This was the kind of day that has everything. An allsorts sort of day. Filming, relaxing and more cafes than I would normally frequent. It also involved two sheep heads, a goodbye, a moment of peace, and more meat than I would usually consume. As with a day it is better to take one thing at a time.
Vegetarians should read no further.
The two sheep heads were on an enamel tray in the market, which we finally managed to visit; the traders being back at work after their protest. The butchers’ street was a long stretch of stalls and a row of roadside traders. The heads were probably the strangest item on sale, though I did once see a basket of yak heads on a street corner in NW China, so this wasn’t quite as traumatic a moment as it might have been. Nearby, there were a couple of stalls selling brain and lungs, if those were what you fancied.
We said goodbye to the sheep heads fairly quickly but took a little longer over our farewells to our host in Cochabamba. In India we were blessed by Blesson. In Bolivia Eduardo has made a tremendous difference to our week. He has negotiated our way around an ever changing filming schedule, got us from A to B via C and back again, and taught Mezza Spanish. He seems to know every cafe in the city and it was rare that at some point during
a day we didn’t end up in one for breakfast, elevenses (which in Columbia, discovered, are taken at eleven a.m. and four p.m.), lunch, or Columbian afternoon elevenses. He also, kindly, opened his home to us. Fortunately, for his wife and children, they were away. I was, however, interested to learn that his wife, Rachel, is also a writer. She has a novel published and is writing a sequel.
The moment of peace was an hour spent a Roman Catholic retreat centre off the road west out of Cochabamba. A few hundred metres from the dusty main road is a small sanctuary of trees and neatly planned gardens, where the sound of the birdsong is louder than the traffic noise and you feel you might hear God’s still, small voice. It was a welcome respite from work and our daily routine of walking the streets of the city.
And, finally, this evening. Mezza and I were invited to the South American version of a 
British carvery combined with a Chinese banquet; a rodizio. Vegetarians should read no further. The waiters attend the tables carrying long skewers of beef, chicken, pork and turkey; carving slices of meat from their skewer to order. In Brazil rodizios run to 24 courses of meat. Our Bolivian equivalent did not quite match up to that but there was more than enough on offer. It was helpful to walk a mile or so to a taxi rank afterwards before being driven back to the retreat centre for the night.
Tomorrow we head for La Paz. Hopefully, there will be internet available to finish this blog. If you are reading it, take it as read that there was.
P.S. Anyone any ideas how we incorporate sheep heads into videos on preaching?
Answers on a postcard to Mezza.
P.P.S. Rachel’s book, Prism (by Rachel Moschell), is available on Kindle or from www.smashwords.com/books/view/108104
