Bolivia

We have left Argentina and entered the world of Bolivia. We spent our final week in Argentina in a wonderful city called, Salta, and it was everything we love about cities. It was clean, safe, beautiful, and surrounded by outstanding landscape. We didn't expect this gem in Northern Argentina, and found ourselves pleasantly surprised. The city was full of green plazas where there is always activity, but they also serve as a peaceful refuge. The plazas were surrounded by trees covered in oranges (they tasted awful) and open air restaurants, similar to a European city. The architecture around the city was really outstanding, especially the pink cathedrals with their gaudy interior.


The highlight of Salta was when we took a one day tour to the outlying countryside. We stopped at small villages and strolled along cobblestone streets. Men and women in indigenous clothes sold handicrafts in all sorts of colors.

We stopped by an old archaeological site, and learned about the rich history of the area. There were many indigenous tribes before the Incas, and they too fought the Spanish to keep their territory. One funny story I recall is of a chief who dressed up the cacti in the area to look like soldiers, and when the Spanish saw how many people they would have to fight, they retreated. We also got to see the beautiful landscape, which is a dry and arid desert, cut by canyons with multi-colored layers of rock. One area called the Painter's Palate Mountain had 10 different colors in the rocks! It was a colorful day and we wished we had more time to explore the area, but alas, we were off to Bolivia.


We spent two hot, sticky, terrible days in the border towns between Argentina and Bolivia. When we crossed the border between Aguas Blancas on the Argentinean side to Bermejo on the Bolivian side, we were struck right away by the differences. First of all, we had to cross a river and when we got into Bolivia, there was no sign of a custom's office or anyone checking passports. We had to take a taxi for a few kilometers to get to an indiscriminate office, where we paid our $100 for a visa. They have specific rules in place for Americans because we have our own rules for them when they come to the US, but they don't seem to be very worried about their border control.

After a long day of getting our visa and traveling north, we finally got to Tarija. We decided to go there because our friend Norma's family lives there. She is Bolivian, but now lives in the US. She lived with Jabe and Julie (my nanny family) for awhile, where I met her, and their family visited Tarija for her recent wedding- that's the connection. As soon as we got to Norma's parent's house, her mother Ana came out to greet us. She is a lovely woman and straight away cooked up a feast for us. It was just the beginning of many huge meals cooked by Ana.


We spent five days in Tarija. Norma's father, Justino, gave us tours of the surrounding campo (countryside) and we spent time exploring the city itself. But the best part of our stay there was simply spending time with a Bolivian family. They were tremendously generous, especially with the meals they cooked. We had many traditional dishes, as well as two parillas (barbecues), one of fish and one of several meats. We ate like you do during the holidays - too much! We also had the opportunity to go to the campesino (farmer's) market with Ana- a crazy, crowded place. We went to a part where they sell thousands of fish (all the same kind), but somehow she knew exactly what she was looking for. Once we bought our fish, we took them to a different area where they scale and gut them. Scales were flying, music was playing, and it was busy, stinky, and rich in experience. It was a taste of the local culture that we likely would not have seen on our own.

We spent our meal times conversing in Spanish, which was great practice for us. We could understand most of what was said, and even had in depth conversations about things like politics. Bolivia is the poorest of the South American countries, and there is a large divide between the haves and have-nots. The president, Evo Morales, is also a topic of heated discussions. He supports the rural, indigenous population (60% of the people), and wants a more socialized government. The working class, business owners and land owners, feel that their livelihood is in jeopardy and have many opinions about the current government. Much of the wealth lies in the lowlands, Tarija and Santa Cruz, and there is talk about these places separating from Bolivia to become autonomous. And all this we learned in Spanish!

Ana and Justino treated us like family, which is really nice after ten months on the road. We felt loved and pampered the whole time, and we had the chance to relax in the comforts of a home. We got to see Norma's entire wedding video, including the ceremony and the hours of dancing that followed. It was great to be able to see Pascal and Sabine dancing alongside a group of Bolivians- Pascal has some moves! We left Tarija in an emotional farewell, like we had known each other a lifetime.


We spent 18 painful hours on a bus to La Paz. Within hours I felt the change of altitude, the bus was freezing cold, and there was an infant crying every 10 minutes throughout the entire night. We got to La Paz, red-eyed and weary, but soon made it to the house of our new friends, Claudine and Wes, who are good friends with Ben and Casey.

They have a beautiful, 3-bedroom apartment on the 16th floor of a building, with great views of the city. They are both archaeology students here, studying a nearby site called Tiahuanaku. They opened their home to us, and we've been indulging in western delights, like blueberry pancakes, movies, and internet.

La Paz is a very interesting city. First of all, it is at about 13,000 ft in elevation and sits in a bowl surrounded by a high plain and mountains. When you look around, even amongst the buildings, you see homes in the hills rising above the city. La Paz has a large population of indigenous people, so it is colorful and vibrant, and it feels exotic even just walking down the street. It is loud and busy and there is a lot of poverty, but I am really enjoying the richness of the culture and the unique setting of La Paz.

We spent the last two days in Tiahuanaku with Claudine and Wes. It felt good to get out of the city and into the countryside. The site itself is really cool, and dates back to 500 A.D. (before the Incas).
It was amazing to be able to walk through the area with Claudine and Wes, since they are experts. We learned so much about the history of Tiahuanaku, and how the people might have lived. They built large tiered structures, with sunken courtyards in the center. There seems to be symbolism in almost every detail, and is designed based on the natural world around them. The sun, water, earth, animals, and people all are interconnected, and you see this in their artwork. See saw intricate rock carvings, painted pottery, and shaped metal. My two favorite parts of Tiahuanaku were huge monoliths of humans with carvings all over their bodies, and also a sunken courtyard with carved heads popping out of the walls. Another amazing aspect of the area, is that different people lived there for thousands of years. So you see evidence of the ancient Tiahuanaku culture that built these sites, and Incan ruins built on top of them. When the Spaniards came, they used the stones to build the church that exists in the town today. Many parts of the new town are built out of the ruins and you see the Tiahuanaku rocks in the buildings throughout the village. Also, there are pieces of pottery and bones scattered everywhere you look, because people continually lived there and dug up the earth to build new places. It was a fascinating visit, thanks to our personal tour guides!

Finally, some pictures of the local people, taken at the market in the town of Tiahuanaku. This morning we`re off for Lake Titicaca for two days and then on to Cuzco, Peru, which will be our home for the next few weeks. We plan to take Spanish classes there while also exploring the surrounding area and Inca ruins, including Machu Piccu.

Erin