From Sucre to La Paz, we took what was apparently the nicest bus that Bolivia probably has to offer. Sadly, the first 1.5 hours was probably the most painful bus ride I've ever taken. Thanks to the wonderful sea sickness pills that my parents had given me, I passed out for the next 10 hours! We woke up to a lovely view of La Paz, which is the highest capital in the world. It makes for a picturesque site since the city is built in a valley with homes all round the surrounding mountains and cliffs. We haven't really gotten use to the altitude...we were hoping that 3 weeks in over 3500m would do it, but it's still hard to make it up a flight of steps without puffing and wheezing!
Bolivia's history - I went on a really informative city tour around La Paz. No wonder there is so much poverty here. They have had over 200 military coups in the last 155 years. They even had a president that only lasted for 6 hours. At one point in the last 20 years, inflation would rise nearly 500% every month. There is so many things to enjoy about Bolivia. There is much more culture here and you see indigenous people everywhere dressed in traditional garb. Aside from Catholicism, the Spanish influence is not as evident. There is an interesting balance between religion and superstition and the mixture of different beliefs intertwined. When you visit Witches' Market, the tourist shopping area - you can find mummified baby llamas in every stage. The very small/fetus size ones are for offerings to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and the slightly bigger ones are buried under a construction site before they build a house for luck, safety and prosperity. Unfortunately, the hardship of the locals are also seen in everyday life. The wrinkles that line the faces of people are evidence of the lack of opportunities that exist. I never thought I would be heartbroken about how the crackdown on cocaine could make a whole country suffer even more. Because of the limits of coca leave production, Bolivia loses over $500 million dollars every year. In a country where you can easily survive in relative luxury at $10 a day, the impact on the locals is staggering.
We've met many people who have absolutely loved the insanity of Bolivia. And truly, there is a never endless amount of adventure that occurs here. Everything is a challenge here - breathing, getting a bus, crossing the street, arriving anywhere. The only thing that seems easy is getting sick. Every traveler we've met is sporting a cough of some sort, either because of the freezing weather or some sort of food poisoning. Interesting enough, I've had one of the best meals of my life here! It was Mixto Shawarma (chicken, shish kebab, beef, tabouleh, eggplant) and the most delicious chocolate cake (with layers of dulce de leche and almonds in between). I know, I had to talk about it since it was fantastic. Of course when I tried to go for a repeat the next day, the place was closed down (with a sign that didn't explain whether it was the sketchy kitchen or the illicit activities that I'm sure goes on there...)
Death Road - Known as the "Most Dangerous Road in the World", it's famous for tourists biking (and unfortunately dying). Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've already done it and survived!! Oh my gosh, this was one of the best and most exhilarating things I've ever done. Yuko skipped it cause there was no way she was going to go down from 4700m into 65km of downhill goodness. The trip starts with a drive from La Paz for an hour until you are high up in the Bolivian Andes. I wasn't expecting to see snow and ice everywhere. But all of a sudden we stopped a lagoon, where the guide proceeded to give us a full face helmet, hardcore pants and vest, knee and elbow pads and one of the best full suspension bikes I've ever tried (and trust me, it was worth paying extra). You start at a freezing icy highway, where you zoom past trucks and cars at some crazy speed. The views are spectacular of the mountains and valley. You feel the cold brisk air invigorate you as you bike through clouds at a breezy 80km/hr. There's plenty of stops along the way to admire the views. One of the guys in my tour bailed within the first 10 minutes. Thankfully, he is alive and well, it served as a great reminder to the rest of us to be extremely careful. Trust me, between all the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I was holding on to the brakes for dear life for the whole 4 hours! You continue to a gravely road, which is technically the start of Death Road. It's insane and it's clearly not for the weak of heart with extreme drop-offs, no guardrails and its muddy road with loose rocks. It's width is the size of a one lane road with 150m cliffs on one side and the mountain on the other. It's exhilarating and you feel so alive biking through mini waterfalls. You see amazing views of varied topography, from hawk-like birds flying over you until you end up in a really hot subtropical area. The whole experience was simply amazing...
After La Paz, we decided it was a shame not to do anything Amazonian in South America. So we took a 3 day tour of The Pampas and we're soooo happy that we did because the Amazon Basin was fantastic! After a quick panic in the airport where we thought we missed our plane, we ended up making friends with our Dutch boy and took a small 20 seater with twin propellers to Rurrenabaque. The next day our tour began and luckily we had the best group and guide ever! Although the Brits had a weird and hilarious obsession with llamas - hence our group name "Sexy Llama Bitches". It started with a 3 hour jeep journey, where we caught a glimpse of some of the wildlife we were going to see. Hard to believe it was going to get even better after seeing all those birds and these gigantic guinea pig looking mammals (whose name I can not remember for the life of me). After, you're treated to a 2 hour ride on a motorized canoe that takes you down a winding river. It was exciting seeing caymans (kinda like an ugly crocodile/alligator) and turtles and so many different types of birds (only ones I can name - the herons and storks). I didn't know that turtles where so affectionate. They look like they are perpetually spooning sitting on logs on top of each other like they're doing a conga line.
Our "ecolodge" was basically wooden cabins with beds and mosquito nets. It as very rustic and kinda cool with all the hammocks you can laze about in. The next day we went searching for Anaconda in the muddy marsh. Let's just say that I now have a sock that will perpetually be brown cause my boots had holes in it. Thankfully, we saw one on dry land - did you know that a 3 foot anaconda is like 50-60kg?! We all felt really thin ;) After the trek, we went down the river, saw a toucan and a sloth and went fishing for piranhas. Although Yuko didn't catch one she was a trooper for trying since you have use meat as bait. As for me you ask, I caught the first one! We had it for dinner later on that night. Tastes like fish ;) ...and it's not that meaty but there's something satisfying about eating a meal you caught. On our last day we swam with the dolphins, caymans and piranhas...apparently the dolphins keep you safe by warding away the carnivorous animals, call me a skeptic but I wasn't sure how I felt about that specially since they were all in the water that day. So, I jumped out of the boat and got Yuko to take a picture...I lived to tell the tale!
Isla Del Sol - Our next adventure took us to Copacabana in Lake Titicaca. At over 3800 m and over 160 sq km, it is the highest navigable lake in the world. According to Incan mythology, this is the place where the world was created. The god, Viracocha, came out of the lake and created the sun, the stars and the first people. We took a boat out on its turquoise waters and took some lovely pictures of the views. The ruins were disappointing (what bloody ruins? It's just a rock seriously) but the 3 hour hike was beautiful. It was majestic feeling the hot sun bear down on you and watch the rays sparkle on the water. The next day, Ben had the great idea of taking a rowboat, having a picnic and a swim. That was one of the most relaxing and funniest experiences ever...let's just say that the water was freeeeezing!
We've headed into Peru already...I know these updates are getting long but it's really hard not to try and share the cool adventures we've been having. I think it'll get even better!
Bolivia's history - I went on a really informative city tour around La Paz. No wonder there is so much poverty here. They have had over 200 military coups in the last 155 years. They even had a president that only lasted for 6 hours. At one point in the last 20 years, inflation would rise nearly 500% every month. There is so many things to enjoy about Bolivia. There is much more culture here and you see indigenous people everywhere dressed in traditional garb. Aside from Catholicism, the Spanish influence is not as evident. There is an interesting balance between religion and superstition and the mixture of different beliefs intertwined. When you visit Witches' Market, the tourist shopping area - you can find mummified baby llamas in every stage. The very small/fetus size ones are for offerings to Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and the slightly bigger ones are buried under a construction site before they build a house for luck, safety and prosperity. Unfortunately, the hardship of the locals are also seen in everyday life. The wrinkles that line the faces of people are evidence of the lack of opportunities that exist. I never thought I would be heartbroken about how the crackdown on cocaine could make a whole country suffer even more. Because of the limits of coca leave production, Bolivia loses over $500 million dollars every year. In a country where you can easily survive in relative luxury at $10 a day, the impact on the locals is staggering.
We've met many people who have absolutely loved the insanity of Bolivia. And truly, there is a never endless amount of adventure that occurs here. Everything is a challenge here - breathing, getting a bus, crossing the street, arriving anywhere. The only thing that seems easy is getting sick. Every traveler we've met is sporting a cough of some sort, either because of the freezing weather or some sort of food poisoning. Interesting enough, I've had one of the best meals of my life here! It was Mixto Shawarma (chicken, shish kebab, beef, tabouleh, eggplant) and the most delicious chocolate cake (with layers of dulce de leche and almonds in between). I know, I had to talk about it since it was fantastic. Of course when I tried to go for a repeat the next day, the place was closed down (with a sign that didn't explain whether it was the sketchy kitchen or the illicit activities that I'm sure goes on there...)
Death Road - Known as the "Most Dangerous Road in the World", it's famous for tourists biking (and unfortunately dying). Don't worry Mom and Dad, I've already done it and survived!! Oh my gosh, this was one of the best and most exhilarating things I've ever done. Yuko skipped it cause there was no way she was going to go down from 4700m into 65km of downhill goodness. The trip starts with a drive from La Paz for an hour until you are high up in the Bolivian Andes. I wasn't expecting to see snow and ice everywhere. But all of a sudden we stopped a lagoon, where the guide proceeded to give us a full face helmet, hardcore pants and vest, knee and elbow pads and one of the best full suspension bikes I've ever tried (and trust me, it was worth paying extra). You start at a freezing icy highway, where you zoom past trucks and cars at some crazy speed. The views are spectacular of the mountains and valley. You feel the cold brisk air invigorate you as you bike through clouds at a breezy 80km/hr. There's plenty of stops along the way to admire the views. One of the guys in my tour bailed within the first 10 minutes. Thankfully, he is alive and well, it served as a great reminder to the rest of us to be extremely careful. Trust me, between all the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I was holding on to the brakes for dear life for the whole 4 hours! You continue to a gravely road, which is technically the start of Death Road. It's insane and it's clearly not for the weak of heart with extreme drop-offs, no guardrails and its muddy road with loose rocks. It's width is the size of a one lane road with 150m cliffs on one side and the mountain on the other. It's exhilarating and you feel so alive biking through mini waterfalls. You see amazing views of varied topography, from hawk-like birds flying over you until you end up in a really hot subtropical area. The whole experience was simply amazing...
After La Paz, we decided it was a shame not to do anything Amazonian in South America. So we took a 3 day tour of The Pampas and we're soooo happy that we did because the Amazon Basin was fantastic! After a quick panic in the airport where we thought we missed our plane, we ended up making friends with our Dutch boy and took a small 20 seater with twin propellers to Rurrenabaque. The next day our tour began and luckily we had the best group and guide ever! Although the Brits had a weird and hilarious obsession with llamas - hence our group name "Sexy Llama Bitches". It started with a 3 hour jeep journey, where we caught a glimpse of some of the wildlife we were going to see. Hard to believe it was going to get even better after seeing all those birds and these gigantic guinea pig looking mammals (whose name I can not remember for the life of me). After, you're treated to a 2 hour ride on a motorized canoe that takes you down a winding river. It was exciting seeing caymans (kinda like an ugly crocodile/alligator) and turtles and so many different types of birds (only ones I can name - the herons and storks). I didn't know that turtles where so affectionate. They look like they are perpetually spooning sitting on logs on top of each other like they're doing a conga line.
Our "ecolodge" was basically wooden cabins with beds and mosquito nets. It as very rustic and kinda cool with all the hammocks you can laze about in. The next day we went searching for Anaconda in the muddy marsh. Let's just say that I now have a sock that will perpetually be brown cause my boots had holes in it. Thankfully, we saw one on dry land - did you know that a 3 foot anaconda is like 50-60kg?! We all felt really thin ;) After the trek, we went down the river, saw a toucan and a sloth and went fishing for piranhas. Although Yuko didn't catch one she was a trooper for trying since you have use meat as bait. As for me you ask, I caught the first one! We had it for dinner later on that night. Tastes like fish ;) ...and it's not that meaty but there's something satisfying about eating a meal you caught. On our last day we swam with the dolphins, caymans and piranhas...apparently the dolphins keep you safe by warding away the carnivorous animals, call me a skeptic but I wasn't sure how I felt about that specially since they were all in the water that day. So, I jumped out of the boat and got Yuko to take a picture...I lived to tell the tale!
Isla Del Sol - Our next adventure took us to Copacabana in Lake Titicaca. At over 3800 m and over 160 sq km, it is the highest navigable lake in the world. According to Incan mythology, this is the place where the world was created. The god, Viracocha, came out of the lake and created the sun, the stars and the first people. We took a boat out on its turquoise waters and took some lovely pictures of the views. The ruins were disappointing (what bloody ruins? It's just a rock seriously) but the 3 hour hike was beautiful. It was majestic feeling the hot sun bear down on you and watch the rays sparkle on the water. The next day, Ben had the great idea of taking a rowboat, having a picnic and a swim. That was one of the most relaxing and funniest experiences ever...let's just say that the water was freeeeezing!
We've headed into Peru already...I know these updates are getting long but it's really hard not to try and share the cool adventures we've been having. I think it'll get even better!
Row row row your boat...
Isla del Sol - Birthplace of the Sun
I'm a piranha fishing pro!
Best Tour Ever! The Pampas Rocks!
A cayman right before he lunged for the water!
La Paz by night at the Mirador (viewpoint)
The Witches' Market. Llama fetus anyone?
My hardcore mountain biker chic look.
The cliffs we biked on Death Road!
Ouah, continuez a me faire vivre votre voyage !
ReplyDeletec'est super sympa de vous suivre au travers de vos aventures (même si lire l'anglais est un peu fastidieux (=difficile))
Bisous les filles !
Profitez bien du reste de votre voyage !
Xavier (from jericoacoara :D )