We're now in Potosi, the highest city of its size in the world. It's sole purpose since colonial times was the mines of Potosi, which underwrote the spanish economy for centuries with tons of silver extracted under brutal, dangerous and midieval conditions. Nowadays the mines are run by a cooperative between miners who pay a small tax but get to mine with whomever and wherever they like and keep all their findings. Yesterday we took a tour of the mines, and wow, we both couldn't believe that people worked in these mines! Crawling on all fours, so hot, dusty, and the altitude (at almost 14,000 feet) made it quite difficult for our 2 hour tour of the mine. Then we found out that some miners work there 12 hours or more a day without eating anything besides chewing coca leaves! As part of the tour we brought them gifts that we were able to buy in town. That was the last time I think I'll be able to buy a stick of dynamite and fuse for less than 3 bucks. Besides dynamite, we bought them a gift they seemed to love more than anything else, and that was a bottle of 98% (196 proof) alcohol. I also got to taste a thimble ful of this and I was glad to learn that they at least mix it with juice or Coke before drinking it. We talked to the miners for awhile deep in the mines for like 20 minutes. They particularly liked two sisters who were in our group and made a lot of jokes about them in typical miner humor. It was overall a very crazy experience. I have a new respect for miners and what conditions they work in. Eric S, you are a brave man. I hope you didn't work in coditions like that though!
We took Suzanne's little camera (didn't want to destroy my nice one with all the dust), but haven't uploaded pictures yet. Hopefully we'll find a place with wifi soon.
Next plans are to go to Uyuni Bolivia, and take a tour of the vast salt flats there as well as see some multi-colored lagoons, flamingos etc as long as the rumored farmer strikes don't block our road!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Bolivia!
It seems like we've been very lazy lately. We don't seem to have the motivation to do much blogging or filtering of our pictures. I'm not sure why. Perhaps now that we've passed the 3 month mark it's not as exciting. It may be the closest thing that we do that resembles work and that's why we avoid it! How funny is that? Or perhaps its because it really is hard to go through all the hundreds of pictures that we take and only select the ones that are good enough to post and tell you all about. We really should try to do better but oh well. Here's the latest on the Macaulay's adventure!
Arequipa
We wrapped up our time in Arequipa with Easter Sunday and a trip to Colca Canyon. Easter was very nice, we got a couple of chocolate eggs from the tourist street vendors and some wonderfully-smelling Easter Lillies for our room to make it a little festive in our hotel and went to mass in the Cathedral. It was a great wrap-up to Holy week. The next day we hopped on a tour of the Colca Canyon which is almost the deepest in the world (There's one nearby that's slightly deeper). We took a three day tour, which involved hiking all the way down the canyon and staying in a village on the opposite side. The trail we took is the only way to reach these villages, who live on agriculture fed by the waters of the mountains above. The canyon itself was very deep (over 13,600 feet in its deepest part) and we descended all the way down (we weren't in the deepest part though) to the river and halfway up the next side that first day. The place we stayed on the opposite side had a wonderful family who fed us a delicious meal and breakfast the next day. Our group was only four people, us two, the guide (Hornorio) and Peruvian tourist Pablo. We had a great time together and spent the entire three days speaking spanish! We felt more confident than ever in our language skills after that. The next day we hiked back down to an “Oasis” which was full of palm trees and swimming pools fed by a spring gushing out of the canyon wall. After a relaxing swim and nap in the hammocks, we started up the canyon to reach our hotel back on the top. This was a very demanding 3 hour hike straight up the canyon with absolutely no flat parts. Suzanne was sorely tempted by a passing donkey train by the driver's calls for “Taxi?” but she resisted the urge to use her “Suzanne dollars”. Then we hopped on a bus back to Arequipa, with a quick stop at some hot springs to soak our sore legs and another stop at the highest point in the area (4910m or 16,200 feet!). It's crazy thinking that in Colorado the highest peaks are only 14,000 feet and here we were at 16,200! Little did we know that that was only the beginning!
Slideshow:
Puno and entering Bolivia
After returning from Colca Canyon, we hopped on a bus to Puno to get over to Bolivia. We spent a couple of days in Puno, which is the main city on Lake Titicaca, taking a tour of the islands on the Peruvian side of the lake.
Mostly Puno was our staging point to enter Bolivia. No longer can Americans just enter Bolivia. Since the election of Evo Morales, the countries first indigenous and highly popular socialist president, relations between the US and Bolivia have been a bit strained. Bolivia instituted a a system of “reciprocity” with the US. What this means is that since the US started charging $130 US Dollars for anyone who wanted to apply for a visa, Bolivia now charges the same amount to all US Citizens who would like to enter their country. Bolivia is not the only country to do this (Argentina did it to us when we flew in to Buenos Aires) but they are the worst about it. I believe their aim is to demonstrate how humiliating it is to have to spend such a large amount of money just to apply for a visa, and I believe it works. The immigration officials were extremely picky about all our details and wouldn't accept US bills with slightly worn edges or color markings. They also required ridiculous amounts of photocopies of our passports and visa pictures as well as our yellow fever vaccination certificates. Meanwhile while we're running back and forth to get our photocopies every other tourist from every other country flew by without a hassle. It was very frustrating. While I'm sure it makes the political point very effectively (at least to those who travel here) I think its very bad for their tourism industry. How many Americans would love to hop over to super cheap Bolivia (delicious dinners with alcohol only 10 bucks) after visiting super expensive Macchu Pichu but don't want to deal with the hassle we did? Who knows if I'm right but I can be certain it isn't helping. And from what we've seen of Bolivia, tourism should be something that they're promoting.
Slideshow:
Copacabana
I was excited about visiting Copacabana, the nicest city on Lake Titicaca from Bolivia's side mostly because of the song by Sinatra (or one of those guys) about how fun it was. Then Suzanne ruined my day by telling me that beach was in Brazil. Thanks Suzanne. But it turned out to be a nice place to stay once we got out of a terrible hotel experience. The town is beautifully situated on the lake and has a nice beach and port. It's also the jumping off point for visiting the Isla del Sol or Island of the Sun, the legendary birthplace of the Incan civilization. We did the tour of Isla del Sol, which was nice but not the best tour we've done, mostly because since the Spanish stripped all the gold off the rock of the Puma (the most sacred spot for the Incas). The Rock of the Puma is actually where the name Titicaca comes from. “Titi” means “Puma” and “Carca” means “Rock” but the Spanish messed up the name and called it “Caca”. So anyway, all the island was left to the imagination, since the island itself is kind of unremarkable, but in the end we were glad we did it.
Slideshow:
La Paz
We like La Paz! The semi-capital city (well, the legislative and executive branches) is amazingly built all over the inside of a canyon. There's a main avenue that goes down the center and on both sides the roads go up the sides of the canyon. It's the highest capital city in the world at 11,942 feet and you're constantly trying to catch your breath. We're staying in a nice hotel with great views of the city and mountain rising in the distance. Here we took another week to relax and get used to this new country. At first we were quite scared. Our guide books told us about many scams, corrupt police, pickpockets and the like. We've consequently upped up our precautions but luckily we haven't run into any problems yet. I think as long as you are careful, and don't make yourselves a target, you'll be fine. On Sunday we went to a soccer game in the highest stadium and had a lot of fun. One of the players reminded us of Dave Rosembaum. He was one of the smaller players on the team but one of the best, scoring 2 of the 3 goals of the winning team. Then on Monday we went on a tour of the biggest archeological sites in Bolivia (Tiahuanaco) which was a pre-Incan civilization that lasted for 1500 years before dying out. (My favorite theory is that they liked to deform the heads of their children by placing molds over their heads to mold their soft skulls into shapes they considered more beautiful. Consequently the upper class got more and more mentally ill that they couldn't handle the task of ruling their empire.) Tomorrow we're going to head to the Valley of the Moon and climb a 17er (take that Coloradans!).
Slideshow:
Other updates:
We've decided that we're going to take a vacation from our vacation and head back to the states for the month of July! Our main reasons are to go to the weddings of two very good friends of ours and therefore all the friends of ours who will go to their weddings. The other reason is the chance to be in the summer music video of the coolest cats in Bellingham, WA.
My brother and dad will be visiting us in June for the trip to Macchu Pichu! My mom will be coming to join us for a trip of northern Peru archeological sites at the end of July! If anyone else would like to join us for these fun shorter trips, please let us know!
~Mike
Arequipa
 |
| From Colca Canyon |
Slideshow:
Puno and entering Bolivia
After returning from Colca Canyon, we hopped on a bus to Puno to get over to Bolivia. We spent a couple of days in Puno, which is the main city on Lake Titicaca, taking a tour of the islands on the Peruvian side of the lake.
 |
| From Puno |
Mostly Puno was our staging point to enter Bolivia. No longer can Americans just enter Bolivia. Since the election of Evo Morales, the countries first indigenous and highly popular socialist president, relations between the US and Bolivia have been a bit strained. Bolivia instituted a a system of “reciprocity” with the US. What this means is that since the US started charging $130 US Dollars for anyone who wanted to apply for a visa, Bolivia now charges the same amount to all US Citizens who would like to enter their country. Bolivia is not the only country to do this (Argentina did it to us when we flew in to Buenos Aires) but they are the worst about it. I believe their aim is to demonstrate how humiliating it is to have to spend such a large amount of money just to apply for a visa, and I believe it works. The immigration officials were extremely picky about all our details and wouldn't accept US bills with slightly worn edges or color markings. They also required ridiculous amounts of photocopies of our passports and visa pictures as well as our yellow fever vaccination certificates. Meanwhile while we're running back and forth to get our photocopies every other tourist from every other country flew by without a hassle. It was very frustrating. While I'm sure it makes the political point very effectively (at least to those who travel here) I think its very bad for their tourism industry. How many Americans would love to hop over to super cheap Bolivia (delicious dinners with alcohol only 10 bucks) after visiting super expensive Macchu Pichu but don't want to deal with the hassle we did? Who knows if I'm right but I can be certain it isn't helping. And from what we've seen of Bolivia, tourism should be something that they're promoting.
Slideshow:
Copacabana
I was excited about visiting Copacabana, the nicest city on Lake Titicaca from Bolivia's side mostly because of the song by Sinatra (or one of those guys) about how fun it was. Then Suzanne ruined my day by telling me that beach was in Brazil. Thanks Suzanne. But it turned out to be a nice place to stay once we got out of a terrible hotel experience. The town is beautifully situated on the lake and has a nice beach and port. It's also the jumping off point for visiting the Isla del Sol or Island of the Sun, the legendary birthplace of the Incan civilization. We did the tour of Isla del Sol, which was nice but not the best tour we've done, mostly because since the Spanish stripped all the gold off the rock of the Puma (the most sacred spot for the Incas). The Rock of the Puma is actually where the name Titicaca comes from. “Titi” means “Puma” and “Carca” means “Rock” but the Spanish messed up the name and called it “Caca”. So anyway, all the island was left to the imagination, since the island itself is kind of unremarkable, but in the end we were glad we did it.
Slideshow:
La Paz
We like La Paz! The semi-capital city (well, the legislative and executive branches) is amazingly built all over the inside of a canyon. There's a main avenue that goes down the center and on both sides the roads go up the sides of the canyon. It's the highest capital city in the world at 11,942 feet and you're constantly trying to catch your breath. We're staying in a nice hotel with great views of the city and mountain rising in the distance. Here we took another week to relax and get used to this new country. At first we were quite scared. Our guide books told us about many scams, corrupt police, pickpockets and the like. We've consequently upped up our precautions but luckily we haven't run into any problems yet. I think as long as you are careful, and don't make yourselves a target, you'll be fine. On Sunday we went to a soccer game in the highest stadium and had a lot of fun. One of the players reminded us of Dave Rosembaum. He was one of the smaller players on the team but one of the best, scoring 2 of the 3 goals of the winning team. Then on Monday we went on a tour of the biggest archeological sites in Bolivia (Tiahuanaco) which was a pre-Incan civilization that lasted for 1500 years before dying out. (My favorite theory is that they liked to deform the heads of their children by placing molds over their heads to mold their soft skulls into shapes they considered more beautiful. Consequently the upper class got more and more mentally ill that they couldn't handle the task of ruling their empire.) Tomorrow we're going to head to the Valley of the Moon and climb a 17er (take that Coloradans!).
Slideshow:
Other updates:
We've decided that we're going to take a vacation from our vacation and head back to the states for the month of July! Our main reasons are to go to the weddings of two very good friends of ours and therefore all the friends of ours who will go to their weddings. The other reason is the chance to be in the summer music video of the coolest cats in Bellingham, WA.
My brother and dad will be visiting us in June for the trip to Macchu Pichu! My mom will be coming to join us for a trip of northern Peru archeological sites at the end of July! If anyone else would like to join us for these fun shorter trips, please let us know!
~Mike
Friday, April 2, 2010
La Serena and the bus trip up to Arequipa
Since we were in a hurry to get to Arequipa we only spent one night in La Serena but we made the most of it. On top of our list was the observatory that is located in the hills east of the city. It's built especially for tourists but in a way I was glad for it. The tour was excellent and the guides had these awesome green laser pointers that they would use to point out constellations to us. It was hard to tell myself to look at the constellation being pointed at and not longingly at the laser pointer. But in the end it was great to find out how to find south in the southern hemisphere (no northern star here). First you find the southern cross, then take the long end and count 4.5 lengths towards the bottom of the cross and that's south. They also showed us this real cool computer program Stellarium that gives you a nice map of the night sky wherever (and if you want, whenever) you may be.
Next we hopped on a bus for Arica, Chile which is right across the border with Peru. We didn't stay longer than to catch a taxi over the border to Tacna where we bought a bus ticket to Arequipa. The first bus ride took about 20 hours and was overnight and the second about 5.5 hours during the day. Pretty much the whole time in the bus we were going through the Atacama desert, the driest in the world.
We thought patagonia was dry but there's nothing but dirt in this place. The only exception was when a river happened to be going by. In this case a settlement sprouts up and irrigation brings a refreshing bloom of green to the otherwise brown landscape. We thought that when we got to Peru this would stop but it didn't. Arequipa is (we hope) on the edge of it, but it is very dry as well and the whole trip up it remained very much the same. Irrigation again saves the day, making this a beautiful city with a beautiful temperate climate.
We are staying in a most wonderful little bed and breakfast. It is run by a European (Dutch I think) guy named Hans who bought the house and restored it 5 years ago. While restoring the place he found a pre-columbian archeological site filled with pottery and little stone structures. All the pottery is on display as well as the site so you can walk in and step back in time. In addition to the pool right outside, our room is amazing. We have a beautiful balcony where we sit in the mornings after breakfast and read or relax with the Volcano Mount Misti in the background.
Palm Sunday
Our Palm Sunday started with a delicious breakfast after which we headed downtown to the Plaza de Armas. When we got there, we heard and saw a band marching around the plaza and headed to the cathedral. Mass had already started so we hurried inside where there was standing room only. Before we went in we bought from some street vendors our beautiful palms. The bishop was saying mass. During the “Hosanna Hosanna” chorus, everyone shook their palms in the air. Later that night, at dusk the procession started. We watched as a band moved into position followed by official looking men and women. Then the giant doors of the cathedral opened and out came a float with Jesus carrying the cross. Jesus was carried by about a dozen men in front and another dozen in back. The crowd clapped and the church bells rang as they got the float down the stairs and then they moved down the plaza a little bit. Then the same thing happened again, this time with a float with Mary on it. Then the procession began officially. Between the floats there was a car with speakers on it which broadcast a woman who was leading the rosary. Suzanne and I, after taking some pictures and video, joined in the procession and followed it for its whole course. It was a very prayerful and spiritual experience for us as we contemplated a similar procession that occurred over 2000 years ago as Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem. Overall the procession went 3 blocks south, 3 blocks east, 3 blocks north and then 3 blocks west to arrive back at the cathedral a little over 2 hours later.
Next we hopped on a bus for Arica, Chile which is right across the border with Peru. We didn't stay longer than to catch a taxi over the border to Tacna where we bought a bus ticket to Arequipa. The first bus ride took about 20 hours and was overnight and the second about 5.5 hours during the day. Pretty much the whole time in the bus we were going through the Atacama desert, the driest in the world.
 |
| From Arequipa |
We are staying in a most wonderful little bed and breakfast. It is run by a European (Dutch I think) guy named Hans who bought the house and restored it 5 years ago. While restoring the place he found a pre-columbian archeological site filled with pottery and little stone structures. All the pottery is on display as well as the site so you can walk in and step back in time. In addition to the pool right outside, our room is amazing. We have a beautiful balcony where we sit in the mornings after breakfast and read or relax with the Volcano Mount Misti in the background.
Palm Sunday
Our Palm Sunday started with a delicious breakfast after which we headed downtown to the Plaza de Armas. When we got there, we heard and saw a band marching around the plaza and headed to the cathedral. Mass had already started so we hurried inside where there was standing room only. Before we went in we bought from some street vendors our beautiful palms. The bishop was saying mass. During the “Hosanna Hosanna” chorus, everyone shook their palms in the air. Later that night, at dusk the procession started. We watched as a band moved into position followed by official looking men and women. Then the giant doors of the cathedral opened and out came a float with Jesus carrying the cross. Jesus was carried by about a dozen men in front and another dozen in back. The crowd clapped and the church bells rang as they got the float down the stairs and then they moved down the plaza a little bit. Then the same thing happened again, this time with a float with Mary on it. Then the procession began officially. Between the floats there was a car with speakers on it which broadcast a woman who was leading the rosary. Suzanne and I, after taking some pictures and video, joined in the procession and followed it for its whole course. It was a very prayerful and spiritual experience for us as we contemplated a similar procession that occurred over 2000 years ago as Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem. Overall the procession went 3 blocks south, 3 blocks east, 3 blocks north and then 3 blocks west to arrive back at the cathedral a little over 2 hours later.
Santa Catalina Convent
On Monday we took a tour of the Santa Catalina Convent. It's a whole block of the city that was used by an order of Dominican nuns who had cloistered themselves behind these high walls. Their job was basically to pray all day. However it was not exactly the ascetic lifestyle that we think of when we think of convents. This convent was founded by a woman from Spain who recruited her nuns from among the richest families in Spain. Somehow the nuns were allowed to live in a manner befitting their birth so they were able to have private apartments as well as servants and private things. According to our tour guide, the 1st daughter of a family was to be married, and the second to go into a convent. All nuns that entered the convent had to pay a dowry until 1871 when complaints of the extravagance reached the Pope and general reforms began to have their effects. The Pope sent a strict nun to clean up the convent and she forced all the nuns to live communally and no longer have servants or as many private possessions. In 1970 the city forced the convent to open up by requiring the convent to have electricity and plumbing. Now poor, the convent had no option but to open itself up to tourism and that is where we come in. It was like stepping back in time and it's a photographer's paradise. As you will see, we took a lot of pictures. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)