No change since 1933(?)

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For some R&R we took a two-day trip to Urmiri. Three hours' drive south of La Paz , Urmiri is a hotel built around a hot spring, totally cut off from the rest of the world. The only link to the outside is, what must be, the second deadliest road in the world. (The deadliest road is apparently just next to La Paz. On average one vehicle per week go over the cliff there.) The last three km of this 28 km road from the "highway", is anything but safe. You can fit a mini-bus, but that's all. On top of that, the dirt track is in terrible condition and there's of course not a 10m stretch that is straight. Oh, forgot to mention the 100m canyon on one side and the vertical mountain wall on the other. A bit scary to say the least.

We had booked a luxury room with our own roman bath, fed by the water from the hot spring. Well, luxury is a relative term - apparently. It was a lot better than most other places we've stayed in in Peru and Bolivia. It had hot water for a start! However, a basic requirement, we think, is electricity in your room 24/7. The management of Gloria Hotel Urmiri didn't agree, as they electricity was only provided between 6.15pm and 9.30pm. So no reading light in the evening or hairdryer in the morning. Since the hotel is so secluded it probably have to generate the electricity it self or store it in batteries of some sort. We didn't really mind though, but it was a bit odd at first.

The hotel sits on a hill side, surrounded by mountins and canyons. We meet one of the guests who was there ten years ago. Back then it was only the hotel and the pool at the site. Now the hotel is surrounded by narrow walkways through a very nice hill side garden, full of bird life (and a few Collies). We just wish the management had spent as much attention to the hotel as the garden. The building was from 1933 and from what we could see, little had changed since then. But that's part of the charm - true.

We spent most of our two days at Urmiri walking around in the garden and the hills nearby, when we weren't floating around in one of the two outdoor pools. The hot spring water is 72 degrees celsius at the source, but is allowed to cool a bit in the pools. It was still darn hot though. Don't know exactly, but it reminded us about running a too hot bath, with the only difference that it wouldn't cool as quickly or at all.

The morning of the second day brought rain, unfortunately, and with that a lot of sand into the waterfall-pool, which made it clog up. Not much you can do about that. Around lunchtime the sun showed up. At this altitude you have to be prepared for three seasons in a day. When it's raining or cloudy it's cold. We mean warm jacket type of cold. Then when the sun shines, don't try to wear anything more than a t-shirt and shorts, in the sun that is. The shade is still cold.

The ride back to La Paz could have been very uneventful, apart form the first three km, if it wasn't for our very, to say the least, creative driver. Doing 100 on a 80 km/h road was not a problem. Overtaking when it's forbidden didn't really bother him. Neither did overtaking when he couldn't see more than 50m in front. On several occasions he had to turn back, apart from that time when we were approximately 5m from a full frontal crash. All of a sudden the first three km from Urmiri didn't seem that scary. He got an earful from the passengers after that trick and the travel agency (Gloria Hotel in La Paz) got a complaint, when we surprisingly arrived safe in La Paz that evening. Hopefully they'll employ safer drivers in the future!

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I behov av lite vila och ompyssling tog vi en tvadagarstripp till Urmiri. Tre timmars kortid fran La Paz , Urmiri ar ett hotell byggt runt en varm kalla, helt avskilt fran resten av varlden. Den enda lanken till omvarlden ar vad som maste vara varldens nast farligaste vag. (den farligaste vagen finns tydligen just utanfor La Paz. I genomsnitt aker ett fordon i veckan over kanten dar.) De sista tre kilometrarna fram "motorvagen" ar allt annat an sakra. En minibuss far plats, men det ar allt. Dessutom ar grusvagen i uselt skick och det finns inte en tiometersstracka som ar rak. Ah, vi glomde namna den 100 meter djupa ravinen pa ena sidan, och den lodrata bergsvaggen pa den andra. Lite laskigt minst sagt.

Vi hade bokat ett lyxrum med eget romerskt bad, med vatten fran den varma kallan. Nja, lyx ar en relativ formulering, uppenbarligen. Det var mycket battre an de flesta stallen vi bott pa i Peru och Bolivia. Det hade ju varmvatten! Men, ett baskrav, tycker vi, ar elektricitet dygnet runt. Gloria Hotel Urmiris ledning holl inte med, och elektricitet var bara tillganglig mellan 18,15 och 21,30. Sa inget lasljus pa kvallen, eller hartork pa morgonen. Eftersom hotellet ligger sa avlagset maste det formodligen generera sin egen el, eller lagra den i nagon sorts batterier. Vi brydde oss inte egentligen, men det kandes lite markigt forst.

Hotellet ligger pa en sluttning omgivet at berg och raviner. En av gasterna vi traffade hade varit dar for tio ar sedan, da var det bara hotellet, med nagra fa rum, och poolen dar. Nu ar hotellet omgivet av smala gangvagar i en valdigt fin tradgard pa sluttningarna, fullt av fagelliv (och nagra colliehundar). Vi onskade bara att ledningen hade agnat lika mycket uppmarksamhet at hotellet som at tradgarden. Byggnaden var fran 1933 och vad vi kunde se hade inte mycket forandrats sen dess. Men det var helt klart en del av charmen.

Vi spenderade den mesta tiden av de tva dagarna gaendes omkring i och runtom tradgarden, nar vi inte flot omkring i en av de tva utomhusbassangerna. Det varma kallvattnet ar 72 grader dar det kommer upp ur marken, men kallnar lite i bassangerna. Det var fortfarande himla varmt dock. Vet inte riktigt, men det paminde om ett alldeles for varmt badkar, med den skillnaden att det inte kallnade lika fort, eller alls.

Pa morgonen den andra dagen regnade det tyvarr, vilket forde med sig en hel del sand i bassangen med vattenfallet, vilket tappte till den helt. Inte mycket att gora. Vid lunchtid tittade solen fram. Pa den har hojden maste man vara beredd pa tre arstider pa samma dag. Nar det regnar eller ar mulet ar det kallt. Varm jacka-kallt alltsa. Sen nar solen skiner kan man inte ha pa sig nagot mer an shorts och en t-shirt, i solen alltsa, i skuggan ar det fortfarande kallt.

Resan tillbaka till La Paz kunde ha varit tamligen handelselos, utom de forsta tre kilometrarna, om det inte hade varit for var minst sagt kreative chauffor. Kora 100 pa en 80-vag var inga problem. Omkorning vid omkorningsforbud bekymrade honom inte. Inte heller omkorning nar man inte hade mer an 50 meters sikt framat. Vid flera tillfallen var han tvungen att bromsa in, utom vid ett tillfalle nar vi var kanske fem meter fran en frontalkrock. Plotsligt verkade de forsta tre kilometrarna fran Urmiri inte sa laskiga langre. Han fick en utskallning fran passagerarna och resebyran (Gloria Hotel i La Paz) fick ett klagomal nar vi overraskande nog anlande helskinnade i La Paz pa kvallen. Forhoppningsvis anlitar de sakrare chaufforer i framtiden!

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Photos

Stopping on the way...
to Urmiri in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere.

Urmiri hotel
Outdoor pool in the lower left corner.

Urmiri again
Outdoor pool and waterfall, just to the right of the pink building.

Roman bath...
in our bathroom. This made the room luxury instead of ordinary - apparently.

Electricity...
was kindly provided between 6.15 pm (well, more like 7pm) and 9.30pm.

Perfectly good toilet...
next door in the bathroom. With no electricity at night it could be hard to find the way though. That's when this one comes in handy.

No idea what this birdie is called
He/she was willing to pose though.

The parrots where...
more than lively

First day gave us...
mostly clear skies. The rain didn't show up until the next morning.

It is a humming bird -
promise! Very hard to capture on "film". A 10th of a second later it was gone.

Lots of birds just...
flew around as usual. This fellow wanted to stand out and showed us the real (bird-)dance.