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Published: June 27th 2006
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The virgin of the mountain
The virgin is pachamama, see? This entry will be quick cos we just lost everything that we had just written... dammit. Basically we are now in Brazil, which is lovely and very green and yellow at the moment.
To get here we passed through Potosi, Sucre, Cochabamaba and La Paz...we will leave the jungle experience until later, seeing as how we are still in the jungle really, being in Porto Velho.
Potosi.
Arrived here at 1am and started by inslting a cabbie by asking him if he had ID. WE had heard bad things re Potosi and wanted to make sure we werent mugged. Next day we watched the footie, hard to do given that everyone was watching this festival called "El gran Poder" (the great power) on telly, and no-one was arsed about the footie. Found it in a caff full of schoolboys bunking off school to see Beckham and co. That night we witnessed a festival of our own when the whole centre went bonkers to celebreate the start of the uni year. Lots of trumpets, drums,. fireworks, drinking, costumes and dancing for hours and hours. Next day we went tro museum of la moneda (the mint).
The moneda is where
the spanish turned all the silver mined from the mountain that towers over the city into silver coins. To mine it they had millions of indiginous (indig) slaves, and even brought people from africa. 8 million people died in or around the mountain, all to provide spain with silver that it used to buy goods from the rest of europe (spain had no industry). This means that silver from Potosi (the biggest silver mine in the world in the olden days) provided the investment necessary to kick start the industrial revolution in europe. Anyway apart from swallowing human lives the city is famous for churches (it used to be bigger than London 250 years ago...the spanish had a quota, so many sinners equals so many churches). The city is now feels like it is slowly crumbling into oblivion, although some people (including children) still work in mines in the mountain. None of them live beyond about 50 cos they get silicosis fast. It was this that made it feel wrong to go on a tour of the mines, so we didnºt. We went to Sucre instead.
Sucre:
This place is great. Beautiful, white city amidst green hills at a
normal altitude. Lots of fruit, sunshine and great museums. Our fave was the indig art museum, which is run by a mate of Marcelas grannie, Tatay. This museum finally allowed us to understand the local cultures, and their traditions expressed through textiles, jewelry, and music/dance. Great stuff. We also liked the House of Liberation, where the first argentinian flag lies in a cabinet, still covered in bloodstains. We really liked the orange juices that they sell on the streets and the chilled out vibe.
Cochabamba:
We arrived here at 5am in the morning and spent the morning here. It seemed a bit run down, and smelt of wee, but then we had slept 2 hrs so we were rather moody. it happens. Good archeaology museum and for once the mummies seemed to be happy, as there was a group of them sitting in a circle looking like they were enjoying a good joke over a load of coca leaves.
La Paz:
Back up at 4000 metres again. The city is in a big hole in the ground in front of a big snow covered mountain. Spectacular location. Takes your breath away, or something does anyway. Every step an
effort again. Poverty abounds, but we felt like we were getting used to it...terrible that. Saw some footie, including the england game vs trinidad in a "100% fake" english pub. Beer in pints, loads of brits, felt very bizarre. Good day though. I had a Bolivian haircut, 60p and just as good as the albanian ones i get in Kilburn! Coca museum was wicked, this leaf is great and we should import it. It even regulates your insulin, glucose, cleans your teeth and all sorts. Like I say, LEGALISE IT.
We met a Bolivarian journalist from Venezuela, who briefed us on politics and society in Bolivia, this was very interesting and we spent about 4 hours talking in a cafe in the centre, while the waiters wondered if we were goinna eat anything. Our trip home was a bit of a downer as we passed loads of people sifting through the rubbish bags that had been left out to be collected. What was most horrible about this is that in Bolivia bog roll isnt flushed, its thrown away, and these people were sifting through loads of dirty toilet paper while they looked for food, or whatever it was. Bloody
horrible.
We left La Paz on the 17th of June in a plane smaller than the taxi that took us to the airport...a 4 seater we took from a military airbase. It was a spectacular flight through the andes and over the jungle on the other side. We shared this flight with a dutch couple called Sander and Ilonka, who we became chums with on the 4hr wait for the plane to be fixed. Oh yeah!
We will leave you there, as we are about to get on a boat to Manaus...four days on a hammock are just what we need after the jungle! Weºll update you on our jungle adventures when we get there...and hopefully get some pics on this one.
Much love,
V and M
PS: Sorry for brevity, but you know how it is when the pc crashes on you and you have to do it all again...its crap.
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Ivan-Mena
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saludos
mish... asi q por brasil andan ahora... que bueo que les este yendo bien con su viaje, sigan disfrutándolo. Un abrazo grande de su "sobrino" y la Ale...