Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 582

26.02.05 Um 12.00 Uhr habe ich mit Felipe und Lola abgemacht. Sie begleiteten mich zum Bolivianischen Konsulat, wo ich noch etwas abklaeren wollte. Wie immer, am Samstag und Sonntag logischerweise geschlossen. Wir schauten uns noch einige Sachen an in der Stadt, dann gingen wir etwas trinken. Felipe und Lola gaben mir etliche Tipps fuer meine weiteren Destinationen, da sie schon an vielen Orten gewesen sind. Spaeter gingen wir noch kurz was essen und dann kam auch schon wieder der Abschied. Es tat gut, fuer einige Tage eine nette Begleitung zu haben. Die beiden sind echt ein supertolles Paar. Diejenigen die Erwin und Erich kennen, koennen sich sicher vorstellen, wie meine Tage mit dem Ehepaar in etwa abliefen. Es verging kaum eine Minute ohne sich staendig "anzuzuenden", es war staendig sehr lustig. Ich fuehlte mich danach schon ... read more

So tom randomly met up with us at the Ballivian hostel, the peace corps hostel in Santa Cruz, and we soon were on our way to hike around and camp in the nearby Amboró National Park. Once arriving in Buena Vista, a small town near the entrance to the park, we got to work figuring out the logistics of our hike. it was a pain in the ass. after asking everyone, and with nearly nobody being helpful, we figured out a way to get to the entrance for merely 10 Bs. (about a dollar). We then were purchasing food for the hike when a little kid about 13 years old came up to us, introduced himself as Danny, and offerred his services as a guide. It would only be 15 dollars a day, he remarked, and ... read more

sucre is beautiful. only a 2 or 3 hour taxi ride from potosí, you drive into the town and pass by its white buildings and amazing central square. good things. daniel, the swiss, and i visited the casa de la libertad, the country´s old parliament. you see, the capital of bolivia used to be only in sucre, but as la paz grew in stature, it steadily sucked away all the parts of the central government until sucre was left as only the judicial capital. bolivia is the world´s only country with 2 capitals. the casa de la libertad is very interesting, though i won´t bore you with details. they have a very bitter exhibit explaining the war bolivia fought against chile when they were left with no access to the sea. bolivians are still extremely upset ... read more

Sorry folks, its been a while since i´ve written, but i am a lazy man on vacation. Lets begin with about 2 weeks ago when I embarked on a 4 day, 870 km tour of the southwest portion of Bolivia. i was alone for this leg of the trip - tom was nursing his death road wounds in la paz and chrissy was out galavanting with bolivia pcvs. this is known to us travellers here on the gringo circuit in south america as, ¨the salar trip,¨ because the highlight is supposed to be the ¨salar de uyuni,¨ a salt flat that is unbelievably white in the dry season and full of water in teh wet. right now is the wet season, so the pics you will see whenever i get around to adding them will be ... read more

Another day in La Paz, I took care of some administrative tasks (laundry, reservations for my upcoming trip to the Salar de Uyuni, wine) and took a day trip to the semi famous Moon Valley of La Paz. I took a micro (1.80Bs.) through the entire town to Mallasa (where the valle de la luna is located). The bus ride took me through a very rich looking district of La Paz and actually took almost an hour. La Paz is a lot bigger of a city than i had originally thought. Upon arrival at the valle I popped in my new Juanes CD (to those of you who don{t know who juanes is, you are losers) and rocked out while meandering through the paths in the valle. It is an odd sight. I didn{t have anyone ... read more