Bolivia

These people are poor. You can see, feel, touch and taste the culture anywhere you go. Going from Copacabana to La Paz I looked out the window at any given moment and saw a mixture of sheep, donkeys, pigs, chickens, cows along the roads tied to the ground, that’s right, the ground. I don’t know how they do it, but somehow these animals stay put. A little farther out I watched men and women tending their crops atop high mountain stretches, plowing their fields with the help of the animals, hoeing their produce and keeping busy in the hot sun. Because clothes lines must be limited, clothes were scattered everywhere on the ground to dry. Every now and then there was a sleeping man or child sprawled out on the landscape rope in hand attached to the grazing cow.

The way the women dress make them look 250 lbs. more than what they actually weigh. The skirts are flamboyantly decorated and 10x too full. They carry their kids on their backs in a brightly colored Bolivian wraps, this is tied around their shoulders and neck. Some of these kids are not that small, sometimes you can see long legs hanging out the sides. If no child is in wraps, the women carry loads of cargo- anything you can imagine; breads, items they may have made for selling, harvested corn from the fields, baby alpacas (cousin to the llama), cereals, straw, anything- and it really is a huge load, even I could curl up and fit in the size of these wrapped up blankets on these women’s backs. It’s funny to see the women and men walking together because the women have all the cargo and the kids and the men walk beside them empty handed- and looking relatively skinny next to these brick house women in their full skirts. They wear sweaters and shalls over the sweaters with I think probably another kid or more cargo under their tops. Men and women alike all wear hats- hats of any kind. Women have top hats that are too small sitting high above their head and the shoes they wear are really small, shiny, I guess similar to Dorothy’s red ones on the wizard of oz, they look terribly uncomfortable. The littlest of girls are spared this dress code, but once you are about 10- you have the complete garb and are made to look like you are 60 and 200 lbs. heavier. I am misled time and time again before encountering these ladies, and after chatting and staring at their face for a while figure out that these are little girls made to look like Grandmas.

I walked the busy antfarm-like streets of La Paz when I first arrived and found myself a chorizo sandwich, mmmmmm. Strolling through the vendors I bought superglue from the superglue man for my shoes that I bought in Lima a week ago that are now falling apart. (sidenote: I started this South American trip with 1 pair of tennis shoes and 9 pair of flip-flops, of my original 10, only one pair of bright teal blue flip-flops remain) I think I may buy some necessities or just plain “wants” here in La Paz because of its super duper prices. Prices fool me here though. I went to find a creamy soup last night and the restaurant I was recommended to had soup for 22 bolivianos. 22 bolivianos! I said, for soup? You gotta be kidding me. 22 bolivianos is a little less than $3. I knew I could get it for 8 or 9 in a place that didn’t cater to tourists. Those are the places you have to seek out if you want the best of the best- flavor and prices. So I found a restaurant ½ a block up with locals and decided this was the place. I got my cream of asparagus soup and mate de coca for 10 bolivianos, that’s about $1.10, and that’s what I’m talking about! I managed to walk the entire city yesterday in search of a cable for my camera with no avail. I must have entered 50+ electronic markets and stores that sold USB cables, but none that fit my new camera. In the end I purchased a card reader because the city had not what I was looking for. I was capable of getting myself a free lunch though. One of the computer guys started chatting me up and he invited me to lunch…. HA! Nothing like a $2, 4 course lunch for free… and that’s not all, he paid for all the taxis (cause he wasn’t a walker) and showed me the south of the city, the well-to-do neighborhoods with colorful mountains and landscapes. In the end he too, asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I planned on marrying someday. I had to lie to avoid an uncomfortable situation, but he still asked me to a movie. What can I say, I can’t pass up a free lunch- not on my budget!

Left is Cameron with his car before it got stolen.
Right is sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru... fabulous


landscape from Lima















Here is it... Machu Picchu baby!!!! I ate lunch from this spot, a spectacular setting for canned tuna, fresh bread and peach nectar

Here I am ( I have to make my pictures big!) in the middle of the Incan city
Left is a slide on the top of Cusco that I ever so carefully went down for fear of the muddy puddle at the bottom.
Right are my 2 Cusco guides for the day, they took me atop the mountains of Cusco and showed me everything. Here they are in what used to be the women´s bath.

Left is a typical Peruvian woman posing with her alpacas, kind of a crappy dark shot, it was about to storm.
Right is Lake Titicaca, the mountains in the backround are in Peru.


Left is a Bolivian lady without any load on her back, instead she is toting around dead chickens and cow parts to sell. No, it´s not refrigerated.
Right is a street market for fluffy corn pops in Copacabana. Streets are concentrated so that all of one thing is on one street, plenty of competition.
Below left is a vendor in La Paz, they are selling baby alpaca (cousin to the llama) carcasses- it´s supposed to bring good luck. It felt a little strange walking down dead baby alpaca street though.