oh bollocks…

Bollocks, such a useful and versatile word… it rolls so nicely off the tongue in it’s well-rounded way, you can talk bollocks (as I frequently seem to do…), something can be a load of bollocks, or you can simply say “bollocks” when things don’t go quite your way…. It’s the latter situation that applies in this case… having got up this morning with a bit of fever, a few aches and feeling devastatingly tired… I guess I picked up a bug somewhere along the way, a risk of bike touring at altitude in big mountains… the body takes a hammering and the immune system suddenly stops working so well. I set off this morning in hope for the 80km to Zumbahua (think that’s how it’s spelt) but 8km up the road I just felt so weak it was very much a case of “bollocks, I can’t ride over the 4000-&-something meter pass feeling like this” so I trundled back to the Tiana, parked the bike, had a mug of their excellent coffee and a home-made cookie and, errm, said “bollocks” a few more times. Que es la vida and all that. I’m not particularly stressed about it, I can’t change the situation, there’s worse places to have to stop for a bit and besides the time “lost” is the perfect excuse to cheat and grab a bus all the way from here to the Colombian border in one go (with a change in Quito) once I get back from Laguna Quilotoa. I just can’t wait to get pedalling the Colombian Andes which by all accounts are stunning.

So.. in the meantime, here’s a pic of one of Latacunga’s squares, it really is a pretty town if you take the time to explore it’s cobbled streets. Full of contrasts too… the campesiños at the market are pretty poor, but in the next street you can watch a new chevy pick-up being wheelclamped… I’m always amused at the supermarket here… wonder what folk would think if Tesco back home had security guards in combat fatigues, bulletproof vests and packing firearms…

One thing I should mention about the Tiana, although there are a couple of Dutch folk working “the front” at least one of them is a student on assignment for his degree it, the place is locally owned, as it’s “sister” hostel in Isinlivi so the money is going back into the local economy… always a good thing. Here’s a snap of the main courtyard, that’s my map of Colombia (route planning!) and that aforementioned coffee and cookie (or rather the crumbs remaining) on the table….

now, what to have for lunch… it’s times like this I crave chips (french fries for you transatlantic lot..), lashings of salt & vinegar, ketchup rounded off with chocolate and vanilla icecream :o) On second thoughts though… marmite on toast would be heaven…
On the topic of food… I’ve been surprised at the abundance of blackberries here, fresh-pressed blackberry juice – yum! … ahhh, memories of my childhood… tramping home on a warm late summer evening with arms scratched to buggery, cowshit all over my boots and a big bucketful of berries collected from the local hedgerows…

5 thoughts on “oh bollocks…

  • …and ‘oh bollocks’ is just what I said to myself while cleaning up emails a while back when I realised how long it has been since you emailed me last and I have yet to reply. have been following the blog on and off for months so didn’t realise how time had passed. glad to see you are enjoying yourself.

  • hey bud, great to hear from you. No worries on the emails, with a family I think you probably have better things to do! Bollocks though, is a great English word don’t you think… :o)

  • hello mikums,
    hope you´re feeling better? one of the volunteers here has travelled to colombia back in october and said it was incredible, one of the highlights of his trip. So i think you´ll enjoy it! busy busy here, which is good but it´d be nice to have a chance to stop sometime soon! anyway, take of yerself x

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