Bolivia part 3: Coroico

It was last November when I saw this article on the BBC's website (for some reason the text doesn't show; click "Printable version" to read the article) about the World's Most Dangerous Road. Very intrigued, I showed the article to Mauricio, who laughed. "Oh, the Yungas road," he said. "Yes, I've driven down it many times." Driven down it? Many times? I knew that if I ever went to Bolivia, I would have to see this road for myself.

You might be happy to know that we didn't actually drive down the road. Less than a year ago, a new, $100million+ road was completed that is much safer than the old one. We whizzed down to Coroico, the subtropical town only 60 miles from La Paz, but 2,000m lower. Even the new road can't escape the fact that one descends over 2km vertically in only 100km horizontal distance.

Coroico is a nice town, but I'm not sure it would be worth risking your life to get to if the old road were still the only way to get there. It is located in the Yungas region, which has some of Bolivia's most fertile farmland. It is strange, though, because the Yungas is very hilly. It looks similar to Appalachia. The locals have managed to farm using terrace-style landscaping. The area is home to a lot of coca plants, but the US government has pressured Bolivia into eradicating a lot of coca farms in its "War on Drugs".

There wasn't a whole lot to do in Coroico. It is mainly just a place for wealthier residents of La Paz to spend a weekend relaxing. The hotel had a pool and a fantastic view, and one morning Mauricio and I drove to some waterfalls.

Bolivia part 2: Rurrenabaque

When you think of Bolivia, what comes to mind? I always associated the country with the Andes and the altiplano, the flat plains at high altitude. Did you know that 2/3 of Bolivia is tropical lowland? Did you know that Bolivia has Amazonian rain forest?

I arrived in Bolivia on a Wednesday, and by that Friday I was on the go again. Mauricio and I flew to Rurrenabaque, a town of about 10,000 in the north of the country. It is only about 120 miles from La Paz, but worlds away. Here the climate was tropical and humid, and we were only about 700ft above sea level. We flew on the airline operated by the Bolivian military, TAM (not the same as the TAM which had a plane crash in Brazil around the same time as my trip!) It was a really old Fokker turboprop. The landing strip at Rurrenabaque was made out of grass. After getting off the plane, I could see tree-covered hills and hear the sounds of mysterious insects and animals in the surrounding jungle. It was the perfect introduction to the Bolivian Amazon Basin.

Our hotel in Rurre (as the locals call it) was on the edge of the slow-moving and wide Río Beni. It was a 10-minute walk to the center of town, or you could also take a motor-scooter taxi for the equivalent of $0.25. The town was everything you would expect a Latin American jungle town to be: laid-back, humid, lots of buildings made from wood and palm fronds, friendly people, and cold beer. Mauricio casually mentioned the name of a college friend who lived in Rurre to a hotel employee, and 10 minutes later, we were in the hotel's van chasing down the friend's truck. That's how small the town was. We ended up making several friends in Rurre who showed us overwhelming generosity, including inviting us over to dinner one night. (If anyone who reads this eventually finds themselves in Rurre, ask around for "Gigi", one of the town's more infamous residents.)

I read that 15,000 tourists a year visit Rurre, but I think that this number will double if not triple in the next 5 years or so. A new, paved runway is being constructed. The town is near to two national parks: Madidi and Río Yacuma. Madidi is home of tropical rain forest. To get to it, we spent 3 hours traveling upriver in longboats cruising past scenery reminiscent of that movie Romancing the Stone. Once in the park, we hiked, looked at plant life, swung on vines across rivers, and chased wild boars. We also fished without poles; Bolivian-style is with a hook at the end of the fishing line, nothing more. Jaguar live in the forest, but I only saw some footprints. Madidi has more species of birds than anywhere else on the planet. We saw some macaws in their natural habitat.

Río Yacuma is a wetland that is home to large number of species of animals. I can't really even begin to count the number of species I saw during our 3-day camping trip there, but they included: caimanes (a type of alligator), capybaras (the world's largest rodents - surprisingly cute), small monkeys, lots of birds, tortoises, flamingos, the beautiful roseate spoonbill, and an anaconda!

To get to the campsite, we had to drive for 3 hours and then go upriver for 2 more hours. Bolivian roads are HORRIBLE. Only 4% of roads in the entire country are paved. Everything was covered in dust when we finally got to the river. On the morning we were to return to Rurre, it rained heavily. The boat had no cover, so we had to sit in the rain and bail it out for the entire two hours to the road. The road was even worse in the rain. All that dust was now mud, and we almost got stuck several times. The grass landing-strip in Rurre was a lake after the rain, and all flights were indefinitely suspended. We ended up spending an extra day in Rurre waiting for a flight out. There are worse places to be stuck waiting for a plane.

La Paz has high-altitude mystery, and lowland Bolivia has tropical romance. The sunsets were amazing, and the diversity of wildlife was incredible. I only hope that the Bolivian government continues to protect its natural resources and ensures that tourism to the area remains responsible. There is a lot of money to be made, and in a cash-starved country like Bolivia it would be easy to ignore nature in order to make a few bucks.

Bolivia part 1: La Paz

Wow, mom! I have never been higher before than I was in Bolivia! (Hahaha...at one point I was almost 16,000ft above sea level.)

Flying into La Paz was strange. The city is so high that the airplane hardly has to descend to land. The city is probably the most dramatically-located in the world; it fills an entire canyon from floor to rim, and spills over the edges out onto the altiplano. When you're standing at the top of the canyon, you're much higher than the tallest skyscrapers down below. At night, down in the canyon, the lights of the buildings going up the sides meet the stars in the sky. It is really a surreal setting for a very mystical city.

My first day in La Paz was spent taking it easy in order to avoid the malaise of altitude sickness. I think that the pills I took helped a lot, but I still got a headache. I lay down to take a nap and experienced a strange sensation; it was almost like I was suffocating very slowly. I felt better after the nap and the mug of coca tea that Mauricio's mom gave me. It had real coca leaves in it, which was kind of exciting. Please note that coca leaves do not produce the same high that cocaine does. The leaves must go through a very complicated chemical process before they are turned into cocaine.

La Paz is, of course, the capital of Bolivia. However, the actual capital as defined by the constitution is Sucre, a city located elsewhere in Bolivia. Naturally this presents a unique situation: the legislature and the president's offices are in La Paz, while the judicial branch of the government is in Sucre. Lately there has been talk of uniting all the branches of government in Sucre, thereby stripping La Paz of its unofficial status as capital of Bolivia. Mauricio thinks that this is a ploy by the government in order to divert people's attentions from the many problems facing Bolivia that are not being solved. During my time there, a cabildo, or open-air town meeting, was called. Over 1 million residents of La Paz took to the streets (peacefully) to show their determination to keep the government in La Paz. Everywhere you looked, you could see signs and banners proclaiming "¡La sede no se mueve!" ("The seat of government won't move!")

I really liked the indigenous presence in La Paz. Many Aymara women still wear traditional dress, which is patterned after the dress of the noblewomen of the Spanish city of Toledo in the 1700s. Their outfits include a pollera, which is a billowing skirt usually of bright colors, a big shawl, braided hair, and a bowler hat. They often have a big strip of fabric slung over the shoulders and back which they use to carry things in, such as groceries or even small children.

La Paz has a very distinctive energy to it. Maybe it's the thin air and intense sunshine of the high altitude, or maybe it's the indigenous influence. Whatever it is, I find it very easy to use the adjective "mystical" when referring to the city.

una nota breve

I miss my visitor! It was nice to finally be able to show someone what my life has been like for the last 5 months. I hope that others will follow Eric's lead and come for a visit!

Classes are over, and most of my gringo friends have returned to the USA. On Saturday, I said goodbye to Nora (not in a bad way; I had always planned to spend the 2nd semester on my own) and moved into a new living situation. I am living in an apartment with three other people: a Chilean, a German, and a Canadian. The apartment is really, really nice and when I have more time I will post pictures of it. Let's just say for now that I have been lucky enough to have not one but two million-dollar views in my life: the Potomac and the skyline of Rosslyn from my room at Georgetown, and the Santiago skyline/the Andes/a park with a huge fountain from the current apartment.

I will not be posting for the next two weeks because tomorrow I leave for Bolivia! Last semester at Georgetown, I was paired up with a guy from La Paz for a language-exchange. I helped Mauricio with his English, and he helped me with my Spanish. Now I am going to visit him, and he has very generously offered to take me around Bolivia in the safety and comfort of his Nissan X-Terra.

For a little background information: La Paz is the highest capital city in the world (11,000+ ft ASL). Altitude sickness is a real possibility. In order to attempt to prevent this, I have started taking acetazolamide, which effectively turns your blood slightly acidic, which allows it to absorb more oxygen. One possible side effect is "temporary impotency". Bolivia would be a horrible place to go on a honeymoon.

So far I have been pretty good about avoiding cravings for American products not available here. A few months ago, however, I was jonesin' for a Dr Pepper. They're not sold here, of course. But today I went to Jumbo (a big-box Chilean retailer) and found a whole section of imported American products that were part of a special sale. They had Dr Pepper for $0.90 a can! I bought two and rushed home. Then I remembered that this altitude-sickness medicine I'm on alters one's sense of taste, especially of carbonated beverages. So the Dr Peppers are waiting in the fridge for when I get back.

Bolivia sounds like it is going to be amazing, and I will have plenty of pictures when I return!

Guest Blogger: Visitor from Philadelphia

You may be wondering, where in the world is Matt? He's still here in Chile, but he's been very busy giving me tours of his beautiful/smoggy city and gorgeous countryside. He has granted me permission to post an entry regarding my own travels and impressions of Chile - or as I like to call it, the Kentucky of South America. (Why? Because everyone's just that friendly.)

I arrived about two weeks ago (I'm departing later tonight) in the cold and windy Santiago. I have to say that Matt prepared me for the cold weather, but I had sort of "forgotten" what winter was like as we had been enjoying 90 degree weather in Philadelphia the past few days. In any event, I bundled up upon my arrival. Although Matt periodically had to attend class or do homework (I can attest to the fact that he is still a good student), he was able to show me all around the city.

I met Matt's Chilean mother of whom he has previously spoken highly. She is indeed wonderful. Very kind and welcoming.

Santiago is a very interesting city. I didn't have many preconceptions about the city, but I guess I was surprised by how large and cosmopolitan it is. I guess I shouldn't've been, but alas, I was ignorant. Right now, it's sunny and 65 degrees. And in this weather, I think I would be happy to whittle away a few months.

Unfortunately I do not have a lot of time to recount details from all of our travels, but here are just a few highlights:

• Museo de Bellas Artes - small, but definitely worth seeing!
• TranSantiago - Matt was not exaggerating. Disaster.
• Bars, restaurants, and cafes too numerous to mention individually except BlueBird (for rescuing my bag and camera) and Café de las Artes cause we went there a lot.
  
• The Zoo - yeah, well, it had a great view of the city.
• Vicuña - Matt and I traveled here over the weekend. It epitomizes "quaint, latin pueblo." Great helado, cool observatory, and a pisco plant tour which was brief but fruitful (read: free samples).
• Serena - Everything was closed both times we went there (on the way to Vicuña). We had a truly mind-blowing mall experience (you can see a hot new Toblerone ad above in which Matt plays the self-absorbed, desperate house-husband).

Thank you, Matt, for a wonderful time in Chile and for letting me post some final thoughts about your (temporary) adopted country. Oh, and in case you're wondering, his Spanish is really good now.

Regards,
Eric