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Published: October 23rd 2010
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Bolivia
Lake Titicaca
We crossed the border into Bolivia and had to pay the huge $135 US dollar visa that is only for Americans. We would soon find out the the visa is worth it because Bolivia has so much to offer a traveler. We arrived at Copacabana, a town right on the edge of Lake Titicaca. It was a beachy town with lots of water sports and activities. As we walked around town we saw many cars which were covered in decorations driving past the church in the main plaza. At first we thought it was a wedding but we found out that people in this town drive their cars to the church to be blessed and prevent car accidents. We took a boat to Isla Del Sol, an island in Lake Titicaca to spend the night. As we disembarked the boat, we were faced with a steep hill. We had to climb the hill with our bags since all of the island accommodations were at the top. When we finally finished the climb, we were treated to spectacular scenic views of the lake, other islands, and the sunset. The island was very calm and relaxing.
La
Paz
The bus ride into La Paz is wonderful since you approach the big city from mountains up above and look down onto the sprawling city and the colorful rooftops. Our hostel in La Paz was also a microbrewery which made for a lively atmosphere. We spent some time walking around La Paz, viewing the churches, and looking in the shops. The city has a witches market where you can buy various potions, herbs, dried out animal parts. We bought a pachamama, which is a little statue that represented mother earth and brought good luck to the family. We also had all of our Brazilian visa documents ready and we made our way to the embassy, only to find out that they were closed, although it was neither a holiday in Bolivia nor Brazil. We decided that we would not be able to make it to Brazil on this trip since we did not have the time left in Bolivia for the visa to process.
Amazon
We took a quick plane flight into the Bolivian Amazon. The plane flew past mountains and landed on a dirt runway in the middle of a field. A van drove to
the runway and picked us up since there was no terminal. We drove over bumpy unpaved roads until we reached the river. We boarded a canoe-like boat and headed down the river. With in minutes we had seen more alligators than we could count. They were everywhere and many of them had their mouths wide open to stay cool in the heat and regulate their temperature. The landscape beside the river was jungle with lots of trees and vines. We also saw capibaras which are the largest rodents in the world. They looked exactly like guinea pigs but they were the size of large dog. The next day we went anaconda hunting. Our group used sticks to look through bushes and we looked up in the trees as we walked. Despite hours of searching we only found two dead anacondas and one skin that had been shed. We then went to find pink dolphins. We thought after that we would be told we were going to see unicorns, but apparently river dolphins in Bolivia are pink. As we drove up the river in our boat, we got stuck in some tall grass as the river became swampy. Our boat guide
spotted an anaconda in the grass right next to our boat. It quickly slid away into the water. Then the boat driver took us back down the river 100 yards and turned the boat in circles to ¨scare off¨the alligators that were about 20 yards down the river. He told us to jump in and we would swim with pink dolphins. We thought he was kidding since there were alligators in sight and we just left an anaconda, but he was not. Our group of six people decided that we would all go in and we did. We also then saw the pink dolphins swimming in the water next to us. We eventually got back in the boat...amazed that no one was eaten. Our boat guide drove 200 yards and then handed us fishing line and told us this is where we would go piranha fishing. We all started laughing because we could not believe that we had just swam in piranha infested water, on top of everything else in the water. The piranhas we caught were really small but our guide told us that they can work together to eat a human in no time at all. We were
able to try the piranhas after they had been cooked back at camp. On our last morning, we went to feed an alligator. Our guide knew one that was blind. We could not believe how close we got to the alligator...out of the boat just a few feet away! We watched from the boat as our guide got close to the other alligators and fed them piranhas. Then we saw an anaconda in a tree on the shore and went on the beach to get a closer look at it. For the record, we have decided that our swim in the Amazon River was the most dangerous thing we have done on our entire trip, but we survived!
Death Road
After our flight back to La Paz, we did a bike trip down the world´s most dangerous road a.k.a. the death road. More deaths have occurred on this road then any other road in the world. Five years ago an alternative and safer road was built so now very few vehicles use the old road. One look at it ad you can see the problem. It is a one lane unpaved dirt and gravel road which winds through
the mountain in a series of sharp turns and one side of the road is straight down a mountainside. The bike ride was really fun and went extremely fast. We started at 4700 meters and ended at 1100 meters which is about 12,000 feet down in total. We chose a company that takes pictures of you as you go so that we did not have to stop for pictures. We were lucky and ended up being the only two people on the tour that day, so we cruised down without stopping...well, almost without stopping. Rachel skidded on some gravel and fell off her bike once. It was painful but she still thought it was fun to go fast after the fall, she just stayed away from the cliff edge. The guides on our trip said we were faster than any other trip on the death road.
Salt Flats
We visited the Bolivian Salt flats which are the world´s largest salt flats, all of which are above 12,000 feet in elevation. We saw amazing salt and rock formations (one looks like a tree) as well as dead coral which shows that the land used to be covered by ocean
many years ago. We spent one night in a salt hotel which had tables, chairs, walls, and the ceilings all made out of salt. We saw lakes full of three different kinds of flamingos. One lake was red due to the algae. On the last morning of our trip we visited geysers.
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Ellen Kay
non-member comment
Bolivia
May I please count your fingers and toes when you get home? Was your bed in the Salt Hotel also made out of salt? (What happens when you sweat?) Love you, Aunt Ellen