La Paz to Cuzco

La Paz was quite a contrast from the other Bolivian cities we’d been to, because it felt like we had returned to the modern world. For example, our hotel included amenities such as heat, 24-hour electricity, and hot water!

The city was colorful and crowded. We spent most of our time just walking around, looking at all the markets and vendors. Some of the vendors were clearly aimed at tourists, while others were aimed at—I’m not sure—elephants, perhaps?


Apparently safety isn’t a huge priority in La Paz. To fix the power lines (of which there were many), the workers just walked into the middle of the street, leaned a ladder against the wires, and climbed up.


We took a day-trip outside La Paz and visited Tiwanaku, an archeological site that dates back to about 1500 BC. The site has been heavily restored, though, so it’s hard to tell what’s old and what’s new.


After a few days in La Paz, we made our way to a Bolivian city called Copacabana, which is on Lake Titicaca. (Fun fact: the famous neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro is named after this city.)


August 6 was Bolivia’s independence day, so the city was packed with revelers. Consequently, the streets were filled with garbage and the not-so-faint smell of urine. To escape the odors, we rented a ridiculous-looking pedal boat and cruised around Lake Titicaca for a while. The city was much nicer from a distance.


We also took a day-trip to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). It was a pretty rustic place, with several traditional villages.


After Copacabana, we headed to Peru. Our first stop was a city called Puno, which is also on Lake Titicaca. In Puno, for the first time in South America, I got sick. (Sick as in “I can’t keep my dinner down,” not “I have a stuffy nose.”) I think it must have been the ice cubes in my drink that evening; every other night we’ve had either wine, beer, soda, or water—all of which are packaged in bottles. When you order a cocktail, on the other hand, there’s no telling where the ice cubes came from. I spent most of the night in the bathroom, shivering. I didn’t get sick the next day, but I still felt pretty miserable. Lesson learned: no cocktails.

I was feeling better by the time we got to Cuzco, the former Inca capital. These days it’s more of a tourist capital, but it’s still quite lovely.


Next we headed to a little village called Ollantaytambo (don’t bother trying to pronounce it correctly). The streets couldn’t have been much narrower. Outside of town, on the side of a mountain, there’s an old Inca fortress.


A trip to Peru wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Machu Picchu. It was just as spectacular as I’d imagined.


Now we’re back in Cuzco for a couple days, just relaxing. We’ll head to Lima on Monday and then fly home on Tuesday. The trip has definitely been a blast, but we’re both looking forward to getting home!

Southwest Bolivia

Upon arriving in Tupiza, a nice little town in the southwest corner of Bolivia, we booked a four-day tour that would take us through some of the region’s best scenery.

Day 1:
Our tour group was nice and small—in addition to the driver and the cook, there were two friendly guys from Quebec, plus Kim and me. On the first day we ascended a steep mountain and had great views of some jagged rock formations.


Once we were on the high plains, we saw lots of wild animals—mostly llamas, but also some donkeys, vicuñas, and weird-looking birds that sort of resembled small ostriches.


We spent the first night in a tiny village called San Antonio de Lipez, which has an altitude of 4192 meters above sea level (that’s over two and a half miles). We got winded just walking around! In contrast, the local kids had no problem with the thin air; they barely seemed tired after their soccer game.


Day 2:
It gets pretty cold on the high plains, so we had to make our way through some ice. At one point our 4x4 got stuck, but our driver (who was excellent) had us out within ten minutes.

We went to Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon), which is right by the border with Chile. The lagoon is at its greenest when there’s lots of sun and lots of wind. We had plenty of the latter, but it was a little cloudy, so the lagoon was only somewhat green. Still, it was a pretty amazing sight.

Later in the afternoon, we reached our highest altitude of the trip: 5000 meters above sea level (over three miles)! Fortunately, our altitude sickness pills worked like a charm. We stopped by a geyser field where there were lots of bubbling pools of boiling mud.

Day 3: In the middle of a flat desert, there were suddenly a bunch of weird rock formations sticking out of the ground.


Later in the day we stopped by a lagoon that was filled with flamingos. The lagoon was mostly frozen, so the flamingos walked on the ice and stuck their heads into the water in search of food.

That night we stayed at the Salt Hotel. As the name suggests, it’s a hotel made of salt: tables, chairs, floors, walls—even the box springs of our beds—were all made of salt.

Day 4:

We spent our last day at Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat. It was a truly bizarre experience. Everywhere you look, in any direction, the ground is covered in salt. During the summer, it’s covered in a thin layer of water which reflects the sky. But during the winter (i.e., now), it’s completely dry.

It’s a good place to take funny pictures, too.

Now we’re in La Paz, which is one of Bolivia’s two capitals. (We won’t be visiting Sucre, the other capital.) We just arrived in La Paz yesterday, so there’s not much to say yet—other than the fact that the view from our hotel room is fantastic!


After a few more days in La Paz, we plan to head over to Lake Titicaca. The seven-year-old boy in me can’t help but snicker every time I say that word.

Salta

For the last week and a half we’ve been in a place called Salta, located in the north of Argentina. Much like Mendoza, Salta itself is pretty decent, but it’s the surrounding countryside that steals the show. There’s a lot to see in the region, so we figured it was a good time to rent a car. Road trip!

Day 1:
The terrain is quite mountainous, so we spent the first part of the day making our way up a winding gravel road.

The top of the mountain isn’t a peak. It’s a large plain covered with cacti.


It also features the straightest road I’ve ever seen.

We spent the night in Cachi, a little town in the mountains.


Day 2:
We made our way south on Route 40, which is Argentina’s equivalent of Route 66. Like most roads in the rural parts of the country, it’s gravel—which is charming at first, but after a couple hours you just want to stop bouncing around. And despite the fact that it’s a two-way road, there are lots of places where it’s just a single lane.


Before long, we were in a desert that featured some incredible rock formations. It was a lot like the Badlands in South Dakota, but even better. Or should I say “even worse”? (Because they’re bad-lands, you see. Never mind.)


That night we stayed in a great town called Cafayate. We sampled a regional dish called locro, which is a delicious stew that includes corn, meat, onions, and plenty of other stuff we couldn’t identify.


Day 3:
A few miles south of Cafayate, we visited the Quilmes ruins. The Quilmes were a tribe that fought off Inca invasions in the 1400s but eventually fell to the Spanish in the 1600s.


Then we drove north (on a paved road!) into the Quebrada de Cafayate. It’s a ravine that features some of the most amazing scenery in the country.


The region is known for its llamas, so Kim was really excited when we finally saw one on the side of the road. Granted, it was tied up for tourists to take pictures of, but it was still fun.


Probably the best rock formation of the day was “The Amphitheater.” It’s a huge wall of rock, probably a couple hundred feet high, with a narrow opening that leads into a wide, circular space.


Days 4 and 5:
Next, we drove north to a town called Humahuaca. On the way there, we found ourselves in the middle of a dust storm. The landscape looked pretty bleak.


That night, the power went out. We’re not sure why, but it was probably related to the dust storm. Even though the entire town was without electricity, we had an ace up our sleeve: we’d simply drive to a town called Tilcara, about 30 miles away. Surely Tilcara would have power! As it turned out, Tilcara was just as dark as Humahuaca. Still, we enjoyed a nice candle-lit dinner. Kim had a bowl of locro, and I tried llama.


The next day we stayed in Humahuaca and just took it easy. The dust storm had passed, and it was a lovely winter afternoon.


Day 6:
We made our way west, through some beautiful mountains. This one is called “The Skirt,” because apparently it looks like a skirt.


We spent the next few hours ascending a huge mountain (over 13,000 feet). When I got out of the car to take this picture, a huge gust of wind caught my door and pulled it wide open. Closing the door required all my strength (which, I’ll admit, isn’t much…but still).


Eventually we got to a really flat, dusty plain. We were super-excited to see some wild llamas on the side of the road. Actually, I think they’re called vicuñas, so they’re not technically llamas.


The terrain was pretty inhospitable. We were shocked to see that people used to live here.


Day 7:
On our final day with the car, we drove through the Quebrada del Toro, which is yet another gorgeous ravine with stunning scenery. There’s a famous railway that runs along this valley, known as the “Train to the Clouds.” But the train tracks and the road follow pretty much the same route, so we took the car to the clouds instead. The only thing missing was the clouds…but I guess we shouldn’t complain about the perfectly clear skies.


Along the way, we stopped at some ruins near a little town called Santa Rosa de Tastil. The area was originally inhabited by a pre-Incan tribe in the 1400s, and the community was home to over 2,000 people. Nobody is quite sure why they left; there’s no archeological evidence of a fight, so it seems unlikely that they were forced out. I guess they just decided to leave.


Our seven-day road trip was probably the most fun we’ve had in Argentina, and that’s saying a lot. It’s a bit sad to be leaving Salta, actually. We’ve been staying with an incredibly kind family at their bed & breakfast (Poncho Huasi in Cerrillos, if anyone is thinking about visiting Salta), and they’ve really made us feel at home. And the bistro down the street (Don Hernando) has provided some of the best meals in recent memory.

So, it’s bittersweet to say goodbye to Argentina, but it’s time to move on. Up next: Bolivia!