Hola from Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.
After spending the last several days in La Paz, we are now in the jungle. The flight from 11,000 feet in La Paz down to near sea level in Rurrenabaque (we can´t pronounce it, either) was spectacular. Flying over the Andes in a 20-seat puddle jumper is quite an experience - you are so close to the mountains you can almost reach out and touch them. Melanie asked if there was an airport where we were landing when she looked out the front window (no pilot´s door on this plane) and saw the dirt strip we were about to land at. There was an airport - it is just very small and hidden in the trees.
All this so we can take a tour of the savannah located outside of the city - with promises of seeing aligators, snakes, birds, pink dolphins, and most importantly, monkeys. We will have pictures to post when we get back in three days (and some from La Paz, too).
Chau!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sucre
Hola, ¿que tal? from Sucre, Bolivia.
Here´s a picture from our first stop in Bolivia - Tupiza. This is the Puerto del Diablo, or the Devil´s Gate, which is a vertical wall of sandstone jutting up off the floor of the desert with an opening in the middle:
And a shot looking out over the vineyards outside of Tarija - it is the beginning of winter, so everything is brown:
We flew into Sucre early last week after spending six days in Tarija because of the bus strike. The long-distance bus companies do not want to have to pay taxes for the highways, so they aren´t going. Judging from the state of the roads here, either the bus companies are justified in not wanting to support such a transportation system, or on the other hand, they need to start paying up in a bad way.
We are in the former capitol of Bolivia, which is nestled on the side of a (relatively) small mountain range in the middle of the country. Most of the government functions have since moved to La Paz, but the supreme court of the country convenes here. There is also a university here giving the city an energetic vibe.
Sucre has a great market - one of the things that Melanie and I love to do is walk around each city´s market. For anyone who hasn´t wandered around a Latin American market before, they are an assault on the senses. There is the pleasant smell and bright colors of vegetables and herbs, and the earthy, almost rotten smell and gory sight of meat (from complete carcasses to guts) hanging on hooks, and also the smells and sounds of people cooking up meals from ingredients fresh from the neighboring stalls. The kids rushing up to you trying to sell you trinkets and the vendors yelling at you to have a look at their oranges completes the experience.
In Bolivia, you can get just about any type of potato you could ever imagine:
Here´s a picture from our first stop in Bolivia - Tupiza. This is the Puerto del Diablo, or the Devil´s Gate, which is a vertical wall of sandstone jutting up off the floor of the desert with an opening in the middle:
And a shot looking out over the vineyards outside of Tarija - it is the beginning of winter, so everything is brown:
We flew into Sucre early last week after spending six days in Tarija because of the bus strike. The long-distance bus companies do not want to have to pay taxes for the highways, so they aren´t going. Judging from the state of the roads here, either the bus companies are justified in not wanting to support such a transportation system, or on the other hand, they need to start paying up in a bad way.
We are in the former capitol of Bolivia, which is nestled on the side of a (relatively) small mountain range in the middle of the country. Most of the government functions have since moved to La Paz, but the supreme court of the country convenes here. There is also a university here giving the city an energetic vibe.
Sucre has a great market - one of the things that Melanie and I love to do is walk around each city´s market. For anyone who hasn´t wandered around a Latin American market before, they are an assault on the senses. There is the pleasant smell and bright colors of vegetables and herbs, and the earthy, almost rotten smell and gory sight of meat (from complete carcasses to guts) hanging on hooks, and also the smells and sounds of people cooking up meals from ingredients fresh from the neighboring stalls. The kids rushing up to you trying to sell you trinkets and the vendors yelling at you to have a look at their oranges completes the experience.
In Bolivia, you can get just about any type of potato you could ever imagine:
And the women (they are almost exclusively women) selling herbs are members of the local indigenous tribe:
One of the handcrafts that the local indigenous people have been making for centuries is woven tapestries and cloths. You can tell one tribe from another by the different style and colors of the woven clothing they wear. There is a museum in Sucre dedicated to preserving these arts and employs locals to weave on the premesis:
Outside of Sucre is the world´s largest site of dinosaur tracks in the world, which are located in a limestone quarry:
This picture shows the side of a cliff that is about 250 feet high. Here´s me for scale on some of the tracks:
Maybe the tracks were made by this creature:
(Why didn´t we have sweet slides like this when I was growing up???)
Some of the colonial architecture in Sucre:
A two and a half hour cab ride from Sucre is the mining town of Potosi. This used to be the richest city in South America because of the silver found in the surrounding hills. The mountain on whose base the city sits looks like it has been shaved by the miners:
Some of the churches also have very ornate carving around their entrances, probably paid for with silver money:
And, last but not least, some things just don´t translate:
Friday, May 12, 2006
Tarija
Buen dia from Tarija, Bolivia.
We have made it into Bolivia! We are in the southern city of Tarija, which is in the main wine producing region of the country (it seems like we visit a lot of those types of places). We came to this place from Tupiza, which is the jumping off point for tourists heading north into Bolivia from Argentina. The main attraction for Tupiza is the surrounding scenery and a town nearby where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise. We enjoyed the scenery, but didn´t make it to the famous town where the bank-robbers careers ended.
We wanted to get to Tupiza on the train that heads north, but the mob of people milling about at the train station told us we probably wouldn´t get the ticket. A nice gentleman told us that in order to have a chance to get one, he had arrived at 6 AM in the morning - for a 3:30 PM departure. So we decided to take the bus.
We have been reading and hearing nightmare stories about the bus system in Bolivia, and our brief experience with it has confirmed the stories. First of all, the roads (at least in this part of the country) are not paved, so the busses require four wheel drive tires and stiff (read: bumpy as hell) suspensions. Then there are the crazy semi drivers that the bus driver must avoid - not a good thing to experience while sitting in the front seat where you can see everything about to happen. The previously mentioned unpaved roads are usually situated along a cliff, the edge of which is inches away from the bus tires. It didn´t make it any better that the night we took a trip along one of these topography-rich roads was nearly a full moon. If that weren`t enough, the long distance bus drivers are striking now.
We do have options, though - ride in the back of a truck that may or may not arrive to your destination, or fly. So, while the adventurer in me would say to take the trucks, the practical side of me (and my wife) says fly. Flying is relatively cheap, too. So we will be flying from Tarija to Sucre on Tuesday, from where we will be able to hop over to a couple more places. And hopefully the bus strike will end before we have to fly again.
Here are some of our impressions of Bolivia so far. The Bolivian people are extremely friendly - that is, when you break the ice and say ´Good afternoon´ or some other greeting. I am always surprised at the huge smile that breaks out of the typical ´stare at the tourist´ look when you make the effor to make contact. The kids, who have none of their adult counterparts´ reservations are always waving hi and saying ´Hola´ (or ´Hello´ if they have learned any English). When we are playing games to pass the time, people come up to us and look at us playing and ask what the game is.
The natural beauty of Bolivia is amazing - and we have seen only a small portion so far. Here in the south, it is arid and the mountains are steep, so the landscape is very striking. There are also not too many people around (at least in the country-side), so it seems like a wilderness. We are looking forward to seeing the central part of the country.
And, finally, they seem to have picked up one thing that I like a lot - the American breakfast. After spending time in Argentina, where the breakfast is - at best - a couple pieces of toast or some stale croissants, coffee, and fake juice, the breakfast here with eggs, bacon, real fruit juice, fruit salad and coffee is great! I guess that will have to be the trade-off for great Argentinian dinners (huge, cheap steaks) - the standard main dish here is a wierd concoction of ground meat and sliced hot dogs served atop a mound of french fries.
Pictures next time!
Chau!
We have made it into Bolivia! We are in the southern city of Tarija, which is in the main wine producing region of the country (it seems like we visit a lot of those types of places). We came to this place from Tupiza, which is the jumping off point for tourists heading north into Bolivia from Argentina. The main attraction for Tupiza is the surrounding scenery and a town nearby where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise. We enjoyed the scenery, but didn´t make it to the famous town where the bank-robbers careers ended.
We wanted to get to Tupiza on the train that heads north, but the mob of people milling about at the train station told us we probably wouldn´t get the ticket. A nice gentleman told us that in order to have a chance to get one, he had arrived at 6 AM in the morning - for a 3:30 PM departure. So we decided to take the bus.
We have been reading and hearing nightmare stories about the bus system in Bolivia, and our brief experience with it has confirmed the stories. First of all, the roads (at least in this part of the country) are not paved, so the busses require four wheel drive tires and stiff (read: bumpy as hell) suspensions. Then there are the crazy semi drivers that the bus driver must avoid - not a good thing to experience while sitting in the front seat where you can see everything about to happen. The previously mentioned unpaved roads are usually situated along a cliff, the edge of which is inches away from the bus tires. It didn´t make it any better that the night we took a trip along one of these topography-rich roads was nearly a full moon. If that weren`t enough, the long distance bus drivers are striking now.
We do have options, though - ride in the back of a truck that may or may not arrive to your destination, or fly. So, while the adventurer in me would say to take the trucks, the practical side of me (and my wife) says fly. Flying is relatively cheap, too. So we will be flying from Tarija to Sucre on Tuesday, from where we will be able to hop over to a couple more places. And hopefully the bus strike will end before we have to fly again.
Here are some of our impressions of Bolivia so far. The Bolivian people are extremely friendly - that is, when you break the ice and say ´Good afternoon´ or some other greeting. I am always surprised at the huge smile that breaks out of the typical ´stare at the tourist´ look when you make the effor to make contact. The kids, who have none of their adult counterparts´ reservations are always waving hi and saying ´Hola´ (or ´Hello´ if they have learned any English). When we are playing games to pass the time, people come up to us and look at us playing and ask what the game is.
The natural beauty of Bolivia is amazing - and we have seen only a small portion so far. Here in the south, it is arid and the mountains are steep, so the landscape is very striking. There are also not too many people around (at least in the country-side), so it seems like a wilderness. We are looking forward to seeing the central part of the country.
And, finally, they seem to have picked up one thing that I like a lot - the American breakfast. After spending time in Argentina, where the breakfast is - at best - a couple pieces of toast or some stale croissants, coffee, and fake juice, the breakfast here with eggs, bacon, real fruit juice, fruit salad and coffee is great! I guess that will have to be the trade-off for great Argentinian dinners (huge, cheap steaks) - the standard main dish here is a wierd concoction of ground meat and sliced hot dogs served atop a mound of french fries.
Pictures next time!
Chau!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Salta
Buen dia from Salta (again).
Here are a couple of pictures from Salta. An elaborate colonial church - one of the more elaborate we`ve seen (the curtains in the doorways are plaster):
And a carved wooden door on the convent, dating from 1760:
From Salta, we rented a car and drove into the Valle Calchaquí to the city of Cafayate. This is a very diverse area in terms of landscapes. At first you drive through fertile farmland, then you cross the moisture line into arid sandstone mountains that reminded us of Utah or Arizona:
After passing through these formations, you reach Cafayate, which is in the middle of the wine producing area of northern Argentina. We stayed for two nights here and, of course, sampled the local products - not just wine, some goat cheese, as well. in Cafayate, we continued our tradition of attracting all the local dogs. They must be able to tell we are dog people.
From Cafayate, it is a short drive to Quilmes, some of the largest ruins in Argentina:
The ruins are not as impressive when viewed from ground level, but when you climb the hill, the intricacy of the city is apparent.
From Cafayate, we headed along a dirt road through sandstone razorbacks and small indigenous settlements to Cachi - one of the larger of these settlements in the valley. We thought this town was one of our better stops in northern Argentina - the people are extremely friendly and the scenery was spectacular. We got the feeling that the people want to preserve their culture while allowing tourists to see it - a very hard thing to do.
The main agrigultural crop in the area is peppers, which are dried on the sides of hills all throughout the valley:
And there are ruins from the local pre-hispanic population:
Los Cardones - cacti that are similar to the saguaro are abundant:
There are even some foxes left:
The route back to Salta took us over a pass through the Parque Nacional de los Cardones and back onto the wet side of the mountains. The scenery would have been spectacular . . . but being on the wet side also means fog and lots of it. Oh, well, we`ll get pictures next time.
Here are a couple of pictures from Salta. An elaborate colonial church - one of the more elaborate we`ve seen (the curtains in the doorways are plaster):
And a carved wooden door on the convent, dating from 1760:
From Salta, we rented a car and drove into the Valle Calchaquí to the city of Cafayate. This is a very diverse area in terms of landscapes. At first you drive through fertile farmland, then you cross the moisture line into arid sandstone mountains that reminded us of Utah or Arizona:
After passing through these formations, you reach Cafayate, which is in the middle of the wine producing area of northern Argentina. We stayed for two nights here and, of course, sampled the local products - not just wine, some goat cheese, as well. in Cafayate, we continued our tradition of attracting all the local dogs. They must be able to tell we are dog people.
From Cafayate, it is a short drive to Quilmes, some of the largest ruins in Argentina:
The ruins are not as impressive when viewed from ground level, but when you climb the hill, the intricacy of the city is apparent.
From Cafayate, we headed along a dirt road through sandstone razorbacks and small indigenous settlements to Cachi - one of the larger of these settlements in the valley. We thought this town was one of our better stops in northern Argentina - the people are extremely friendly and the scenery was spectacular. We got the feeling that the people want to preserve their culture while allowing tourists to see it - a very hard thing to do.
The main agrigultural crop in the area is peppers, which are dried on the sides of hills all throughout the valley:
And there are ruins from the local pre-hispanic population:
Los Cardones - cacti that are similar to the saguaro are abundant:
There are even some foxes left:
The route back to Salta took us over a pass through the Parque Nacional de los Cardones and back onto the wet side of the mountains. The scenery would have been spectacular . . . but being on the wet side also means fog and lots of it. Oh, well, we`ll get pictures next time.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Salta
Buen dia from Salta, Argentina.
Just a quick post to let everyone know we´re still here. We are in Salta now, which is a pretty city nestled in the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina. This area was the southern limit of the Incan empire - they used the high Andes as a place to bury their sacrifices to the god´s. This city and the surrounding area has a much larger population of indigenous people as compared to the southern parts of Argentina. The city also has some nice colonial architecture, from when the Spanish conquered the area.
From here we will rent a car and explore the surrounding area for several days. We are planning on heading south of Salta to a city called Cafayate. It is in the wine producing area of the state of Salta, and also has some impressive ruins. The ruins are called Quilmes and are from a group that were contemporaries of the Incas. Then we will head north through sandstone formations that form the hills around Cafayate and into a notional park that is famous for its cacti - ´cadrones´ cacti are similar to saguaro cacti. We will have some pictures to post after this side trip.
That will do it for Argentina - we head north by bus into Bolivia from here. Hopefully the stories we´ve heard about the Bolivian bus system won´t be true. Maybe we´ll take the train.
Just a quick post to let everyone know we´re still here. We are in Salta now, which is a pretty city nestled in the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina. This area was the southern limit of the Incan empire - they used the high Andes as a place to bury their sacrifices to the god´s. This city and the surrounding area has a much larger population of indigenous people as compared to the southern parts of Argentina. The city also has some nice colonial architecture, from when the Spanish conquered the area.
From here we will rent a car and explore the surrounding area for several days. We are planning on heading south of Salta to a city called Cafayate. It is in the wine producing area of the state of Salta, and also has some impressive ruins. The ruins are called Quilmes and are from a group that were contemporaries of the Incas. Then we will head north through sandstone formations that form the hills around Cafayate and into a notional park that is famous for its cacti - ´cadrones´ cacti are similar to saguaro cacti. We will have some pictures to post after this side trip.
That will do it for Argentina - we head north by bus into Bolivia from here. Hopefully the stories we´ve heard about the Bolivian bus system won´t be true. Maybe we´ll take the train.
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