The adventures into Bolivia's abysmal dining culture continued.

IL BAMBINO
Let's start with the best. Located just a couple blocks from Hotel Mitru, Il Bambino's windows are plastered with signs proclaiming its salteñas to be the best in town, including a special version for Sundays. Excited to finally have something tasty in Bolivia, I was so happy that these empanada-esque pastries were only 2Bs (25 cents) each, with options of chicken or beef. Perfectly baked, one filled with stew-like mix of veggies and beef and one a chicken version, salteñas cost just 8Bs with a soda. On this dirt-cheap meal I was full until dinner time.

I brought Hemmy back for lunch but when salteñas run out, they run out. I was the only person in the morning and when we returned there still weren't many people, so apparently the restaurant does a great deal of take-out salteñas business. Hemmy was subjected to the set almuerzo, which included the now-hated "kitchen sink" soup which we'd had frequently since arriving in Bolivia. On Sunday we came back in time for the special salteñas, which contained egg yolks, raisins and olives in addition to the chicken or beef.

LLAMA TAMALES
These are supposedly Tupiza's regional speciality. We found them in the market near Hotel Mitru, on the same street but on the corner leading into the market. The very young girl minding the pot sold them for just a few cents each. I don't know if I'd say they were worth seeking out, but at least they were unique. The llama meat was nicely flavored, but a little dry, and the masa was pretty bland.

CALIFORNIA
We were determined to eat non-Bolivian, so a place with the option of pizza and with such an all-American name seemed to have potential. It's disappointing how wrong we were. The pizza reminded me of high-school cafeteria pizza. A really plastic taste to the gummy cheese, which wasn't even gooey when hot, with a tasteless crust and overly-sweet sauce. It was so bad I could have done better with Boboli. Thank goodness there were fruit shakes to wash it all down with. And even so...I would rather have that pizza than a set cena somewhere else.

PASTIPIZZA
This place seemed to cater exclusively to gringos; it was packed full, with no Bolivians in sight apart from the staff. Seeing pizza delivered to other tables, I could tell just from looks that it was much better than California's version. Later on, at another Pastipizza in Uyuni, this would be confirmed. Unfortunately the previous night turned us off pizza so this time we chose pasta. I opted for carbonara, one of my favorite fattening meals. It was...odd, leaning toward disgusting. The lukewarm pasta tasted heavily of corn. Yes, corn. The sauce wasn't particularly creamy or eggy and the bacon was impossibly bland. Once again, the meal was salvaged with fruit drinks, but for 64Bs ($8—no small change in Bolivia!) it was too much money for inadequate food.

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