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Published: July 16th 2008
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Buenos Dias!
Sorry for the lapse in communication! We have been extremely busy sightseeing and traveling these past few days, with minimal time for internet. Thank you for all the comments, I really enjoy reading all of them.
So we finally were able to flee Sicuani at 6pm on Wednesday night. We decided to head straight to La Paz, as we were afraid that we would not have enough time to spare to spend in Copacabana. We were happy to get back on the bus, but it still made for a miserable ride. There was some strange old Peruvian man who had apparently stayed on the bus for the entire 48 hours it was stopped in Sicuani, alone. As you can probably imagine, he smelled quite awful, like vomit...and also happened to be sitting right across from us. He snored like a bear... It made for a slow treck through the Altiplano region. I never imagined that the blockades would be so prevelant. There were far too many to count. Because the protest had just ended, the rocks were only cleared off of one lane in the road, so the driver had to constantly swerve to dodge them. There
were even blockades where there were no cities in sight. July is apparently the month for Peruvian Protests, as their independence day is July 28. I hear they may be planning another one around the 25, so I will plan accordingly to lay low somewhere subtle on the coast... or conveniently escape to Ecuador.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7498949.stm >
We drove all night to La Paz. We crossed through some poverty stricken cities, including Juliaca. I got nervous just driving through it, with a multitude of wild dogs roaming the streets, ripping through trash. One side of the street had been torn out, with no plans to be rebuilt. There were piles of rubble everywhere. I now understand why the peruvian people are so desperate to get the attention of the government. We stopped an hour short of the border at about 2am, and the driver turned off the bus. Apparently the border doesn´t open until 7:30 peruvian time so it would have been pointless to get there ahead of time. We were allowed to ´sleep´ for about 3 hours, which was near impossible on the uncomfortable bus. The excessive snoring was like that of a bear den.
The
border crossing from Peru to Bolivia was inefficient and cold, but we were grateful! We heard mixed reviews about the safety of it, but we had no problems. The immigration officer looked pretty closely at my visa, which made me nervous. I was the only american on our bus, so I was the only person who needed a visa. We converted our dollars to Bolivianos, almost an 8-1 exchange rate! We were rich!
Descending into La Paz was spectacular. The city consumes an entire valley, and is built up the entire length of the steep walls around it. Our priority was to get plane tickets into Rurrenabaque for our Amazon visit. Both TAM and Amazonas were booked for several days, which we did not have time for... so we had to give up on our plans for the jungle (for now). Instead we purged and rented a great hotel room for $30 US, which is extremely expensive there. It was worth it after our time stuck in the Andes... hot shower, warm beds, CABLE TV. We fell asleep that night watching I love New York, and a series of Peruvian music videos. Most of the women looked like drag
Chaos
It is such a busy city. We had to run across the streets dodging taxis. Toto... I don´t think we are in boulder anymore... queens.
Bolivia is the poorest country in SA, and it was evident. The entire city was a big chaotic street market. We wandered around shoppìng that day and gorged on the delicious empanadas that they sold on the street. At one point, when I was trying find wool pajama pants in my size (everyone is tiny down here, liz and I have hit our heads on doorways, ceilings, bus cargo holds, everything), I was told by storeowner that my mother fed me too much leche as a child, and that´s why I am am so large... thanks mom! The storeowners do not understand the concept of competition, as there are sections of the market for each good... ie. 10 liquor stores in a row, 10 party supply stores in a row, 10 stands of raw meat in a row, etc. We visited the witches market, which was a lot smaller than we had anticipated. IT was still interesting to see the alpaca fetuses and random talismans for sale... it had a very mysterious feel to it.
That night we stayed at Loki Hostel, as we had made previous reservations and we wanted to mingle at the bar in
Bolivian Wedding Photos
Reminds me of Trish and Clay! the hostel. Liz came down with a bit of dehydration after the strenuous day of shopping, so I went to try and mingle by myself. Fortunately, I ran into some people from our Sicuani disaster. One of them had been robbed at gunpoint in a cab in La Paz by a fake police earlier that evening! Very scary... Liz and I had felt safe up to that point, so we made sure to carry our Mace and pocket knife at all times, hah.
The next day we went to Valley of the Moon and hiked around a bit. It was cool, although we got ripped off by the cab driver. We also staggered up to a park which had an amazing playground and an even better view point. Got a few pics there and left after 3 days and 2 nights in La Paz via local bus to Copacabana (2 days, 2 nights). From there we went to Arequipa, Peru (1 night, 1 day). But alas I am behind in my blogging and will catch up ASAP. Miss you all, and its good to hear from everyone.
Adios!
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Matt
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Bus Rides & Alpacas
So you were surprised that there could be other stinky people that snore like bears on this planet besides you? Haha sounds like the trip is going well. Still at the office, still jealous that you're traveling while i'm stuck here. Bring me back some empanadas or some alpacas or something