Page 3 of Benbrook78 Travel Blog Posts


South America » Peru » Arequipa » Colca Canyon October 7th 2008

Midday at the Oasis No one ever wakes you from a light sleep. They always pull you out of either the deepest of dark comas or - perhaps worse - the best of dreams. I am happily oblivious to time in the coma version of deep sleep when Ross's voice interrupts it. "I did it guys!" Before the darkness is replaced by a murky, yellow glow cast through my eyelids and onto my retinas by the bare light bulb fixed in the center of the ceiling, its sound is replaced. The sound of darkness is that of the low, thudding hum of REM sleep - the sound of the ancient, diesel-fueled machinery just below the fabric of reality that keeps everything running. The sound that replaces it is just as faint, but linear and much more ... read more
Colcan Canyon
Colcan Canyon
Ross

South America » Peru » Arequipa » Colca Canyon October 7th 2008

Running Down the Way Up (Part 1) Reunion "Listen. You hear that?" Anna - seated cross-legged on her bed - looks up from her notebook and pauses. "No. Hear what?" I get up, walk over to the door, and open it a crack. I listen to the conversation in English downstairs in the hostel lobby for a moment and look back at Anna. "It's almost exactly like last time!" "Last time what?" she asks. I poke my head out the door and wait for a lull in the discussion. "English go home!" I yell down the stairs. "Ah, hang on," says one of the voices. "Good morning, Tony!" Ross comes bounding up the stairs to shake my hand. "Ross!" squeals Anna, jumping up from the bed to give him a hug. This isn't a chance meeting. ... read more
Weird Cactus
Trying to Get the Cactus out of Ross's Finger
The Desserted Street Leading Into Yanque

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Isla del Sol October 3rd 2008

On to Yampupata After one last early breakfast at our favorite place on the shore, Anna and I buy some water and head down the road that leads out of Copacabana and toward Yampupata. At first, the road cuts away from the shore of the lake. It takes us through large fields that are being sown with various crops. We see three or four men working in each of these fields with shovels and hoes. A few more pass us on bicycles going to or coming from Copacabana with burlap sacks of supplies hanging from the handlebars. They wish us buenos dias. Two-story wooden houses stand in front of some of the fields at the roadside. Goats invariably loiter outside the houses - barnyard sentries watching us stroll by as they munch on mouthfuls of grass. ... read more
The Walk to Yampupata
The Walk to Yampupata
Island Steps

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Copacabana October 1st 2008

Lake in the Sky After a series of micros and a ferry, Anna and I finally end up in a shared taxi leaving a tiny village on its way to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. The taxi - a station wagon - is already full by the time we arrive. But there is a blanket folded in the trunk section, so we throw our packs up on the luggage rack, and crawl inside. Seated backwards with our knees scrunched up to our chests, we watch the road fly away from beneath us through the rear window. The hilly and winding road is lined with beautiful green trees and grass that permeate the air with the pristine scent of forest. As we come around the corner of a hill, the lake comes into view below us. Titicaca is ... read more
Sunset #1
Lake Titicaca
Above Copacabana

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Sorata September 28th 2008

"We saw shadows of the morning light Shadows of the evening sun Until the shadows and the light were one" - "Three Days" by Jane's Addiction Day Two The leaf of a coca plant contains an alkaloid known as cocaine. This alkaloid has a variety of effects on the human body such as hunger suppression and pain relief. More notably, it can greatly increase the body's ability to absorb oxygen into the bloodstream. This makes it useful for fighting off the symptoms of altitude sickness and gives a bit of an energy boost. Keeping a wad of the leaves in your mouth is hardly equivalent to snorting cocaine (obviously named for the key alkaloid). For one thing, to produce just 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of the narcotic, you need 363 kg (~800 lbs) of dry ... read more
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Sorata September 26th 2008

The traveler stopped at the side of the road where a man wrapped in a heavy fleece and an aging hat pulled down low over his brow stood adjusting the straps of the bundle piled on the back of his pack mule. "Buen día, Señor. Do you know the way to Bolivia?" Not looking up, the man swung an arm out behind him. He pointed with a stubby, worn finger to the West. He then lifted his arm to not only point west - but up at a 45° angle to the tops of faded, hazy mountains in the distance. Pausing only to move a wad of coca leaves from the inside of one cheek to the other with his tongue, he responded, "There. Arriba." We look at maps of the world and see two-dimensional sets ... read more
Sorata
Sorata
Sorata

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz September 25th 2008

Dread Point La Paz - the capital of Bolivia - is a city of around 900,000 people. It is draped over the rim, sides, and bottom of a wide canyon. Long after the sun has disappeared below the horizon, the bus Anna and I are on enters La Paz from the Southeast and runs along the upper edge of the canyon for about half an hour before descending into the heart of the city. This affords us a magnificent view of the lights of the capital both below and along the opposite slope - forming a curved grid like an illustration of the curvature of the universe in a cosmology documentary. I'm not one to do much planning or worrying. But I am an incessant list maker. Within the loose structure of any plan I do ... read more
Equinox Performance
Air Force Band
Photo 7

South America » Bolivia » Cochabamba Department » Cochabamba September 20th 2008

I wake up lying on my stomach with my left arm hanging off the side of the bed. I pull my face up out of the pillow, raise my hand up off the cold tile floor, and look at my watch. 10:00am. Five hours of sleep. It occurs to me that I'm still not sure if I'm in the right hostel. Ross emailed me the name and address yesterday before I left Sucre. When I arrived in Cochabamba at just before 5am this morning, I told the taxi driver the address. He seemed confused at first. "Eh....un hostal?" "Sí." I am, indeed, lying in a bed in a hostel. But now I am wondering if the driver, not sure of the address I gave, just dropped me off at any old hostel. And when I arrived, ... read more
Mike, Anna, Ross, and Ailbhe
Ross and Ailbhe
Rum, cards, and me

South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre September 18th 2008

A new week arrives in Bolivia. The bodies of several supporters of Evo Morales have been found murdered in the northern region of Pando. The governor of the region has been arrested on orders from La Paz. He is accused of paying death squads to hunt down the supporters and kill them. Meanwhile, in La Paz, all non-essential personnel have been evacuated from the United States embassy. Two full flights of American citizens have been evacuated from the La Paz airport, and the State Department is strongly warning against all travel into Bolivia - fearing violence against Americans. Things in Bolivia are bad. But this is just embarrassing. The UK Foreign Office is saying that travel to Bolivia is fine, but that Santa Cruz and Pando should definitely be avoided. My fellow Americans: CHILL OUT. Our ... read more
Ailbhe, Mike, Ross, and Tony
Photo 2
Photo 3

South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre September 13th 2008

And after all, we're only ordinary men My last morning in Potosí is a lazy one. I had intended on leaving for Sucre at around 8am, but I seem to have found an excuse to pack and repack my things a few times over. The reason is probably that my tiny one-bed room has a crummy little television parked on a small end table. The local cable service is loaded with an array of Spanish-speaking and Brazilian channels. But it also provides CNN International. Not my first choice of journalistic integrity, but I've been completely disconnected from the planet for a few weeks. I'll take anything. One of the main topics of discussion is Bolivia. Protests in Santa Cruz and the northern region of Pando have ratcheted up a few notches. The U.S. State Department is ... read more
La Entrada de los Niños
La Entrada de los Niños
La Entrada de los Niños




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