Lo Coto

We leave the hotel to catch a taxi at 06:30 to take us to the Bus Station. The taxi was originally a right hand drive but had been modified - the steering column & pedals had been ripped out and stuck on the left hand side. The passenger seat (where I was sat) still had the working dashboard and the drivers seat (well, ex-passengers) still had the glove compartment. This seemed perfectly legal, even though the driver couldn't actually see the working dash!

We find and board our bus. The usual sales man stands at the front and begins to address us in Spanish. Nothing new here, people do this all the time, selling sweets, drinks, pastries, books and bread. The verbal spiels don't usually last longer than 2 minutes but this guy... He's a crack pot medicine man selling a potent potion in the form of a tea to cure all known digestive problems. Half an hour later he's still preaching. All I want it a little peace and quiet so I may doze away the morning hours. But no. I almost pay him just to shut up!

We roll into Oruro just after lunch and check into a yellow hotel just over the road as recommended by Sean's Footprint guide. The staff were rude and unhelpful. We walk 10 blocks to the town centre. Oruro is an ugly, oppressive market town which long lost the importance of it's mining background.

Sean and Monika take me to a Veggie restaurant for lunch - it's to be my big Veggie experience, a 3 course meal for 50p! The starting soup was nice but the main was merely a plate of tasteless slop. Over boiled plain rice, black soggy veggie mush and nasty soya lumps. Dessert was a tiny glass of ice-cream. Now you can't go wrong with ice-cream can you? Wrong. It was artificial plastic ice-cream wanna be, with some nasty chemical flavour. Not even Sean or Monika liked it! I decide to stick to my Meat.

Come evening Sean & Monika head off to a Hari Krishna Veggie restaurant. I stay at a fake Hard Rock Cafe knock-off, they serve Llama Steaks!!! The place looks cool with sections of an old red Chevy stuck to the wall. Part way through dinner I chew on half the green pepper garnish. My mouth beings to burn, badly. I swallow some. My throat begins to burn, badly. I begin to sweat. My eyes stare into space as they begin to water. I drink some beer - the heat intensifies. I chow down some rice - the heat is unbearable. Nothing helps quell the raging spicy pain. All I can do is sit and wait it out. Wow, is that some spicy chili! I eat some more over the course of the meal but leave some for Sean's arrival.

I fear I've turned into a spice pussy and need a control experiment. When Sean and Monika turn up I ask Sean if he likes spicy food (knowing he does) and hand him the innocent looking green pepper. "Is it spicy?" he asks. "Yeah, a little," I reply as he stuffs half in his mouth and starts chomping away. His motions slow and he stares into space. He utters a single word to Monika, "Water." "It won't help!" I grin excitedly. I watch as Sean goes through the same stages of pain as I did earlier. I'm happy. I not a spice pussy. That evil green thing is hot! Luckily Sean is more impressed with the heat of the chili than he is upset with me! We enquire with the waiter as to what the green spice is. "We call it, Lo Coto Pepper!" he replies with a grin.

Posted by Steve Eynon