After a few days we leave Aguas Calientes. It’s gotten cold – handy for really appreciating the hot springs. The journey continues west. We want to take a longer break in Santa Cruz. But until then it is still a long way.

We stop in the small village of Roboré to buy fruit, refuel and inflate the tires. It is remarkable how difficult it is to find fruit in Bolivia.

There are no supermarkets, only market stalls and market halls offering cheap Chinese products. Fresh goods are rare or we are looking in the wrong places. I see apartment buildings advertising meat products. Maybe there are houses for fruit.

We are in the tropical bush – where are all the fruits?

The cities in Bolivia are really… “original” – you could say. There are few paved roads and market stalls everywhere. In the center there is a small square with a pretty town hall and church. Behind it, swampy streets and small completely or half-ruined houses begin directly. Some of them offer breakfast and lunch and call themselves “Restaurant”. But you don’t notice that, because they look like a small farm full of animals and fruit trees. There is no trace of tables and when things are going like they are in Aguas Calientes, the residents there also wonder why people are trespassing on the property.

At the market we have to ask around until we find a small stall with fruit. Where do people buy fruit and vegetables? It looks like a bazaar. People are very friendly and approach us, especially about Leon. Nobody imposes on us. People wave at us from their cars. Here, too, I notice many men whose mouths are full of coca leaves.

We drive on and stop for lunch at a monastery with a very special backdrop.