Feeling at home in La Paz

27 October 2009

Gaudi's cousin Regula lives in La Paz, and offers us to stay in her lovely home. After a few weeks on the road in mostly cold hotel rooms, we can finally relax and recharge.
Our neighbourhood in the south of the city has its own centre with lots of restaurants: We eat twice at the Japanese (we're almost regulars). Regula works at a Swiss development NGO: Swisscontact. We learn a lot from her about current developments in Bolivia. Its a busy week for Regula, as she's organising a three-day event: a food-fair called Nuovo Boliviano: Chefs from all over town serve some of their creative cooking, and local food producers offer samples of their local produce (like Quinoa, a great alternative to wheat). After weeks of mostly dull meals, we enjoy sampling all these delicious dishes - and are reliefed that our tastebuds are still alive. But for Gaudi the highlight is the beer-workshop, which of course includes sampling local beers.
In La Paz, as on the rest of the altiplano, the colours of the landscape seem very intense. Regula's flat offers great panoramic views over the surrounding mountains which is a spectacular sight, especially in the mornings and evenings.

In La Paz, we take strolls through the busy city centre, and visit the interesting Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, housed in a beautiful building designed by Gustav Eiffel. We also visit the 'Valle de la Luna': a canyon a bit outside of La Paz with bizarre rock formations. It's a very peaceful and tranquil place. One visitor feels so inspired, that he takes of all his clothes and performs some paryer or song (or so we think, we keep a large safety distance until he put back on his clothes).

We arrange for a daytrip to the historic site of Tihuanacu through an agency. However, that morning a few things go wrong: first, the taxi we order can't find our address (Natasha suspects this is due to Gaudis Spanish communication skills, but it worked well the day before) - it arrives 15 minutes late. Then traffic on this Friday morning is just horrible: we hardly move and it takes almost an hour to get to town instead of the 10 minutes outside the rush hour. To top it off, our car overheats, and the taxi driver refuses to drive any further with his vehicle: he unloads us 10 blocks away from our destination, and we have to walk...
We miss our tour bus by more than an hour. Luckily, the lady of the agency just moves us to the next day's tour, but not without advising us "not to oversleep" the next morning. Grrrrrrrrrrr.....

When we finally make it to Tihuanacu the next day, the site is spectacular. This used to be a temple of a pre-Inca civilisation. The surrounding landscape of mountains and snowy peaks in the distance is amazing. On the site itself, there are some fascinating carved statues and walls.

Pictures: La Paz, Tihuanacu

Lapalapalapalapalapaaaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

25 October 2009

...is the refrain we heard almost continuously starting at 4am in the morning. This is what the minibus drivers, departing every half hour from Soratá to La Paz, would yell from the top of their lungs to gather passengers. We wondered whether this was really necessary, surely anyone living in the town would know that there is a minibus to La Paz every 30 min and those not from town could easily find out? Anyway these guys are so used to this refrain then when we approached with our backpacks, the driver asked Gaudi: "Van a lapalapalapalapaz?" Gaudi had to laugh.

Sorata is a small town in an area of Bolivia called the Yungas, the area between the Altiplano (3,000 meters and above, dry and cold) and the Amazonian rainforest (low, hot and humid). So the Yungas is known as a very pleasant area for both the people of the Altiplano and those of the Amazon to seek relief from their own extremer wheather conditions. We spent a couple of days only in town. Much like in Copacabana it was very difficult to encounter any good hostals or restaurants. But we did a beautiful hike along one of the vallleys (it was tough though due to the blazing sun).

Getting to Soratá was a bit of an adventure. We took a bus from Copacabana with direction La Paz. Shortly into the ride, we stop at the edge of a narrow part of the lake, it appears we have to cross the lake (no bridge or ferry in sight). All the locals rush off the bus and disappear towards the lakeside. The foreigners have no clue what to do. We gather that we have to cross the lake on a small motorized canoe, and the bus will follow with our suitcases . . . how exactly . . . well basically on a big floating wooden barge with a small motor to propel it forwards. All goes well. Then we get off at Huarina (in the middle of nowhere) to catch another bus or minibus going to Sorata. We are the only ones to get off and the only ones waiting for transport to Sorata. As if that is not worrying enough it starts raining. After half an hour waiting in the rain watching several packed minibuses race by, we start to wonder whether this was such a good idea . . . A packed minibus stops for us and we dont care anymore run towards it and squeeze in. Gaudi on the back seat between two women, one with a small dog. Natasha on a little side seat that folds out and our luggage on the roof. Needless to say we made it safe and sound to Sorata.

Copa . . . Copacabana . . .

20 October 2009

Not the famous Brazilian beach but a tiny sleepy village on the shore of the amazing lake Titicaca in Bolivia. We enter Bolivia on a pleasant bus from Puno (Peru), a beautiful ride along the lakeshore, and cross the border without any complication. The friendly bus assistant explains very clearly what we have to do at the border crossing. He even stops in front of a hut in a little village near the border and advises to change leftover Peruvian Soles into Bolivianos: however, the rate offered is very bad. Most tourists have no idea what the rate should be and change their money. The money exchange ladies run a profitable little business. After everybody is done, we go to the counter and demand a rate much more in our favour: the lady agrees to our rate. Gaudi is very proud to be the only tourist in the bus not to be ripped off, and to have saved about 2 USD that way.

We are very impressed by the setting of Copacabana right on the lakeshore with amazing views. Quite less impressed by the hotels and the rather unfriendly people of this town. We walk 20 min to the hotel we had reserved to find a half built place and a bunch of barking dogs as the welcome committee. Finally a woman shows up asking what we want. We ask if this could possibly be the Ecolodge. The woman needs to run back to verify what the place is or is called . . . Well needless to say, we started the walk back to town with our backpacks. After visiting numerous "hotels", and after a cold night in on of them, we do find a very pleasant one (not surprisingly German run) place, where we spend 4 nights. The breathtaking lake makes up for the unfriendliness we have to deal with when we do enter town (which we avoided as much as possible).

The hotel has a nice garden with hammocks to relalx in. The garden has colorful flowers and green grass in this area where every thing else is dried out - of course a gardener waters th plants daily. Not only the tourists enjoy the garden, but a local sheepherding lady discovered it too: for her sheep. She leads her flock into the garden and lets the sheep graze on each patch for half an hour - if they nibble on the flowers, she throws a rock at them (but still, there are noticably less flowers after her visit). I ask the hotel staff how official this arrangement is, and they are a bit evasive - maybe because the owner of the hotel is not in town at the moment? Well, at least this way they don't have to mow the grass.

While we are sitting in the garden, slowly surrrounded by about 15 sheep, the hotel dog comes close and stays with us. We realise that this dog is very afraid of the sheep and seeks protection! At one point the dog even jumps our bench and squeezes between us. Never before have I seen a dog so gentle that it is even afraid of sheep!

One of the highlights was a day trip to Isla del Sol, a slow 1.5 hour boat ride from Copacabana. We get dropped off at the north end of the island, and then follow a very nice path leading us to the south of the island, where we catch the boat back. The walk is wonderful with spectacular views of the island and lake. We even come by some trees, a rarity in this deforested region, and we explore a very interesting Inca site with mysterious labyrinths. Hmm we wondered whether the people of this islands would be any more welcoming but no such luck. The only welcome we got was no less then 3 tax posts! Yes the island (the lenght of which we walked in about 3 hours) is divided in 3 communities, each of which charged us an entry fee. Oh well, welcome to Bolivia I guess.

Fotos from Bolivia uploaded

Comments to follow...

Potosí

Tiahuanaco

La Paz

Soratá

The spreadsheet

A few weeks into our trip Gaudi started experiencing spreadsheet withdrawal symptoms . . . and so decided to develop a rather sophisticated (with categories, exchange rates, summaries etc) spreadsheet to record and monitor all of our expenses. Every night, we open “the spreadsheet” on the EeePC and enter all our daily expenses. For the first time in our lives, we keep track of our expenses, down to the cent!

Did you know you can make your own floating island . . .

17 October 2009

The Uros are indigenous people that have been living on self-made islands forever. The Uros build their islands (basically very big floats) from the reed that grows in lake Titicaca. They build their houses on those islands. Even a fireplace for cooking exists - quite risky on a float made of dry plants. The community near Puno consists of about 55 islands. And there are even more islands floating further away in the lake.

We take a boat to visit the Uros. The island we visit is inhabited by seven families. While most men are away, fishing on the lake, the women receive us enthusiastically. We first get a demonstration of how such an island is built. The Uros not only use the reed for building, but also for food. We get to try a green reed stem: quite tasty. However, it is wrong to assume that you could eat the whole island - the island is built of dried reed, not the fresh one.

It actually feels quite odd walking on the island, the ground is very soft and bouncy. We get to see the small houses on the island. One of the women kept a bird with a very long beak as a pet. The animal proved to be much less friendly than the Uros: it tries to attack Gaudi as he was taking a picture of it.

One of the houses has solar panels. The power generated is used for...of course: a TV. Naive to think that it would be a fridge or a heater.

As we leave the island, the women wave goodbye and sing some songs. At the very end, as our boat has already departed, they yell "hasta la vista, Baby!" Talk about globalisation: the Terminator has reached a tribe living on floats in lake Titicaca. Their floating islands might have protected them over centuries from enemies, but not from Hollywood.

Titicaca Fotos

Ollantaytambo, a real Inca town

10 November 2009

We spent 2 nights in Ollantaytambo, a charming small village in Peru's sacred valley which boasts many Inca sites. What makes Ollantaytambo special, besides its beautiful location at the entrance of a valley, is that it has been inhabited for 600 years continously: the houses are built on Inca foundations, and many entrances still display the characteristic Inca building style. This is unusual for the region, as cities were either founded by the Spanish (ca. 450 years ago), or built much earlier but destroyed by the Spanish.

Most tourists only pass through Ollantaytambo to visit the most popular Inca site, right at the edge of town built on several terraces. As one can only enter the site by buying an expensive combi-ticket that grants access to three other sites in the valley that we do NOT want to see, we go on the alternative route. The first day we hike up the hill right across from the famous Inca site which affords beautiful views not only of the Inca ruins but also of the village and surrounding valley.

The second day we do a beautiful two hour hike into the side valley passing some locals working on terraced fields to Pumamarka: a pre-Inca town. Many houses as well as the protecting wall are still standing. The location is amazing and we are completely alone. No tourists, no scouts, no ticket booths, only cows and sheep and the odd farmer.

Ollantaytambo fotos.

Machu Picchu here we come . . .

9 October 2009

...but we are certainly not the only ones. Actually we later learned that an average of 2,500 tourists visit Machu Picchu daily.

What makes this Inca site (built around 1430 AD and abadoned 100 years later) so special is 1) its amazing setting at 2,430 metres on a mountain ridge in the spectacular "Sacred Valley" of Peru, and 2) its relative intactness as it is one of few Inca sites that remained undiscovered (and thus escaped destruction) by the Spanish conquest. In fact, after the site was abandoned around 1530, it remained largely unknown and untouched until 1911, when an American historian brought it to the world's attention.

Nowadays it is a huge tourist destination. The two most common ways to get there are: 1) a very strenous 4-day trek aka the Inca Trail or 2) a very expensive train ride with Peru Rail, which takes you to Aguas Calientes, a town that did not exist 10 years ago, it developed merely to provide accomodation (overpriced) and food (bad) for tourists visiting Machu Picchu. We go with option 2.

The entry ticket to Machu Picchu costs about USD 45 and is valid for only one day. The site is open from 6am to 5pm. We are set to be amoung the first to enter Machu Picchu and plan to catch the first bus at 5:45am from Aguas Calientes to the site. We get up at 4:45am, have breakfast a bit after 5am (slightly annoyed that breakfast wasn't ready at 5am sharp, as promised), and make our way to the bus stop at 5:45am. We did not think we would be the only ones, but were certainly not prepared for this: hundreds of people lining the street, forming a very long queue for the bus. First we have to queue to buy a bus ticket at a seperate counter (USD 7 per person one way for a 15 min busride, possibly the world's most expensive bus ticket). Then we stand in line to get on the bus, watching one bus after another fill up with tourists and shipping them off to Machu. Finally, after about 10 buses, it is our turn. After the 15 minute drive, we arrive at Machu Picchu where the next queue awaits us: the one to enter the site. Despite all the queuing, we enter Machu Picchu early enough to witness the site slowly emerging from misty clouds - what a magical view. Later in the day when the real hordes arrive we realize that we were, afterall, among the priviliged few (300 hundred or so) persons to enjoy the site in relative peace.

We hike up the steep peak of Wayna Picchu which rewards us with spectacular views over the ruins, and the surrounding high mountain ranges. Funny: a dog followed the tourists on the steep trail up the mountain. On the top, it is exhausted and needs to take a rest. Another tourist mentiones that he's seen that very same dog in Aguas Calientes. We wonder if this dog with an obvious archeological interest had to pay the expensive entrance fee to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary.

More Machu Picchu Fotos.

The capital of the Inca Empire: Cuzco

7 October 2009

This city of app. 500,000 inhabitants, the 3rd largest city in Peru, at an altitude of 3,400 meters left us with mixed feelings. On the one hand the city provides a lot of evidence of its rich history, an impressive colonial square, many remnants of beautiful Inca walls - built of huge rocks fitted together without mortar, picturesque plazas and many interesting sites such as the former Inca Sun temple turned monastery. The splendid Sun temple, an Inca building adored with gold, was dismanteled by Spanish monks who built a monestary in its place. Only when a earthquake in the 1950's destroyed part of the monestary remains of the old Sun temple resurfaced and archeologists took an interest in it. Today, the site presents a clash of 2 cultures: the Inca and the Spanish.

On the other hand, the centre of Cusco is a bit of a tourists dump. People try to extract money from you at every corner on every occassion. Natasha felt more like a cash machine than a human being. Tourist shops, travel agents, tourist restaurants litter the streets, and these awfull kids in indigenous dress with baby llamas charging tourists to take a picture with them. On our first day, 2 of these kids push up against Natasha insisting that Gaudi takes a picture, which he does and then of course they want money so Gaudi gives them one Sol (app. USD 0.30). They insist it costs 2 Sol, but Natasha tells them to get lost. No one looks very happy in the picture. (Why aren't they in school anyway - our professor is ill, they tell us).

Two blocks away from the main square, the tourist area ends abruptly, and the streets are lined by shops for the locals, cheap eats, and the odd nasty smell. It's like a whole different city.

Cusco fotos here.

Under attack

4 October 2009

On a hot afternoon in Moyobamba, we decide to go down to the river, and take a ride on one of the lanchas (rickety wooden canoes with motors). The area where the boats leave from is a 15 minute walk down from town and pretty deserted. Two kids take us up and down the river on their boat in what is a very nice excursion. Afterwards we decide to take a walk along the river shore. There is no-one on this path but us, but we decide it's save anyway. Less than 5 minutes into the walk, Natasha feels a painful sting on the back of her neck and I have to come to the rescue: it's a bee. And it is not alone, but two more got caught in her hair! While I try to remove them, some of their relatives show up and sting me in the foot, and in the ear (what is it with them? In Panama already a bee stung me in the head). We finally decide to dash as fast as we can...into safety from these aggressive beasts. So much for our romantic stroll along the river.

Making new friends in Moyobamba

4 October 2009

After San Ignacio, we make our way to Jaen by collective taxi (this is a shared taxi taking 5 passengers, 2 in the front, 3 in the back). As we near Jaen, we experience a paved road for the 1st time since entering Peru, uff what a relief. Jaen is a hot, dusty town full of mototaxis but nevertheless fun and buzzling. In Jaen we debate what our next step will be: go to the coast and then make our way southwards (the most common tourist route) or, as our new friend Helder suggested, go visit Moyobamba (land inwards towards the Amazon).

Moyobamba it is. We get on what we were told is a 7 hour busride but turns out to be closer to 10 hours. The ride is extremely scenic. A bit hard to enjoy though as the bus stinks to high heaven, we spend 10 hours wondering what in hell could smell so bad . . . but we survive and arrive safely.

Moyobamba is a pleasant and friendly town with very few tourists, mostly Peruvians. Helder suggested that we visit a youth home, Hogar Santa Isabel, which he used to work for in Moyobamba. Josep, the founder, owner and manager of the Hogar is most friendly and hospitable and spends a full day with us. His lovely assistant, Eliza, picks us up in the morning and drives us to the home, which consists of a beautiful tropical garden with a little stream running through, the accommodation for the kids, a kitchen, and several meeting rooms which are rented out for events and workshops. The Hogar provides accommodation for kids from remote villages that are in a difficult family situation (often children of single mothers). The kids, boys aged between six and seventeen go to the schools in Moyobamba. Most kids spend the weekends with relatives, in order to keep social ties outside the Hogar. The kids (14 in total) have to help with all the chores - this is not a free lunch! The kids help in the kitchen, with the cleaning, the gardening, etc. And they do a great job – the garden looks much better than the botanical garden of the town.

We are invited to have lunch with the kids, and then to join them on an outing. Josep drives us and six of the boys to a beautiful spot in the forest: an underground source feeds a freezing cold pool, and a river that springs from it. We swim in the pool and the river – the boys are having tons of fun. We also stop by a beautiful lake, which is a nesting ground for garzas (white water birds). During the drive, the kids become very lively asking us tons of questions and singing to a tape of classic 80's songs: Culture Club, Madonna, and some long forgotten hits. The boys ask us to translate the lyrics. We all have a blast.

Moyobamba Pictures here

Visiting the reforestation project

30 September and 1 October 2009

Project problematic: The farmers in this mountainous and rural area traditionally used to burn down the forest to a) clear the field for planting and create fertile soil through the ashes, and b) in the (wrong) belief that the burning would provoke rain. This practice has several negative consequences: a) Soil erosion resulting in loss of water and mudslides b) Significant decrease in the quality of soil leading to the farmers' burning down even more forest in search of better soil c) Deforestation major cause of CO2 emissions. Unfortunately, burning forest is not limited to this region: we regularly witnessed this practice throughout Ecuador. Most mountains are bare, sometimes devoid of any vegetation.

Project solution: Working in close cooperation with the community, especially the small coffee farmers to introduce sustainable farming practices. This includes planting of trees by the farmers on their farms. The farmers explained the benefits of planting the trees: provides shade for the coffee which increases the quality of the coffee (and thus the price); improves the quality and stability of the soil (one farmer showed us the notable difference in the soil between where trees had been planted and where not); after the tree matures the wood can be used or sold. All this means increased income for the farmers and avoided deforestation.

Meeting the coffee farmers

During the 2 day visit we met with numerous representatives of the communities involved and learned so much. One of our most entertaining visits was to one of the coffee farming communities close to San Ignacio. After a bumpy ride up a dirt road, we arrive at a small village. We ask the farmers to show us their fields, and the trees they have planted. Three men, sitting on a bench in the center of the village, lead us to their fields. As we walk, word of the visitors gets round, and our group grows steadily, soon, there are more and more farmers joining the group walking to the fields. As we are in the field, the farmers show their enthusiasm for the project: each of them claims to have been the first one to plant trees. They all yell “arboles, arboles”, one even climbs on top of a tree. They pick ripe fruits (granadillas - similar to passion fruit) for us to eat, and lead us to the area with the biggest trees so far. After this lively excursion, they suggest that we have a quick leaving drink with them. So we sit down, and share a bottle of beer with one cup which is passed around from one person to the next...and then another bottle of beer, and another (and this before lunch). Finally, after the fifth round, we manage to get on our way, and promise to return when the trees have grown tall and strong. We get a huge pinapple as a going away gift.

More fotos here

For those interested in more details, visit http://www.practicalaction.org/ or watch this short video.

Entering Peru

29 September

We enter Peru on a little used small borderpost by a river. On one side of the river is Ecuador, we cross the small bridge on foot and are in Peru. After going through the Peruvian immigration, we stand around the deserted border crossing for a while when finally a moto-taxi (yes this is a motorcycle converted into a taxi by attaching a seating area to the back) comes along to take us along the dirt road to our hotel. The hotel is only known as hotel de la gringa (because it is owned by an English lady). We are the only guests but it is a very nice place and the English owner very friendly. One of the main reasons that we enter Peru this way is because we're visiting a reforestation project in this region. As part of the management of the Zurich Foundation, Natasha worked together with the NGO Practical Action who co-managed this reforestation project. We are keen to get in touch with Helder, who will be our guide for the next 2 days. We soon learn that there is only ONE phone, which is on the "avenida" of the nearest town called Namballe, and apparently this phone seldom works. So the nice English lady drops us off in front of the PHONE, and to our surprise the "avenida" is a small dirt road with some village shops along (well, what did we expect? Champs Elysee?). It is our lucky day, the PHONE works, we speak to Helder and he confirms that he will pick us up the next day. We then have dinner in the town's only "restaurant" i.e. a nice lady's living room. While she cooks our dinner, Gaudi entertains her baby granddaughter who started crying as her grandmother disappeared into the kitchen.

Stuck

29 September 2009

Vilcabamba is a beautiful place. A valley between colourful mountains, some of them quite green. As we leave, we cross over a mountain pass and realize that the greener mountains are green because they are exposed to a lot of rain. The rain in turn turns the dirt road we're driving on into a pool of mud. Our bus gets stuck on a narrow mountain road. Some passengers desert the bus and hitch rides in passing pick-up trucks, others suggest we all get out in the mud ourselves to push the bus. Luckily a better solution is found: A heavy vehicle from a nearby construction site is strong enough to pull our bus through the mud. This costs us about an hour of travel time.
All the time while we're stuck in mud, staring into the rain outside, the joyful salsa music is blasting happily through the bus...what a contrast.

From Quito to the Peruvian border

17-29 September 2009

Some highlights from our journey by public bus overland from Quito to the Peruvian border:

Several days in the tiny isolated village of Chugchilán at an altitude of 3,200 meters. We stay at the charming hostal of mama Hilda (the one entrepreneur in this sleepy village) and enjoy the surrounding valleys and countryside. One day the one guy in the village with a vehicle (some sort of old jeep) drives us to the amazing Laguna Quilotowa. On the way we stop several times to pick up and drop off friends and family, to chat with the locals, sell them tickets to the Sunday children's show, at the end we even pick up a cuy we expect for dinner. The whole region is inhabited by indigenous people. We complete the 5 hour hike right around the Laguna Quilotowa, a volcanic crater lake. The hike is up and down varying between 3,800 and 4,100 meters altitude. It left us breathless (in Natasha's case quite literally), luckily we had a guide to help us avoid some of the ascends.

The next stop was Riobamba, offering great views of Ecuador's gigantic volcanoes. In Riobamba, we take up the taxi driver's recommendation and try our luck at the evening street stands, having dinner with the locals. Surprisingly good, and cheap. We go back for seconds.

We take a train ride down the famous Nariz del Diablo. The train descends in a zig-zag fashion into a gorge, at times driving backwards. Well it used to be a functional train connecting Quito to Guayaquil (Ecuador' port and second largest city) but now is more like a bus on tracks shipping tourists back and forth.










In Cuenca, a very charming colonial town, we get to know Gaudi's uncle Roman Malgiaritta, who's been a priest living and working in Ecuador for over 30 years. We have a lovely time with Roman and learn a lot from him about the city and its inhabitants.








In Vilcabamba, we enjoy the fine views of the mountains, the intense colours, and the perfect climate. This is the valley of longevity – we look out for extremely old people alleged to live here, but can't spot any.








Our bus ride to the Peruvian border is quite spectacular and also adventurous. At one point, passing through the Podocarpus national park, the bus gets stuck on the steep muddy road. The passengers were already debating whether they would be making it anywhere, but luckily a construction vehicle comes to our rescue. For the last stretch to the border, we have to take a chiva: a bus with a roof but no sides. The border is just a couple of buildings and completely deserted, everyone on the bus except for us and one other tourist disappeared immediately upon arrival. We are the only ones visiting the immigration offices . . .