South America 2002-3

Yes, we are in Peru, but Arequipa, although still high altitude, is sunny and warm, thank goodness. We had a lot of rain in Bolivia and were looking forward to better weather. We found it.

The last time I wrote to everyone, we had just arrived in Sucre, Bolivia. We enjoyed our visit to this pretty city. Like many of the mountain cities, it originated in a valley and grew up the sides of the hills around it. One day we walked up one of the steep streets to a Mirador at the Iglesia de la Recoleta. From there we could look down on the city center covered with white adobe houses with red tile roofs. We watched boys play football (soccer) in the Plaza in front of the church and ate our lunch in the sun on the patio of an adjacent cafe, just enjoying the day.

Sucre has become a center for the preservation and teaching of ancient weaving techniques. We visited the Museo de Arte Indigena, where they have an excellent display of both ancient and modern weaving. The colours were wonderful and the patterns unbelievably complex. Two women and one man were on hand demonstration their skill on hand looms. I salivated over the weavings for sale in their shop, but they were a little out of my price range.

Weaving traditional patterns

enjoying fresh fruit with topping

Markets are always a favourite spot for us and Sucre had an excellent one. Along with the stalls of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, there was a row selling delicious fruit drinks and salads. We ordered up their deluxe special and shared a mixture of freshly cut fruit, yogurt, sweetened condensed milk with a sprinkling of chopped nuts. It was so good we made a return visit another day.

I read that there were good hiking opportunities around Sucre. Since there is no public transportation to the walks and the trails are not marked, we visited a travel agency in town to arrange a trip. We ended up with a private tour to see some petroglyphs (prehistoric rock paintings) in the hills, the Cordillera de los Frailes, near Sucre. The next morning we were driven 32 K out of town and hiked with a young guide. Mario was a college student working for the firm on his summer break and luckily, spoke very good English. This gave us an opportunity to ask him all kinds of questions about the area and life in Bolivia. Although the drive was only 32 K, we were warned when we started that it would take 1 1/2 hours due to the bad roads. In fact, we were told, it had rained hard in the hills the previous night and we might not be able to make it to the trail head. The road was indeed bumpy and full of pot holes, but we made it through.

We started our walk far above Sucre and and in a short time we could see down into another valley dotted with small towns near a river that supplies Sucre with its water. We headed down to a large rocky ledge, under which there were remarkably well preserved rock paintings. Most depicted people, including one of a woman giving birth, but there were several mysterious rectangular shapes. They are called Inca machay and Puma machay because they are drawings from two eras about 2500 years ago. We were the only tourists around but there were three archaeologists from La Paz camped there to study the drawings. Mario poured some water on one rock so that we could see the drawings cut into the stone. This prompted an outburst from the woman archaeologist, who rudely berated Mario for watering the rock. I guess if there were a continual flow of water the drawings would be worn away but she was a little paranoid. We retreated to eat our lunch in peace on top of the overhanging rock.

Puma Machay Rock Painting

Inca Madonna in Chataquila Chapel

We walked back to the waiting car and drove a short distance to the Chataquila Chapel, a small church on the side of the road. Mario explained that the Incas in the area were reluctant to give up their beliefs when the Spanish arrived, so a compromise was necessary to win converts to Catholicism. A large rock by the side of the present road was worshipped by the Incas as a symbol of Mother Earth (Pachamama). The Spaniards moved the rock a short distance and built a small church with the altar right on top of the rock. They convinced the Incas that the Virgin Mary, or Madonna was an appropriate substitute for Pachamama and everyone was happy. Now there is a small open air sanctuary next to the church with a beautifully painted Madonna and child on a rock slab. The locals come with gifts of flowers and candles to place in front of the rock painting. The sanctuary now has all the essential five elements of life, according to Inca lore. It is cooled by the wind, warmed by the sun, has flowers from the earth, water in the vases containing the flowers and fire from the candles. Just to complete the picture, the locals built a small shrine on the original site of the rock and offer small stones to the Pachamama.

We had planned to travel next to La Paz via Potosi, staying overnight, then getting the day bus to La Paz. But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry. We got back to Potosi by 4 PM on a Wednesday only to be told we couldn't buy tickets for the day bus. Apparently there had been a demonstration a few days before by older Bolivians (Jubilados) seeking a pension from the Government. There had been an altercation and several people had been killed. This had incensed many more people and there were demonstrations and road blockages on the way to La Paz threatened for the next few days. We were told we might not get a day bus until Sunday! The only alternative seemed to be the overnight bus leaving at 8 PM that evening. We had good reports of the deluxe cama and semi-cama buses in Chile and Argentina. These buses have roomy seats that recline into beds, so we decided to give it a try. It was not so easy in Bolivia.

We took a taxi into the center of Potosi to enjoy an early supper and relax before our 11 or 12 hour ride. We arrived back to a mad scene of people milling about waiting for their bus to load. There were so many wanting to leave Potosi that an extra bus had been put on. We got on to find we had the last two seats at the back of the bus. The seats did recline but not completely flatly and my feet dangled off the end of the foot rest causing my knees to seize up after a while. On top of that, the first four hours of the trip was over a road under construction. It is an understatement to say it was a bumpy ride. Even Ray had trouble getting enough rest.

About 6:30 AM, still well out of La Paz, we looked out the window to see a procession of several hundred people silently walking along the road towards La Paz. They were carrying their belongs on their backs and holding huge Bolivian flags and signs proclaiming their solidarity with the Jubilados (pensioners). It was an eerie sight.

We arrived in La Paz by 8 AM, having traveled around the rim of mountains surrounding the city, 400 M below. We had our one and only glimpse of Illimani (6402 M) with its three snowy peaks. It is shown on all the postcards but was obscured by haze and cloud the rest of our time in La Paz. The city center is attractive, with many plazas and green parks, but the approach is not. The mainly unpaved city streets sprawl up the sides of the hills surrounding the city. A satellite city, El Alto, has sprung up on the rim and it is not much more than a huge shanty town.

We were glad to find our simple hostel in the center of the city, a block from the busy Plaza Mendoza, and have a rest before exploring La Paz. At 3632 M, La Paz is one of the highest cities in the world. Our concession to the altitude is to avoid alcohol. We miss our good Chilean and Argentinian wines, but we do seem to be coping very well with the altitude, aside from huffing and puffing up all those hills.

We found La Paz easy to explore by foot. We climbed up to a park on a high peak in the middle of the city to see the view and walked the long way back to our hostel to see more of La Paz.

In the Murillo Plaza, where the Impressive Presidential Palace and Legislative buildings are, we were approached by a young Bolivian girl with an assignment from her English language class. She had a questionnaire to ask us about ourselves and to get our impressions of Bolivia. She was very pleasant to talk to so of course we gave her high praise.

Murillo Plaza La Paz

Bridge to cross Valley of the Moon

Another day we took a collectivo for a 10 K trip south of the city to see the Valley of the Moon. A collectivo is a minibus with a conductor who hangs out the window calling out the destinations served by that bus. There is much competition amongst the buses, and they take as many passengers as possible, but the system is inexpensive and works.

With the help of one of our fellow passengers we got off at the entrance to the park called the Valley of the Moon. The city has sprawled right past this weird geological phenomenon, but part of it has been preserved as a park. The land is very soft sandstone, worn away by the wind and ancient rivers to form multitudes of pinnacles and spires, interspersed by deep canyons. We walked along simple pathways admiring the unusual shapes. Down in one canyon we saw a collection of shacks where people were still living and raising pigs in a makeshift pen. That is third world living.

The paths led out to the main road again and we had read that a zoo was about 1 or 2 K further on. It was described as being on surprisingly spacious grounds and housed quite a large collection of local and exotic animals, so we couldn't resist. The zoo was badly in need of refurbishment, which we hope our entrance fees supported, but we did enjoy many of the animals and birds. There were panthers, a lion, some bears, lots of monkeys, parrots, some Condors, Llamas and donkeys and a serpent house.

On our return trip to town on the local bus, we found the main street blocked off just before our intended stop. We got off early and walked to our chosen lunch spot past police in riot gear.

Calle Jaen Museum La Paz

All was quiet during lunch so afterwards we walked up to Calle Jaen, where there are four small museums in beautifully restored houses. We paid our admission, which included visits to all four buildings. The first depicted life in Colonial La Paz, before the 19th century and the second was devoted to military campaigns in the 1820, the time of revolution in South America. In the third museum, we entered a vault to view the extensive and fascinating collection of pre-Incan gold and silver artefacts collected by a German living in Bolivia for many years. When we were in the last house, which was owned by a previous president of Bolivia, we heard loud bangs. We asked one of the guides what it was and were told it was fireworks being lit by some of the demonstrators. We continued viewing the collection of portraits and colonial era furniture.

On our way out, we saw a procession go by the other end of the street, but we continued on back to our hotel. Right next to the Plaza Mendoza we encountered a large body of the anticipated demonstrations. It seemed to be a large parade of people heading for the San Francisco Plaza. Some of the people were lighting fireworks to attract attention, but it was mainly a very orderly march. For a while we followed one group of women carrying a banner proclaiming some women's organization. We were told that South Americans get very passionate about their politics.

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