Up and Down in Bolivia /From the Mountain to the Swamp

---

This will be our last post from Bolivia – for this trip at least. There is every chance there will be more. Not because there is necessarily a lot more that we would want to see but because what is here is special and it could easily deserve a second or a much longer look. The people are a primary part of the attraction. Some of them have copped much, much more than their share over many generations. Hangovers of old, silly decisions by their previous rulers are still everywhere, particularly in the daily garb of many Indigenous women, but in a nice twist, they now seem to wear those outfits proudly as a badge of their heritage. The cities have an appeal, although they are not up there with the greatest examples of old Spanish town planning or architecture. It is the countryside that leaves you looking to hang around for a while and maybe to just sit and soak it up.

This post takes us to Titicaca and then looks in on Copacabana, Sucre, Santa Cruz and, finally, Quijarro. We travel from over 4,000 metres on one of the highest points of the Isla del Sol down to 400 metres at the swamp at Quijarro, more formally known as the Pantanal – the largest wetland in the world.

In news that may seem totally unrelated to this post, Ollanta Humala has been elected as President of Peru. Senor Humala, from the left, took on a number of right wing candidates of varying types. He led on the first round and beat the surviving right winger, Keiko Fujimori – daughter of the Fujimori who was president and who is now in gaol – on the final round. The completion of the election rounds opened the door for the resumption of protests by the Ayumara people against mining near Puno. Action had been suspended during the election process. When people in this continent protest they tend not to muck around. Barricades on roads are a way of getting attention. Rocks make good barriers and are in plentiful supply. Someone shifts them, there are always more and, if you have a goodly sized group of supporters about, you can deliver them – as forcefully as you desire – at those attempting to break your barricade.

Copacabana – the Bolivian one – is on Lake Titicaca. Buses from La Paz take you to Copacabana and many people continue on into Peru just a few kms away. Before we left La Paz our bus was boarded by police who were most concerned that some people might want to proceed onto Peru. They were insistent that passengers bound for Peru should get off. The concern seemed to be that the passengers would be stranded in Copacabana. The lady who had sold the tickets was insistent that this wouldn't happen. Arrangements had been made. It took a while. Senior officers were called. A lot of people became involved in the discussion. All very animated but, eventually, the ticket lady won the day. An interesting interlude but we did leave pretty late.

We have seen other high altitude lakes. We had been impressed with Issyk-kul in Kyrgyzstan in the Tien Shan mountains. But it is only at 1600 metres and is second in size to Titicaca which is at 3,800 metres. As the bus rolled towards this massive expanse of water you do wonder what it is doing up here on top of the mountains. Half an hour later our bus was in a rickety barge floating across part of that expanse of water. Fortunately, we passengers were being ferried across in a succession of small boats. All part of normal operations.

There is not a lot to recommend Copacabana. These days it is a nice little tourist town with plenty to buy if you are of a mind. In the old days, when the Inca were about, Lake Titicaca clearly supported a substantial population. The hills around the lake and on the larger islands are marked by ancient terraces. Most of these have long fallen into disuse but there are still a lot that are still either cultivated or used for grazing stock, mainly sheep, goats and llama.

The Isla del Sol is one of the largest islands in the Lake. There are a number of villages on the island but not one car, no motor bikes, no mobile motors at all. Big steep mountains, old Inca roads and newer tracks but most with decent grades at some point. We had selected a particular hostel that was just a kilometre or so from the boat landing. No worries. We can carry a pack more than a km or 2. But that is the problem with some maps. Flat. Not so with the country they might describe. Off the boat we toddled and then straight up. Only 700 metres but in the first 200 we climbed close to 200. We were a little puffed by the time we made it to 4000 metres.

The climb was hard, but to say it was worth it is really an understatement. The views from the Palla Khasa Hostel Ecolodge were wonderful. I will admit that we did buck a bit at the price but then it was almost $30 AUD a night. That was a lot more than we had been paying in Bolivia. The next day we decided that, having warmed up while carrying our packs, we were fully acclimatised and could handle anything. 18 kms later, having walked along the ridge and then along the coast for many kms, all up and down, we considered our level of fitness over a beer or two and concluded that we may, possibly, if we were driven with a whip, be able to get down the path to the boat in the morning. We did.

A little word to the wise for those looking for reed islands in the Bolivian bit of Titicaca. Don't bother. Have a look instead at the ones in Peru. They are real, made out of reeds and growing and with people living on them. The ones in Bolivia, near Copacabana, are not 'reed islands'. They are 'floating islands'. They float because they are built of planks laid on lots of drums. They have 'reeds' too. Bits of reeds scattered on top of the planks. You can get a nice trout lunch and a beer but that, unfortunately, is it. Just a little con but we fell for it.

To get to Sucre we needed to go back through La Paz. It is rare for us to backtrack but on this occasion we had no real option. Nearly 4 hours to La Paz and an further 13 to Sucre. But these overnight buses are coming to an end. And it can't come soon enough.

Sucre gets a reasonable wrap from some as a lovely city and one where it is worth spending some time. Climbing in through the outskirts in the early hours of the morning it didn't particularly impress but around the centre it turned out to be pretty comfortable. We had been expecting another white city and many of the buildings around the centre are, indeed, painted white. But is is really just a working city. There are things to see and do but they didn't seem that different from the things that most other cities have to offer. That said, though, it is a city where you can move around easily enough, tourism is not the most important thing in town so you aren't the centre of attention, apart from the relatively few beggars who always seem to have great expectations of tourists as a source of the sustenance that they can't seem to get from their countrymen. It would be very easy to live here or stay for a more extended period and, if you were looking for a place to hang out for a while, do a Spanish course or save some money for the more expensive parts of the continent you could do worse than choose Sucre as a place for an extended stay.

There was one downer in Sucre. The post office. After our great experience in La Paz we had expectations of a similar deal in Sucre. We didn't have much to send but, given that we are all moving into warmer climes now, we figured that it was a good time to shed the warm clothes. Some were dumped but there are a few items that we decided to keep and send back. Not a large package but, for some reason, the arrangement is different in Sucre. We needed to have parcels that were no heavier than 5 kg and it all cost about half as much again. I have a suspicion that there may have been a private enterprise component in there somewhere. Anyway, definitely not as good as the ladies at the main Correo in La Paz.

From Sucre it is down to the lowlands. A lot of Bolivia is in the lowlands. Some of it is highly fertile and very productive. Other is covered by the Pantanal which Bolivia shares with Brazil and which is claimed to be the world's largest wetland. There are tours on offer for the wetland and we gave these some consideration. Prices seems to be a lot higher than, for instance, the excellent tour we did of the Southwest Loop and the Salar de Uyuni. That influenced us a little, but we really are running out of time for South America and we do want to at least get to Iguazu Falls so we decided to run down to Santa Cruz, spend a couple of nights and then head straight for the border.

We should have realised when we spotted the 'cama' bus. It was old and looked like it had done many miles. The suspension had been jacked up and the springs looked very heavy duty. We had bought the tickets down in the town. They weren't terribly expensive but we were assured it would a be a 'cama' bus. The seller couldn't/wouldn't say whether it was full or semi cama but it was definitely cama so we should be able to sleep for some of the 15 and half hours we were about to spend. The seats were the originals. Many bums had slammed into these seats and there was just a minimum of padding left but there was plenty of room between them. For the first time I could stretch right out. I decided that this wouldn't be such a bad bus ride after all. Nothing wrong with old machinery, just as long as it still works.

The bus lasted well. The road was a different matter. The bitumen stopped a kilometre or two out of town. Then we hit the road works. The old road was being dramatically up-graded. We spent most of the next 15 hours on detours, in creek beds, scrabbling over massive rocks and dodging gravel trucks seemingly working through the night. There were two piss stops, one combined with food, but, for the rest of the time we thumped, rocked, rolled and bounced, until we hit the good road just outside Santa Cruz. That was bitumen and provided the reason for the rebuild of the old road. A great night's sleep!

Santa Cruz apparently likes to see itself as the pre-eminent city in Bolivia. It has a very different feel from places like La Paz and Potosi. There didn't seem to us to be a strong Indigenous presence. We had been told that Santa Cruz was the centre of anti-Evo feeling and they had recently had a referendum to consider whether Santa Cruz could have more autonomy or even secede. We were also told, up on the altiplano that all of the money used to be spent on Santa Cruz and now they are upset because it is now being spread around a bit. It all sounded a little like Melbourne and Sydney whingeing to me. No question though that Santa Cruz is more prosperous than most of Bolivia.

We had booked in at the Residencial Bolivia Hostal but, in one of the first occasions this had happened to us they had buggered up our booking. We moved on to the Hotel Sarah hoping that the name at least would bring us a nice place which had rooms. It worked – as you would expect.

Other travellers had told us that Santa Cruz had very little for tourists and, while we didn't really give it a fair go, I would have to agree. Nice square and an easy going feel to the town but no major sites of interest. A couple of us needed a couple of days to sit and kick away bad head colds so we didn't really move about that much. Access to the internet was not good, but then that has been the case right through Bolivia.

There is a train from Santa Cruz to Quijarro on the border and that sounded like a good change from overnight buses. They have three classes. The proper flash one and the most basic one go on the same days. The second class one goes on alternate days. All trains leave late in the day and travel overnight. We opted for second class. It was pretty comfortable. No sleeper but good reclining seats and enough room. Better than a bus without doubt.

Quijarro doesn't have a lot to offer. It is, however, the jumping off point for the Bolivian Pantanal and would be a good spot for that. For our part we just needed a place to sleep for a night. We found a pub at the end of a gravel road and spent just one night there before heading off into Brazil. From here it is a quick scuttle down to Foz do Iguacu and then to Sao Paulo to catch flights to new continents.

---

Photos

bus ferry
Lake Titicaca. Most of the passengers got off for this bit

across to the andes
From Isla del Sol

Basilica at Copacabana
Just one part of a very large complex

Graphic history lesson
on a memorial in a Lake Titicaca village

Creek crossing
After the bus had to leave the main road because of blockades and roadworks, we had to get off so the driver could get through the creek

Found it
Getting to the 4000m mark behind our hostel on Isla del Sol

Military musicians Sucre
preparing to play for a funeral

Military band 2
The musicians piled onto this truck after they finished playing

Hopeful
At the market in Sucre

Almost the highest gum trees in the world
Perhaps. These are at 4000m. There were more above them. Certainly higher than any in Australia.

Up we go again
We spent the day climbing between 3800m to 4050m - several times in short distances

Comments

[Sarah]

Yay!
Go me!

[domki letniskowe solina]

www.domki.pensjonatcrystal.eu
interesting blog, I invite you to Polish.........