botanic gardens Archives - B O L I V I A in my eyes

Co robisz, gdy biegna w twoim kierunku szczekajac duze psy ‘owczarkopodobne’?

a) stajesz w miejscu (podobno zalecane)

b) oddalasz sie spokojnie

c) pedzisz na leb na szyje do pobliskiego sklepu w poszukiwaiu schronienia, brzebiegajac tuz przed jadacym ulica samochodem i napedzajac stracha biegnacemu rekreacyjnie chodnikiem chlopakowi

d) przystajesz i czekasz az psy do ciebie dobiegna, aby je poglaskac (w koncu kochasz te duze pieknosci).

W naszym przypadku, opcja b) szybko przerodzila sie w c) – rozsadek rozsadkiem, upodobania upodobaniami, ale instynkt samozachowawczy wzial gore.

Powyzsza sytuacja zdarzyla sie podczas naszego popoludniowego spaceru do ogrodow ‘Palacio Portales’ w Cochabambie – jedynego chyba osrodka kulturalnego w calym miescie otwartego niemal we wszystkie dni tygodnia, od rana do poznego wieczora!

Do Portales udalismy sie po nieudanej wyprawie do Ogrodu Botanicznego, ktory zamkneli juz o 16! Coz, u nas tez zamykaja parki wczesniej zima, ale w Cochabambie temperatura o tej porze roku siega 30 stopni, a slonce zachodzi po 18, wiec bez przesady…

Po milym spacerze w Portales, polaczonym z obejrzeniem wystawy malarstwa, postanowilismy sprawdzic ‘Museo de la Historia Natural’, polozone po sasiedzku. Z ciekawosci, bowiem to miejsce zawsze bylo zamkniete, a w dodatku wciaz mielismy w pamieci nasz nocny spacer ze znajomym, kiedy zza bramy znienacka dobieglo nas ujadanie psow. Ale najedlismy sie wtedy strachu!

Jednak, jak pomyslelismy przekraczajac otwarta brame, skoro muzeum jest otwarte, to pewnie tych psow juz tam nie ma? Muzeum znajduje sie w uroczym budynku, polozonym na samym koncu dlugiej alei, obrosnietej ‘naturalnie’ z obu stron drzewami i krzakami. Prawde mowiec, scena jak z horroru, a ja nie mialam przy sobie aparatu! Uspokoilismy sie, kiedy zobaczylismy zaparkowany przy budynku samochod i ani sladu i ‘sluchu’ psow:)

W srodku zastalismy starszego pana, przegladajacego mala, acz ciekawa ekspozycje mineralow, skamienialosci oraz wypchanych zwierzat, oraz slyszelismy glosy na gorze, gdzie wstep byl wzbroniony. Kiedy wychodzilismy, zauwazylismy psa, czajacego sie na tylach budynku. Ja mialam pomysl, zeby zawrocic i poszukac kogos z personelu, tak na wszelki wypadek, ale Freddy chcial juz isc. Po cichutku i wolno oddalilismy sie wiec w strone bramy, ale kiedy sie odwrocilismy, zobaczylismy dwa psy podazajace za nami. Kiedy nas zauwazyly, zaczely ujadac i….reszte historii juz znacie:)

Swoja droga, chcialabym tam wrocic, aby zrobic zdjecie, ale najpierw trzebaby cos zrobic z tymi psami. Tylko co? Numeru do Muzeum nie mozna nigdzie znalesc, a policja tez odpada. Postanowilam wiec opowiedziec o sytuacji bardzo profesjonalnemu personelowi w Portales – w koncu ich placowka przylega do Muzeum, a psy sa zagrozeniem dla kazdego przechodnia. Zobaczymy, czy cos z tego wyniknie, a jezeli cos pozytywnego, to wkrotce notka zostanie opatrzona odpowiednimi zdjeciami:)

P.S. Udalo nam sie pstryknac kilka fotek, przez zamknieta brame. Psow nie widzielismy:)

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What do you do when two large dogs, german sheperd-like, run in your direction barking?

a) freez (apparently this is recommended)

b) slowly move away

c) run for your life into a nearby store for a shelter, crossing the road right in front of a moving car, startling the runner who find himself on your way.

d) wait till the dogs are close, to pat them (as you love these big beauties).

In our case, the option b) quickly turned into c) – as much as we love dogs and we we are reasonable people, the instinct took over.

The situation above happened during our afternoon walk to the gardens of ‘Palacio Portales’ in Cochabamba – probably the only cultural place in the whole city, open almost every day of the week from early morning to late at evening!

We went to Portales we went after an unsuccessful trip to the Botanic Gardens, which closed at 4 pm! Well, in Europe parks also close earlier during the winter, but in Cochabamba temperature this time of year reaches 30 degrees and the sun-sets after 6 pm, so without exaggeration …

Despite that, after a plesant walk in Portales, combined with an exhibition of paintings, we decided to check on the ‘Museo de la Historia Natural’, located next door. We were curious, because this place has always been closed, and we still had the memory of our night walk with a friend, when suddenly we were frighten by barking dogs behind the gate.

However, as we figured crossing the gate, if the museum is open, the dogs should be gone. Museum is located in a charming building, located at the end of a long avenue, overgrown ‘naturally’ on both sides with dry trees and bushes. To tell the truth, it looked as in the horror movie, and… I had no camera with me! We calmed down when he saw a car parked next to the building and not a trace or ‘sound’ of dogs :)

Inside we only found an elderly gentleman browsing through the small, yet interesting exhibitions of minerals, fossils and stuffed animals, and we heard voices at the second floor – for staff only. When we were leaving, we noticed a dog, lurking at us from the back of the building. I had the idea to turn around and look for someone form the Museum’s staff, just in case, but Freddy wanted to go. Therefore, quietly and slowly we moved on towards the gate, but when we looked back, we noticed that two dogs were following us. When our eyes met, they began to bark and … you already know the rest of the story.

By the way, I would like to go back there to take a picture or two, but first we would need to do something with these dogs. But what? We can’t find the number to the museum anywhere, and we can’t call the police. So I decided to tell about this situation to the proffessional personnel of Portales – at the end their facility is adjacent to the Museum, and the dogs are a threat to every passer-by. So, soon we will see if anything changes, if so, this post will be enriched with some photos:)

P.S. Look up!

Statue of a rescue dog at ‘Palacio Portales’.

Od ponad miesiaca planowalam wycieczke do ogrodu botanicznego w Santa Cruz, ktory na wszystkich ulotkach turystycznych jawil sie jako raj na ziemi. Raj tropikow:)

Wyobrazalam go sobie jako wieksza, bardziej kolorowa i goraca wersje ‘Botanic Gardens’ w Dublinie, ktory wlasnie tak zapamietalam:

A tak ‘Jardin Botanico’ w Santa Cruz wygladal w rzeczywistosci:

Coz, w tym przypadku rzeczywistosc nie przerosla oczekiwan… A szkoda.

Nieznosny upal, to jedyne co zgadzalo sie z moja wizja. Zamiast bujnej roslinnosci, otoczeni bylismy przez chmary komarow, ktorych nie odstarszal zapach srodka przeciw komarom (moze dlatego, ze zmieszany byl on z naszym potem?).

‘Jardin Botanico‘ polozony jest 8 km od centrum Santa Cruz, 3 bs. autobusem z bazaru ‘Los Pozos’. Moge powiedziec, ze byly to 3 bs. wyrzucone w bloto (chociaz jakby doliczyc 3bs. za wstep i bilet powrotny, to zmarnowalismy w sumie 9 bolwianos od osoby:(

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I have planned a visit to Santa Cruz’s ‘Jardin Botanico’ for a month. It looked like a tropical paradise on every tourist attractions listing that fell into my hands.

I imagined it as bigger, more colourful and hotter version of ‘Botanic Gardens‘ in Dublin, one of my favourite places in Irish capital. And who could blame me! – at the end we are in tropics!

Unfortunately, as you can see on the pictures (the ones at the end), my expectations were way too high! Only one thing from my list was right – it was hotter than in Dublin and more humid, what all together attracted millions and millions of mosquitoes, who were somehow indifferent to the smell of an insect repellent (maybe because it was mixed with our sweat?).

Tropical lush greenery and flowers? Nowhere to be seen – I could see only dry common plants and huge cacti (that turned out to be a highlight of this trip). Now, we were walking for some time and I don’t think we could missed something, could we?

Santa Cruz’ ‘Jardin Botanico‘ is placed 8 km from the city centre, on the way to Cotoca – 3 bs. by bus from ‘Los Pozos‘ market. It was 3 bolivianos wasted… However, adding an entrance fee of 3 bs. and return ticket – we lost 9 bs. in total.