Yo soy el hombre de la selva,
perfume, cántico y amor,
pero encendido de relámpagos,
pero rugiendo de huracanes.
Yo soy un río de pie.
-Raúl Otero Reiche

There aren’t a huge number of tourists in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the eastern part of Bolivia. The foreigners that do turn up don’t tend to arrive solo. So when I showed up alone and with my big dorky camera, I looked pretty conspicuous. It’s a little unnerving to unapologetically take photos of a big and busy city. I think when it comes to travel, we only see what we want to see. So I don’t know if these photos are reflective of anything. It’s entirely possible that I’ve captured the skin of the city and failed to reveal the heart.

This trip was a real comedy of errors. I lost my luggage! I got lost in the middle of the night! I got locked out! I got locked in (the door had to be broken with a kitchen knife)! I got called a heathen! I got computer viruses on my new camera! I almost got robbed by gypsies! And it was AWKWARD sometimes. But I lived, damn it. And I met some fantastic people along the way, people who were so kind that I could never possibly thank them properly.

A few more photos of Santa Cruz here.

Cioa,
Sarah

Tags: bolivia, poetry, Raul Otero Reiche, santa cruz de la sierra, spanish, travel photos