Around-the-World with Drew & Erin: Bolivia

Join The Blogging Post as we head around-the-world with our friends Drew & Erin. They’ll be sending us regular dispatches and updates from around, across, and all over the globe. This is their second post from Bolivia…

Bumpy Bolivia

When Erin and I boarded the overnight, eighteen-hour bus ride from Tarija to La Paz, we were not sure what to expect. Our day of arrival into Bolivia had been a rough one with a long half-day at the hot, dusty border outpost of Bermejo, waiting several hours for a visa at the immigration office and several hours more for a windy bus ride north to Tarija. But once in Tarija, we had a very comfortable and relaxing week-long stay in the home of Perales family. We were not sure what to expect next – tough or easy. It turned out to be a bit of both.

The bus ride itself could accurately be described as a nightmare without too much exaggeration. From Tarija, the bus quickly gained altitude on its climb to the Altiplano, following an unpaved dirt and gravel road that wound steeply up countless switchbacks. The path to La Paz would be long, windy, and often unpaved for hours at a time. As darkness settled and the cold of the night set in, the ride became a rough one. The temperature in the unheated bus continued to plummet to freezing levels. In addition, the infant in the lap of the young indigenous mother in the seat directly behind mine started to cry and proceed to do so throughout the night at five- and ten-minute intervals, without exception. The freezing cold and the cries of the infant behind us did not relent for the rest of the night. Accordingly, Erin and I arrived in La Paz the next day without a wink of sleep and a little worse for the wear. Tough travel.

Once in La Paz, we were struck by the uniqueness of the city. It is unlike any I have ever seen. La Paz sits at an altitude of nearly 12,000 feet and is located on the eastern edge of the Altiplano in a basin that drops steeply away to the east in a semi-circular bowl shape. Striking mountains over 20,000 feet in height, most notably the peak of Illimani, provide a dramatic and scenic backdrop to the city. The adjacent suburb of El Alto on the edge of the Altiplano is the poorest part of the La Paz metro area. It is a hive of activity of indigenous people in colorful traditional clothing going about their daily business buying, selling, and trading goods.

The highway then leads down a long, steep hill into other parts of the city. Our eyes were opened at the thousands of ramshackle brick homes that have been built on the steep slopes that encircle the city. Our eyes also confirmed what we had read about the demographics of the city – that the further down in the city we went, the more prosperous the neighborhoods were. The lower areas of the city enjoy the advantages of a lower altitude and the more moderate temperatures that result. There was also a noticeable ethnic difference with more white and mestizo people living in the lower areas and more indigenous folks up high. We would be staying somewhere in the middle.

Like in Tarija, we had the good fortune of having some newfound friends of friends in La Paz with whom we could stay. Claudine and Wes are a couple of archaeology students from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, that are doing research at a nearby site and have an apartment in the city. Claudine is a friend and classmate of our friend Casey with whom we stayed in Malaysia earlier in the year, and she generously offered us a place to stay. After a long bus ride, Claudine and Wes’ modern 16th floor apartment and warm welcome were heaven sent. Their apartment is in a pleasant modern section in the middle of the city that features good restaurants, green parks, and even wireless internet. Back to easy travel it seemed.

Claudine and Wes proved to be wonderful hosts, interesting people, and excellent tour guides. They showed us some great restaurants where we could indulge ourselves with both native and western food – including blueberry pancakes! – for amazingly cheap prices. They also showed us around to the main plazas, museums, and markets of La Paz. By far the most colorful places were the markets. We walked up and down the steep streets of the city, checking out hundreds of stalls and storefronts where indigenous people, mostly ladies, were selling an amazing assortment of locally produced goods. A few of the more notable wares were alpaca hats, gloves, sweaters, and scarves; leather purses, belts, and books; and silver jewelry. There were more unusual items for sale as well, such as dried llama fetuses that are used in native religious ceremonies as sacrifices to the earth-mother deity Pachamama. We also spotted cacti for sale that produce hallucinations when eaten and whose use is tied to ancient practices in the area.

Perhaps the guiding that Wes and Claudine were best qualified for was as archaeology interpreters on our trip to visit their worksite, the ancient ruins of Tiahuanacu. Tiahuanacu is an extensive archaeology site that is an hour and a half drive from La Paz, between the city and Lake Titicaca. The ancient civilization of Tiahuanacu flourished for several hundred years in the first century A.D. and was one of many extensive, well-developed South American societies that preceded the more widely known Incan empire. The archaeological site today consists of the excavated ruins of a number of intriguing stone structures – temples and pyramids and sunken courtyards – that feature monolithic statues of giant humans and intricately-carved doors and walls with human heads and animal figures.

Today the ancient ruins sit side-by-side with the present-day town of Tiahuanacu, and it is a fascinating place to visit. Through the generosity of Claudine and Wes, we had a very enjoyable and unique experience. They allowed us to stay with them and the other archaeology students on the excavation project they were about to begin. We also enjoyed the home-cooking of the two indigenous ladies that they have hired to cook for their group during their project. We had a chance to stroll through the small, historic, and humble town and visit the lively market on Sunday morning. And best of all, they personally guided us through the ruins, interpreted the sites, and shared the theories about potential meanings and symbolism of the ancient constructions. One of the most memorable aspects of the visit was the fact that there were shards of ancient pottery and bones scattered on the ground throughout the ruins and the town. It was clear and tangible evidence that this place has been lived in by humans for thousands of years as various civilizations have risen and fallen – the Tiahuanacu people, the Incas, the Spanish, and now the turbulent Republic of Bolivia. I felt privileged to be visiting this place at this moment in time.

After our visit to Tiahuanacu, Erin and I headed back to La Paz for a final stay in our friends’ apartment before shipping off again. We each endured a bout of stomach illness during our stay in La Paz. Our time in La Paz turned out to be a dose of both easy and tough travel – consistent with our broader stay in Bolivia. Once rested and recovered, we took a jam-packed minibus for Copacabana, a picturesque city on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Lake Titicaca is a huge, high-altitude lake on the border of Bolivia and Peru. The lake sits at 12,000 feet, covers over 3,000 square miles with its deep-blue waters, and is sacred to many of the indigenous people of the region. The Isla del Sol, which is one of the islands on the lake, was the birthplace of humanity according to one of the Incan creation myths. Erin and I took a boat ride to the Isla del Sol on a day trip and hiked from one end to the other in a day. It’s a small, idyllic island reminiscent of the Mediterranean and features Incan and pre-Incan ruins. What I loved most, however, was simply the opportunity to get out and hike in a peaceful place with impressive views of the deep blue lake on all sides and the massive Cordillera Real to the west. But our otherwise pleasant stay in Copacabana and Lake Titicaca was tainted a bit when I came down with a second strong bout of stomach problems in less than a week.

In reflection, my memories of Bolivia will be a stark mix of good and bad travel. It is a country of colorful landscapes and even more colorful people, and Erin and I had amazing experiences in Tarija, La Paz, Tiahuanacu, and Lake Titicaca. But the difficult times at the borders, on the buses, and on the sickbed made it a trying and fatiguing place to travel. I was looking forward to the next frontier of Cusco, Peru, where we had plans to settle down for a few weeks and take some Spanish classes. Peru would be our final frontier, and I hoped to relax and recuperate in Cusco in order to be able to maximize our last month and a half on the road.

PHOTOS

Photo #1 – La Paz and Illimani
Photo #2 – Colorful Markets of La Paz
Photo #3 – Wes and Claudine in the Sunken Courtyard
Photo #4 – Colorful Locals
Photo #5 – Monolith at Tiahuanacu
Photo #6 – Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, and the Cordillera Real