November 11, 2005
Day 44
I slept for ten hours last night, but I still was out of it when I woke up. Once again, I had to force myself to eat, and all I had was a piece of bread, coffee, and banana juice. I thought about laying in bed all day, but convinced myself to get up and do something.
Julien and Matthieu wanted to leave later in the day. Illness or not, I would've wanted to stay in Sucre for at least another day. It's a nice little town with a fair amount of stuff to do, and after taking the long bus ride to get here, I needed to relax. This is a big difference I've noticed between myself and most other travelers. Most people I meet either have round the world tickets, or are only in South America for a few months, so they always have deadlines. One would think that a year would be enough time to see the world, but it's not, so most people can't stay anywhere more than two or three nights.
The three of us went to the textiles museum this morning. It was full of garments that have been made by the local people for centuries. A lot of the techniques used were dying for many years before the museum stepped in to try to preserve them. Now, the art of making native clothing is making a big comeback, which has been partially fueled by the price of admission to the museum. I didn't mind paying the entrance fee this time because part of the money went directly to the natives.
I thought the museum was rather interesting at first, but I felt like I had to throw up the whole time, which detracted me from the experience. After about fifteen minutes of browsing, I couldn't take it any more and let loose, so to speak. So much for the vomit counter. As is normally the case, I felt much better afterwards.
After my episode, I returned to look at the exhibits. There was a video of the natives smoking and sheering sheep, which I guess roughly had something to do with textiles. There was also music to listen to on headphones, and a detailed explanation of the meaning of various pieces of clothing. I had no idea that something you wear could be so complicated.
This afternoon, I said goodbye to Julien and Matthieu, who left for Potosi, which is where I'll go in a few days. The Internet cafe across from my hostel was the nicest one I had found so far in the city, so I went there and worked on my website for four hours. I didn't want to venture too far from my hostel because I was still sick. I ate a little bit of chocolate and went to bed early to try and let the food poisoning work its course.
