the life stories of Ismael and Guadalupe. They have 5 children, 2 who live in brazil now, 2 who live in a city in Bolivia called Santa Cruz, and one who lives in Valle grande. They are all studying but it's difficult for Guadalupe to have all of her children far away from her with no money to go and visit them. They told us about all the vegetables and fruit they have growing and that the wheat used for the bread they grew themselves! It was a night I will remember for the rest of my life.
The next day we hiked down and back up a mountain in search of the spot where che as captured. It was hidden between two fig trees and so surreal and peaceful and eerie feeling. I climbed a fig tree, we relaxed on the rock for a bit and then headed back up the mountain in 110 degree weather. Oh, down by the fig trees this campesino came over and told us he had a really important artifact to show us but we had to pay a few pesos. Javier have him a few and th guy pulled out a small gun, claiming that it was Che Guevaras gun and that he found it in the trash. Hm. Anyway, we headed back up the mountain to realize we had taken way longer than expected, missed lunch at Guadalupe's and missed an chance of leaving la Higuera that day. So we cooked lunch with some argentines who had just arrived to camp as well, relaxed and spent the night at Guadalupe's sleeping in our tent next to her chicken hen!
In the morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to start walking until someone gave us a ride. As we stopped to drink Yerba mate, a truck filled wit garbanzo beans passed us. I stuck my thumb out and off we went! Little did we know our journey in this truck would last 20 hours, through mountainous terrain, valleys filled with huge rivers and donkeys, tropical fields filled with papaya and mango trees and dessert. We bought mangos from a woman who was walking alongside the road with her son and ate them throughout the journey. They were incredible! Incredible! Throughout our journey with Juan, the truck driver, we popped 4 tires, ran out of gas, cooled down in a small stream, bought cheese empanadas, picked up a baby, mom, dad and another little boy for the journey and almost got caught in a rain storm. In total I slept 2 hours and was a zombie when we finally arrived in Sucre the next morning. But it was all worth it!!
We thought we had a place to stay in sucre bc this woman who have us a ride told us to call her upon our return and we could stay with her! Well, we passed the whole day with this idea in our head. In the afternoon we called her bc she was just getting back from a trip, she picked us up, was completely flustered showed us her house, told us it seemed to hectic for us to stay there, fed us ice cream, handed us 10 dollars and dropped us off back where she picked us up. I was almost in tears at that point. We collected our backpacks from the tourist office, found a hostal and passed out for 12 hours! Ooooooo ooo! I forgot to tell you about the juice we drank in the market. You can make your own and my concoction was banana, passion fruit, oatmeal and a
Brazil nut all blended together with water for under a dollar! OMG!
Now I am in Cochabamba, a city 12 hours from Sucre. It's in a valley and I love it. I will write again soon!
Again, sorry my emails have gotten so long. Please let me know if I'm writing too much :)
Xoxo,
Adge
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