La Paz

La Paz is the highest capital city in the world (well remember it's the administrative capital) at 3660 meters. There are mountains entirely surrounding the city with Mt. Illimani, a triple peaked, snowy capped beast looming at 6402 meters. There are buildings and houses built right into these jagged and rugged canyon walls. La Paz reminds me a bit of Quito but in since it is set inside of a canyon, and not a valley, there does not seem to be as much sprawl. There are also a bunch of plazas, parks, murals and open spaces - much more than Sucre, plus it has much wider sidewalks than Sucre as well.

Here are some views from the rooftop terrace at my hostel:















I love being up at altitude. I feel so goooooooood!! Clean, cool, brisk air. Ahhh life is good!















Now I must say I have heard a whole bunch of horror stories of bus rides and travel in Bolivia. I feel very fortunate that my bus rides have been good so far. But must I say I got a shocker riding from Sucre to La Paz when I saw 2 people get into the luggage compartment and ride 3 1/2 hours to Potosi. Then in Potosi, a mom and her son got into the luggage compartment and rode to La Paz some 9 hours. Argh! At our one and only stop, I saw 6 people get out of another luggage compartment. WOW! All the people were indigenous so it might be their only means of transport. Although everyone does have a choice. I saw other indigenous people turning the driver down. I guess it just depends on how desperate one is to travel to the other place. Now I did not see any exchange of money for these down under riders, so I am hoping and praying they rode this way for free. I did see other people pay the driver to stand in the front compartment of the bus.

Some more views from the mirador

Sucre

Sucre - colonial architecture, white walls, narrow cobblestone streets, bell towers, and markets overflowing onto the sidewalks with people selling anything and everything - fresh fruit, meat, watches, CD's, DVD's, cheap plastic junk from China, llama fetuses, clothing etc.
















Sucre Bolivia - the capital city of Bolivia. Although on most maps, LaPaz is listed as its capital city, in the Bolivian constitution, Sucre is listed as the official capitol. The government is split between both cities and that is why there is the confusion. The legislative and the executive parts are in LaPaz and the the judicial part is in Sucre. What I found funny is my tour guide from the Casa de la Libertad told us the people here in Sucre do not want the entire government to be here because they like their tranquillo city. He said in LaPaz, there are riots and demonstrations every day. This cracked me up because I have been thinking I have seen more parades, demonstrations, fireworks etc in these tiny towns of Tupiza, Uyuni, then onto Potosi and Sucre. Gosh I can only imagine what LaPaz is going to be like.




















I am taking some spanish classes again. I found a great school, Fenix, and am loving it. My teacher, Yashira, is naturally helping me fill in my holes. I am really fortunate to have been connected with such a talented teacher! Fenix not only teach spanish classes but they teach english to spanish speakers irregardless of whether they can pay. They also organize food and clothing drives for the local people in need and organize gatherings for all the students It has been really fun. I have learned a new sport - Wallyball. It is similar to volleyball in that there is a net that you have 3 tries to hit the ball over but you can use the walls, your head, feet any body part and it is played on a smaller court - similar to a raquetball court. We have gone out to a traditional bolivian meal - which must I say consisted mainly of meat and more meat. But at least there was a variety of meat - chicken, steak, hot dogs.




















Yashira and I
I knew she was petite but did not realize how tiny until we hugged for this picture
















Lyndsay and I went to a benefit concert for children who work and live on the streets. We saw two bands - one indigenous with dancers. There were about 15 different musicians with 4 dancers. The musicians played their instruments while dancing in a circle in one direction and then they would switch and go in the other direction. Their was a raffle contest and Lyndsay won this huge basket of chocolate from the best local chocolatier here in the chocolate capitol of Bolivia. It was really fun. The basket had a box of fudge, a box of truffles, 5 regular sized candy bars, one huge chocolate bar, and 2 bags of mint chocolates. Chocolate frenzy. But Lyndsay is so generous and gave the chocolate bars to the children who were helping with the event and one of the bags of mints to the organizer of the event and the other bag to the spanish school.

I am also volunteering at a local orphanage here. I have missed playing with kids and figured it was actually more appropriate to volunteer to play with them instead of practically stealing them off of their parents laps on buses. It is actually a fairly well run orphange serving children ages 0 - 5 years. They have two age groups - zero - 2 1/2 years and 2 1/2 - 5 years. I have been able to help out in both classes and am loving it!! They rooms are open and spacious and the playground is awesome. One day we walked to the school up the street to play in the gym. They actually had an interesting and clever space saving idea for mealtimes. They have this wooden structure bolted to the wall that sits 8 kids. Imagine 8 booster seats connected into one structure. It actually worked and was easier than having more furniture about.





























But gosh is my schedule ever busy - volunteering in the morning, classes in the afternoon, sunsets at the mirador cafe and then evenings out - benefit concerts, benefit quiz nights, movies. I have also started some rituals here: a daily fresh squeezed juice from a cart or the central mercado and/or a fresh fruit salad (with yogurt and some whipped cream YUM), as well as a trip up to the Mirador to watch the sunset. Whew. A busy life!
















I went to the cemetery here and it really was quite beautiful and busy - lots of people visiting, bringing flowers. In Latin America, it is typical to first bury the bodies. Then, within 10 years, the bodies are exhumed, cremated. If the families can afford it, the ashes are placed into these glass fronted spaces where flowers, memorabilia, plaques etc are placed. Most of these spaces had fresh flowers. I saw numerous people cleaning the glass and arranging the articles neatly. It really is an interesting way to preserve space.































































At the central market, they had about 15 of the fruit juice and salad stands all next to each other. I have found this very interesting. Instead of spreading similar type booths out, they tend to all be in the same area. I have found this to be the case in many cities and countries. If you go looking for a book booth, instead of finding one in the north, one in the south etc, you will find about 10 - 15 book booths all together in one strip. Eventhough they are in direct competition of each other, they still help each other out - with change, knowledge etc.

4060

4060 meters is the altitude of the city of Potosi, Bolivia. (well I have also seen the altitude as 4070, 4090 and 4300. But I think the 4300 is the top of Cerro Rico )It is one of the highest cities in the world.



















Potosi is a beautiful city and very rich. This is because of the Cerro Rico, a mountain full of minerals and known for its silver. It is also very politically active (but so is most of Bolivia) There was at least one demonstration and/or one parade a day while I was there. The miners were demonstrating because the government wants to increase their taxes from 15 - 50%. Crazy!!! So the workers in the mines were demonstrating while their supervisors and bosses worked in the mines.
I went on a tour of the mines in Cerro Rico (rich mountain). This mountain has been mined for some 400 hundred years now. It first was mined by the Spaniards for silver. Now it is more common for zinc but there is iron and some other elements as well. The mines are now run by cooperatives with each boss having their own crew and making their own money depending on what they are able to find. But the conditions are pretty darn wretched and boy do these miners physically work hard. They work for at least 8 hours a day and sometimes pull a double shift. This is at least better than what happened back in the slave days. Back then, the slaves worked and lived in the mines for 6 months at a time. Upon their release from the mine, their eyes needed to be bandaged because their eyes had become so accustomed to the darkness that the sun could burn their eyes. Now I was in the mines for about 3 hours - with full protective clothing, helmet, headlamp and I put a hankerchief over my nose and mouth as well. I left the mine feeling a layer of soot in my throat and that was only after 3 hours. I do not know how these miners do it 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week for years on end. They have a shorter lifespan and tend to develop silicosis, a lung disease. Now if this is not depressing enough, they have about 800 children working in the mines. During the tour, I could hear and feel explosions going off, I saw the miners at work - laboring, carrying the rocks and minerals on their back in a bag weighing 70 kilos, pulling and pushing carts full of rock and minerals, shoveling the rocks into containers to be pulled up with different types of winches , pounding holes into the walls by hand to place dynamite etc. Most of the work is down by hand but there are some hoses that contain pressurized air for some pneumatic tools.








































Minerals in the rock wall




















Tios. Every mine has one and every miner makes offerings of coca, cigarettes, alcohol etc to it daily. It's called tios, which means uncle in spanish, because in the native quechuan language there is no d sound. They meant dios, which means god.
The spaniards introduced the tios into the mines. The indigenous were becoming restless and not wanting to work in the mines. The spanish, knowing the latinos believed in many different gods and deities, introduced the tios and told them they needed to honor this god. The ritual stuck and the belief continues. The miners have faith in the tios while in the mine and in jesus christ when outside of the mine.










































































I also saw my first bomb being made. It is actually quite easy. The materials are easily purchased at some local stores in town. Our guide made the bomb within 5 minutes. My own guide - a terrorist, can you believe it?? Clem and Johnny were kind enough to purchase Minnie so we could see her get blown up. Boy it was quite the explosion. I was counting down the time and had my camera in hand, ready to take a picture of the explosion. But the blast was soooo incredibly loud, I flinched and was not able to capture the moment. 2 people filmed it and they got some great footage but they flinched as well. This was outside of the mine and we were a good 200 - 300 meters away.





























This mine tour was a very sobering experience. I am amazed at what humans can adapt to.

On my bus ride to Potosi, I rode next to a man who was 48 years old and who has been a miner for 30 years now. He was lucky because his coop hit a good vein. He has 5 kids and three of them are in the university. On the other hand, my guide, who had worked in the mines previously (they have started to let women work in the mines), said that there were people working in the mines who had college degrees and who could not find work elsewhere in Potosi. So their choice was to move or to work in the mines.

After the mine tour, I watched The Devli's Miner, a film about the life of a specific child who is a miner in the Cerro Rico. A good, sobering and graphic film. The tios pictured above was actually in the film. If you want to learn more, watch the film but it is not for the faint hearted.

Uyuni and the Salt Flat Tour

Well I got lucky tonight with a pretty good connection that could download all these wonderful sights of my tour of Southwestern Bolivia.

WOW! What an incredible four days. I went on a 4 day tour of Southwest Bolivia and I am just dumbfounded by all the natural beauty I saw. Utterly surreal! Salt flats, volcanoes with fresh snow, fresh snow, lakes of all colors - red, green and blue, flamingos and again just some wide open space.

The Salar de Uyuni (or the salt flats on the gringo trail) is the world's largest salt flat or dry lake at 4,086 square miles. It is at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 feet). About 30 - 42,000 years ago, it was a lake and now it is a visual bed of a few meters deep of salt. The expansive views were incredible because the white salt and distant horizon seemed to reflect even a greater distance.


















































































The salt museum - imagine a house, table and chairs made out of salt......

















Playing soccer with the locals. It was a close game and luckily the locals won. I do not know if they could have faced their other 20 residents had they lost to a team of gringos comprised of half females!
















Volcan Tunupa (5432m) - a beautiful hike, slow and steady but fairly easy!





























Isla Incahuasi or as the tour agencies call it the Isla del Pescado. Incredible! An island in the middle of all the salt. I know it looks like clouds and being in an airplane. We all did double and triple takes as we were hiking and just admiring the views. We just had to rapidly shake our heads a few times and remind ourselves that yes we were actually standing on the ground and not up in the air. What made it even stranger was an island filled with Trichoreus cactus. Incahuasi.











































Laguna Colorado. You can see the reddish tint to the water. It's because the water is only 80 cm deep I guess when there is not fresh snowfall (you know I am not complaining!), the water has even more of a redder tint. But hey, fresh snow, lakes at 4278m, flamingos - ahhhh this world is amazing!














































































5 bottles of Singani (a local grape brandy which is as strong as grain alcohol and tastes similarly) for 5 people. But hey when in Rome.... It is Bolivia's national liquor. Luckily we all loved playing cards! Cards helps the liquor go down. I could not have asked for a better group of people to explore the Salar de Uyuni with. Thanks Clem, Johnny, Audrey, Hylton and Rachel who joined us for the last 2 days!















Our last morning, we went and visited the Sol de Manana Geyser Basin. Geysers and some natural hot springs. These springs, the Termas de Polques, were warmer than the hot springs we visited out of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. A nice treat, especially after the chilly nights.

Bolivia

Bolivia! Bolivia! Bolivia! An incredible, vast, huge and diverse landscape. It reminds me a bit of Alaska with the enormity of the land and just the amount of open space in between the towns and cities. The roads are also very similar - always under construction and consisting of gravel, bumpy rides. Here are some photos from my bus ride from the border town of Villazon to Tupiza.




































































I am now worlds away from Argentina and am psyched for the cultural experience. Their is a large indigenous population - over 60% of the pop. Bolivia has 36 indigenous groups with nearly 30% of the people speaking Quechua. The women wear their hair in 2 braids with beads at the end of each braid, a short, full skirt just above their knees, stockings, a large brim hat, a shawl, an apron and quite often a tapestry tied around their neck which carries children and/or goods. Unfortunately 64% of the population is also below the poverty level. Most of the houses are without heat and are built with natural materials. I am amazed at the houses with gravel and dirt as their rooftops. Very simple and basic. Some towns are just now getting electricity and the internet has been extremely slow. I hope to be able to continue blogging. If not, I will be journaling and then add to my blog when I can. Pictures will definately be an art of patience to include. Welcome to Bolivia!