Titicaca

Holas!

I'd like to start with some general musings on (highland) Bolivia.

- Bolivia is full of little farms, tiny herds of llama (their ears tied with little tassles to show whose is whose), sheep, cows, donkeys, and, increasingly as we head toward Peru, pigs. There barely seems enough plant life to support anything, but people seem to manage to raise these animals. They scratch out little plots of earth too, waiting to be seeded or already starting to push forward plant life.

- Bolivians are friendly! We've not felt any sort of threat at all, nothing of the kinds laid out in the guidebook. On the contrary, everyone we've had cause to approach has been undendingly polite, warm, and friendly.

(this internet cafe is full of fumes...)

- (Highland) Bolivia is dry. Chapped lips, crackling nose, waking up in the morning with your tongue twice its size and pasted to your mouth dry. We're not enjoying this part.

- Bolivia is another country big on the hunk of meat, lump of starch school of food. Though I did see a woman eating a big bowl of soup containing what looked like half a sheep's head the other day, which I suppose is an interesting take on the theme. I have to admit we've been playing it pretty safe on the food front - my stomach has been touch and go until now. Fried chicken with fries seems to be the national dish, though. Food seems to be a catch as catch can affair, with the majority of people sitting down at impromptu soup or roast stands. Forget running water and refrigeration...


Some general impressions of La Paz, from whence we've just come.

- The city is a rambling, shambling mass of fading glory and crumbling decay. There are roadworks everywhere which currently seem to be not much more than a nuisance. We walked directly under someone arc welding yesterday.

- The smell of pee is everywhere (this is sort of a South American constant, so far).

- Everywhere you go the streets are packed with private cars, delivery trucks, taxis, and converted minivans with people leaning out of the side window hollering out the destinations and price of this particular 'microbus'. We took a couple. It's kind of trippy.

- One of these microbuses, for just cents, will take you about 45 minutes out of the city to crazy eroded landscapes, the Valley of the Moon, where you can hike for about an hour through fabulous badlands, then catch a bus back for pennies more.

- There are mountains all around the city, most of them built well into, like Rio. Most of the streets run upwards from (or down to) a couple of major avenues. This would be fine if not for the altitude, which leaves one huffing and puffing after going anywhere. Some of the mountains are spectacular, snowcapped ones.

- We saw a fabulous Franciscan church, with a very enthusiastic tour guide. We even got to go out on the roof, where John walked a few feet of the ridgepole.

- Our trip in Bolivia keeps getting affected by the Double Copacabana Cycling competition, which seems to go throughout Bolivia. It closed the highway for a while when we were heading for La Paz, and finished up for the day here in downtown Copacabana.

This morning, we went up to the bus station to get a bus here. Only they don't leave from the bus station. We were able to mail a package of souvenirs home, which was nice, and then got another cab to the Cemetery area of La Paz, where the buses actually leave from. We boarded this semi-ramshackle one, because it was sort of a case of which bus operator had the loudest voice and sharpest elbows, and we're sort of useless in the face of that. Other passengers proceeded to demand that the windows all be open, which led to a very cool, very windy four hour ride. (I hate riding in cars with the windows open!) We got to this certain point on the way around the lake (Lake Titicaca is HUGE!) and all the cars, busses, and the like had to load onto these barges to be ferried across to the Copacabana side. It was pretty trippy.

The hotel we hoped to stay in was full (probably with cyclists) but the one next to it is perfectly lovely, for $14 a night, with breakfast. John's incubating a cold, so he had a good nap, even though we'd missed lunch. We wandered out around 5 and had supper as soon as we found a decent place. I had some pretty amazing lake trout. John's supper was less impressive, but it looks like the place is full of great restaurants so we'll do better tomorrow night.

We watched the sun set over the lake, and I'm going to go put John to bed as soon as he's done dealing with his hockey crisis.

To Eden:

Beard pictures come after the Buenos Aires photos, and really, unless we find some decent bandwidth, which I'm starting to doubt at this point, we probably won{t manage them until we're home. And then you can see the real thing.