Our last day in Bolivia was quite an adventure, we were staying the town of Copacabana, about 10k from the Peruvian border on an isthmus. This town is ringed by large hills and sits right on the shores of the truly massive Lake Titicaca. We had arrived at sunset the night before and today was our day to explore.
We embarked on a hike across numerous valleys, that took us by fishing villages, through forest and along the almost Med-like shores. We even got to hike a bit on a pre-colombian road that snaked through a valley and down into a forest, it was stunning to think of the centuries that have passed since the trail was built, and all the modern inventions that have come since. But, still the Quechua woman with her ubiquitous sack was using it to get home for the day, as you can see in the pic above. Along the hike, everyone was so nice, always wanting to talk to us in Spanish and with big smiles to see gringos walking along the road, just like them. We found out later that our activity for the day was kind of rare, and that most tourist zip along in cars and take boats out to the nearby islands. All told, we covered over 20 miles, and my legs have been feeling the effects the day after.
For us, this hike was a microcosm of our time in Bolivia, as pretty much everyone we encountered was so nice, from the mining town of Potosi that I wrote about a week ago, to the old capital of Sucre, up to La Paz and then finally Copacabana. We saw a fair bit of the massive country in our too-short week and greatly enjoyed our time.
Although it was kind of cold. You see, the parts of Bolivia we visited are all at some pretty impressive elevations, over 10,000 feet or so at a minimum. While the sun is powerful at that elevation once it goes down for the night, man does the cold come in. Plus, it is very dry, and hence the cold really takes it out of you. We had realization that dry climates have that affect, and the opposite of a damp climate at low temps will also do a number on the soul. Weird.
It is nice to see our Spanish improving to the point where we are quite comfy conversing about this and that with nearly everyone. We are far from perfect, but the main goal in this conversations is connection and that is something we are getting often on a daily basis.
La Paz
We had a surgical strike on La Paz, but happened to plan our visit for Sunday, when the main boulevard in the centro is shut down and a huge street fair commences. There are open air art exhibits, people selling crafts, a bunch of stages with music, lots of food and thousands of people. So cool to see this public gathering, for instance the smiles on the face of kids while they are running around in the crowd and the parents nearby enjoying their kid's delight. Or the purposefulness, precision and unity on display as a large group practicing a choreographed traditional Bolivian dance, we think it was the Caporales, in a public park near the street fair. Everywhere we went in La Paz, people were out, and pursuing their passions.
We also visited the national contemporary art museum, and even bought a piece off the gallery. The piece is a mixed media piece with half coca leaves stitched together and then painted to show an Incan warrior, with the other half a traditionally weaving. Pretty cool, we hope it shows up back in the States so we can enjoy it wherever our next home may be.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment