Happy Halloween from La Paz, Bolivia

Halloween as it turns out is not as big a deal here as in Canada, however, things seem to be changing. I see little plastic pumpkins and witches for sale in the street markets. Tomorrow of course is Todos Santos which traditionally has been a much bigger deal in Bolivia.

Tomorrow the plan is that we will be in Potosi, a very high elevation city. We will depart La Paz tonight on a night bus and will travel 10 hours to get there. In the meantime today we are merely hanging out on the busy streets of La Paz, window shopping, eating and going into the very inexpensive internet cafes!

I am in fact feeling rather glum today as I have just received news that my mother is gravely ill so it becomes a bit more difficult to merely carry on with our travels... my thoughts are very much with my mother and family back in Canada.

Since last I wrote, we travelled to the sacred Isla del Sol Island of the Sun, on Lake Titicaca. It is reputed to be the birthplace of the sun. Times have changed a bit since we were last there about 10 years ago. One now has to pay to hike around the island and go see the ruins. In fact each of the three small towns on the island charges its own fees of entry. It is still lovely though! Miles and miles of hiking accompanied only by the sounds of bird, donkey, sheep and wind. No cars on the island and the people still carry on a very traditional agricultural way of life. We spent 2 nights on the island, one in a hostal where the wind and sound of Lake Titicaca waves rattled through the wide gaps between the planks in the rustic door. The second night there we actually dared camp at 3800 m! It was good to use the tent that we have been lugging around with us hoping to save some accommodation money along the way. A tad chilly and uncomfortable on the rocky ground, but we survived. Our neighbours were a bunch of donkeys who checked us out with much curiousity. Here is a photo of one of the ROADS on Isla del Sol.

Then, onto La Paz, the highest capital city in the world and of course the capital of Bolivia. During our first stay with the family with whom I lived almost 10 years ago, the indigenous people striving to save the TIPNIS Amazon basin jungle park were also in town meeting with President Evo Morales. The only evidence of their presence we saw were the signs and grafitti around town, mostly expressing support for their position.

After several days in La Paz, we decided to risk a trip to Coroico, a small town in the Sud Yungas, the area where the Andes Mountains meet the lowlands jungles. I had never before gone as a trip there required navigating the Death Road, a road that saw a multiple fatality vehicle accident about once per month. It is a single track dirt road through incredibly rugged mountainous terrain with major drop offs. However, since I was last here, a new highway, paved and double lane, has been constructed. That is not to say all the drivers on that road are very safe. I did not take any pictures on the way down to Coroico because I was too busy clutching the back of the seat infront of me in the minibus, for dear life. The driver was, how shall we say.... un choffer loco... averaged 90 to 100 km at least all the way down, tailgated, overtook everything in sight, had almost one head on collision on a blind corner....

but the pay off in Coroico was a veritable paradise. We stayed at Sol y Luna Eco'Lodge, a gorgeous place which we really did not want to leave. We camped there 4 nights and slept to the sound of a chorus of bugs and awoke to the symphony of many tropical birds each morning.

Then back to La Paz with a better driver fortunately ... we have been here since yesterday and will head to Potosi tonight, then further into Bolivia. We are hoping for no road blocks. Road blocks are a very common occurrence in this country we are learning.

It is good here. We are enjoying ourselves and learning much about different ways to live life on Planet Earth.

Happy Halloween.
Happy Todos Santos.

more from Peru and Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

We have now made it across the Bolivian border and have spent the last 3 days in the beautiful little town of Copacabana, just 8 kilometres from the border of Peru and on the shore of Lake Titicaca. At 3800 m, Lake Titicaca is the highest and biggest lake in South America.

But first, back to Peru for a moment. We enjoyed the city of Arequipa. As mentioned in my last entry, in Arequipa we witnessed a very large demonstration of miners working for better rights at the Cerro Verde gold mine near the city. Here is shot ... the police with full riot gear were pretty close when I took this shot so it was just a bit intimidating!

Then, still in Arequipa, we got a chance to meet with a representative of the NGO AENES which is working to promote organic agriculture in the small indigenous communities. I was astounded by the number of seeds they are saving. Here is photo which shows just a very small snapshot of the diversity of food in Peru (and Bolivia).

To get to Bolivia from Arequipa we first took a 6 hour bus trip through the mountains from Arequipa to Puno, Peru. On our way we passed through Juliaca, an impovershed looking town where the major protests against the Canadian gold mining company Bear Creek occurred late last spring. During these protests, 9 protestors were killed and travel through the area became impossible due to road blockades. I am told by people living in the Lake Titicaca area that the plan is to dump some tailings into Lake Titicaca... a sacred and astounding lake (although already suffering some contamination and pollution....) Local communities in Bolivia and Peru are very much opposed to this plan but I am told, it remains an ongoing issue. Hopefully things will resolve in a manner that puts Pachamama (Earth Mother) and Kotamama (Water Mother) first and foremost.

Here is a photo of one of the awesome modes of transportation in Juliaca - these also very much exist in Puno, Peru. These bicycle taxis are called taxi-cholos (hopefully spelled correctly). I would like to see some of these cruising around Canadian cities in the not-too-distant future.

Today we had the opportunity to visit a little indigenous pueblo Sahuiña, in close proximity to Copacabana. Recently a community-based tourism program has started there focused on the environment around Lake Titicaca. We travelled with a local guide by home-made boat to see the giant frogs of Lake Titicaca, the K´aira, which are considered sacred by the indigenous people. These frogs, now endangered due primarily to the environmental issues that threaten the health of Lake Titicaca, are sacred to local Aymaran people who bring the frogs to land for special rain-seeking ceremonies during dry periods.

We have enjoyed some stunning hiking around the Copacabana area. Although we are side-stepping much garbage in Copacabana itself due to lack of garbage removal and recycling programs and facilities, the area is absolutely gorgeous. It is a very relaxing place to be.

Just as well as there is currently a road blockade between here and La Paz, our next planned destination. In addition, the march of the indigenous people striving to protect Amazon basin TIPNIS park from plans to punch through a road from Brazil are set to arrive in La Paz within the next couple of days. We are told these people have the support of many many Bolivian people. They are marching on the government and this march has already received much international media attention so stay tuned...

So... for now, we will be here (at least until the weekend, then we will check the news again). Tomorrow, we plan to go to the sacred island, Isla del Sol (the Birth Place of the Sun) and we also hope to get over to the smaller less-visited Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) which I have yet to visit. It has been 10 years since Steve and I last visited Isla del Sol, a very beautiful place, together.

Travels in (southern) Peru

We have been based out of the beautiful colonial city of Arequipa for the last several days. We are holed up in Colonial House Inn in a great location right by Iglesia San Fransisco (the oldest church in town)... we were told this old house used to house the priests from the church. We like it here and LOVE the balcony where we enjoy our "desayuno incluido" of bread, jam, butter, coffee & freshly squeezed fruit juice every morning while enjoying a panoramic view of the colonial city and nearby Misti Mountain, the sacred volcano which presides over the city.

Here is part of the view from our balcony (evening shot):

I finally found an internet cafe a block from here where I could post some photos... many more but this provides a glimpse of life here.

Arequipa is beautiful & full of an energetic (and sometimes absolutely exhausting!) vitality. A couple of days ago we witnessed a massive strike by workers at the local Cerro Verde gold mine - they are fighting for better labour rights. I did take photos but neglected to post one! The people power was amazing to behold - people have to fight for their rights here and do so; they do not take rights for granted, that is for sure.

As I write it is evening here in Arequipa and the streets are full of life, tiendas & restaurants open & crowds of people wandering around. Latin American towns & cities come to life in the evening. The outskirts of Arequipa are full of a broad range of agriculture & many food products are produced here for local & national use.

On the issue of food self-sustainability & independence, Peru is an absolute marvel.

We did a 2 day tour to some nearby highlands towns & Colca Canyon which has the distinction of being the deepest canyon in the world, and the agriculture continued although our guide told us many farmers are turning away from the ancient Incan legacy of working the fields & growing food in the incredible terraced fields with very sophisticated (and ancient) irrigation channels. Where we travelled for instance, the locals can make more money from selling trinkets to passing tourists. Others choose to relocate to the cities. An increasing amount of land in this part of Peru is becoming dormant and not being worked. Of course we still saw much evidence of the existing aspects of this incredible indigenous culture. People working the soil by hand & with human-powered plough, farmers walking their sheep and donkeys down the dusty road (made worse by the tourist buses blasting by en route to the canyon!) Here is a shot of one of the Quechua women (with you-know-who) we met in Chivay, pop. 7000 & capital of this highlands area. We could not really communicate with her because she only spoke Quechua, not Spanish.

Here is a shot (albeit hazy, maybe with the dust from the roads) of the Colca Canyon with some terraced fields seen in the distance.

The final destination of this tour was Cruz del Condor, an incredible lookout beside the canyon where multiple Andean condors soar. It was an astounding sight and because our zoom lens on the camera was not moving as rapidly as it might, we missed out on capturing the full glory of the spectacle, but here is a shot of a couple of these characters (who have a 3 meter wingspan -- they are the biggest flying birds in the world) hanging out.

Peru is a beautiful, inspiring, busy, complicated & sometimes overwhelming country. I am noticing how my La Paz days in Bolivia are coming back to me as I navigate the streets & cultural nuances... and the elevation we encountered when we went to the highlands (just over 4000 m at the high point) did not seem to be as much of a problem, maybe because of past time spent in La Paz at very high elevation.

We will be heading toward the Bolivian border the day after tomorrow. We have enjoyed Arequipa. Next stop is Puno, Peru on Lake Titicaca, very close to Bolivia.

llegada en Peru!! (we are here!)

Here we are in Lima, Peru. Unfortunately I do not have the technology here to upload the photos I have taken here at our hostel (as I am relying on electronic technology as we go!) so this post will have to make do with this photo from South Beach Miami 2 days ago. . .

Hopefully I will soon find a place where I can connect my camera and post some photos.

It was 35 degrees in Miami and a high-paced WIFI world. I found myself at a profound disadvantage for lacking a laptop or other electronic device with which to get online.... the whole human world (at least in that part of the world) seems to have gone online.

To get to Miami, we travelled by Greyhound bus to Vancouver from Prince George (12 hour bus ride), stayed several days around the coast to visit family & friends, then caught an Amtrak train (great service & very affordable!) to Seattle. From Seattle we flew to Miami via Houston Texas. We took a day to hang out in Miami and enjoyed going to South Beach. We discovered there is excellent transit ($10 US return for 2 of us and that would have afforded us unlimited transit travel through Miami for the whole day). No charge for young (short) children...

The South Beach neighbourhood of Miami is famous for its rich & stylish inhabitants. We spotted one Ferrari & one Lamborghini while there. Some pretty ritzy clothes shops which we did not even dare enter. $4 ice cream cones. The white sand beach is incredible & stretches for miles. Some definite bikini & topless posers.

The majority of people in Miami speak Spanish. Although all the signs are in English, it really does feel like Latin America so it was a good warm-up to these travels further afield...

Caught our flight yesterday from Miami to Lima. As promised, the guy from the hostel was waiting for us with a sign with my name on it. I was happy to see him as navigating which is an actual taxi at the airport can be a bit challenging. My Spanish came in handy right away in communicating with Darwin from Pay Purix Hostel who was very pleasant.

For future travellers to Peru, the taxis within the confines of the airport are registered... the ones you sign up for furthest into secure area are the most expensive. The Peruvians tend to go out the main doors to hail registered taxis. The unregistered taxis (which can sometimes be robbing schemes) tend to linger outside the airport area. Our hostel contact hailed us a taxi which is under contract to this hostel and they claim, charges less than other taxis. The ride here was a bit wild with the aggressive darting in and out of traffic, but hey, that is travel in this part of the world!

We very much enjoyed the breakfast here this morning.... fresh baking, scrambled eggs, fresh buns & butter all served on actual china dishes... a great change from the throw-away plastic & styrofoam we had to endure in Miami. Wow!

We are hanging out at the very friendly & comfortable hostel until this afternoon when we will take a 45 minute taxi ride to the Cruz del Sur bus depot to catch a 15 hour (!) deluxe bus to the colonial volcano-surrounded city of Arequipa in southern Peru. We haven´t yet seen much of Peru... but...

I am very happy to be back in South America. . . !