Herbs, spices, classic guitars, a strange old "fort" and just chilling out.

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There were several reasons why we didn´t jump in one hop from Santa Cruz to Sucre. One being that we´d heard some interesting things about the town and some old Inca ruins at El Fuerte (the fort). The second being the "Splurge" caption in the S American Lonely Planet. Now by now, we´ve come to loathe this very out of date piece of travel guide, however we did check the website of Finca la Vispera and Bin was taken with the idea to kick back for a few days in a very large herb garden!

Considering we got straight of the night train from Chiquitos, had brekkie in Santa Cruz, and then headed straight on in a taxi to Samaipata, it probably wasn´t a bad idea to kick back. It was indeed a lovely place to stay, have a few chats with lovely dutch owners Pieter and Marga(rita), as well as Belgian Dominique and Ann who were helping out.

We pretty much took it easy for the first few days. Enjoyed the quiet (bar the early morning barking dogs) around the area and tried very hard to find other restaurants apart from the Vaca Loca (=mad cow, somehow I don´t think that name would work in the western world). We did walk a bit further one night, had dinner and enjoyed a classic guitar concert at the Latina. Quite strange, I do remember those classic guitar tunes from my older brother, when he was learning to play the guitar. Difference being that this guy made fewer mistakes !!

Tiredness and some annoying old Germans in front of us (talking during the concert) made us head home earlier. Still, we didn´t get back to the cabana till after 11.30pm. Now considered very late by our "travelling" standards.

We embarked on a first stab at learning a bit more Spanish. We had 3 afternoon classes with Carmen Luz, a local, I think, but she was born in Switzerland. Was good to get the mind going again, but somehow I think Bin was a bit distracted with the 7 puppies that were running around !

Finally, after so many days of talking about it, we hopped in a cab to head out to El Fuerte. In short, it was a natural rock formation which the Incas (and possibly people before them) used as a shelter, a temple, a water containing area, and lots of other things. The rock WAS natural, but many sections have been carved out for religious or other reasons. There are a few water chanels on top of it for example.

Very impressive site, and very accessible for curious tourists as well. The best maybe that in this part of the world, we had the whole site to ourselves for over 15 minutes, until the second tourist showed up (a dutch guy, funny about that), and then a few minutes more for a few more. In short, dead quiet, and all the time and space to enjoy it.

We have another hike, as was planned, near the southern end of Amboro NP. Together with Dom and Ann, and with local guide Gilberto (who will feature in the next episode as well) we had a great day of hiking and most of it with beautiful blue skies ! Great views again, we seem to be getting spoiled here, and lovely walk. Maybe a bit tricky to get up the escarpment with the 4WD, but at least we didn´t have to walk up that hill!

Some interesting points here as well is the fact that so many inca, pre-inca, and hispanic fossils and artifacts can be found around here. Quite amasing, nobody seems to be interested (yet) in the area, most people head out to El Fuerte instead.

So again, a great stay, another pleasant surprise and things can only get better from here !

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