Peru/Bolivia

PERU AND BOLIVIA MAY 1997

From Boise, Idaho via Denver and Dallas it was a long flight to Lima, Peru, and on this flight I met up with Hans a friend from a previous trip. The flight arrived in Lima at one a.m. Next morning there was a continental breakfast with the Coffee and a pitcher of Hot Milk, I have not had this for years it was such a treat.

Lima is the capital of Peru and ha a population of eight million people, it is a noisy city situated on the Pacific Ocean and is really foggy most mornings. We are here for two days and then fly to Cuzco in the mountains.

Our Guide at the Archeology dig.

During this time we went exploring and ended up at a Archeology dig, started in 1967. It is a pyramid of sorts from which they did the sacrifices of humans, animals and corn. The guide spoke limited English and Hans spoke limited Spanish so between the two of them we managed to understand it all.

Next, we went on the City Tour bus and saw a lot of Lima and its different districts. We went and toured the Monastery of St. Frances of Assisi with its underground catacombs full of the bones of 70,000 people. We were told there is still space for the bones of the twenty-five Franciscans Monks who are still in residence and maintain the Monastery.

The money you pay for admittance helps the upkeep and the restoration of the wall. We also saw the "Cathedral" and here we joined up with a few more of our group.

Monastery of St. Frances of Assisi
a side view.

Tonight we all went to dinner at a sidewalk cafe, their are lots of people out in the evening and as we walked home we also discovered the Art in the Park. The sidewalks are filled with outdoor seating for the various cafes, and the only

Details of the Doorway into the Monastery.

way you can tell which cafe you are in, is by the color of the tablecloth. You can easily make a mistake in your ordering if you decide to move to a different table with a different color tablecloth especially after you order.

Next day we went to the Museum, we had an English speaking guide as part of the admission fee. It was a marvelous site and we went first to see all the discoveries made by a man in the past ten years. Graves of Kings in each little Kingdom; the peanut has a historical meaning ; and the digs are called Waco's.

The Cathedral in Lima

We had lunch at another out door cafe, and a member of our group named Arryo wanted to practice her Spanish so she ordered for some of us, I ended up with Rice Pudding, heck I like Rice pudding. It is very warm today so most people are having an afternoon siesta and packing their bags for our flight tomorrow.

The flight to Cuzco took an hour and a half, it was uneventful until you step of the aircraft and the view was breathtaking. The city is surrounded by white capped mountains, the bright blue sky and the beginning of the rarified air. What a great sight, the city has a population of 350,000 and it is situated just under 12,000 ft (3658 m). That night at dinner I learned how to drink Pesco Sours, much like our Margaritas, but oh, so much better.

Cuzco is the hub of the South American travel network and in this respect, is reminiscent of Kathmandu in Nepal. Both cities attract thousands of people. I loved Cuzco and could have spent several weeks exploring this city and the surrounding countryside. It is the continents oldest continuously inhabited city and the Inca built stone walls line most of the central streets.

Today we visit Ollantaytambo which is a major Inca ruin site.

The Sacred Valley

We went over Korral Pass at 12,303 Ft. (3750 m) and people have built up all over the hillsides, we saw many small towns and some great markets as we toured this sacred valley.

A village with a great Market

I also learned to drink Coca Leaf tea, I put lots of sugar in the tea and it was not bad. People here wad up a bunch coca leaves with a small round hard stuff and push it up into the inside of the cheek. It is suppose to help you with the altitude, I tried it and all I got was a little buzz in the cheek.

A lady going to market

The next ten days we are off hiking the trail to Machu Pichu and I have described this in my Hiking Page as well as the celebration of Corpus Christi in Cuzco, which is in the Writing pages.

Now we continue on, we are on the train going from Cuzco to Puno, this is a full day of travel which offers great views of the countryside. The train is very cold and I did not dress warm enough and it seemed as though the train stopped a hundred times. Lunch was good, we had pesco sours, chicken, chips and bananas. We arrived in Puno at ten p.m. and went to the hotel which was also very cold. They brought us hot water bottles to get warm, what a treat. This morning there was hot water for showers and we are up early and dressing much warmer. We went on a tour of Puno and then went out on Lake Titicaca.

This lake at 11,400 ft (3820 m) has been taught as the highest navigable lake in the world however this is not entirely true it is simply the best known. It is the largest lake in South America and it is fascinating the way the people live on the reed islands.

We went for a ride in a reed boat among the islands, and then walked on some of the islands. There are 1500 people who live on these islands and some are set up for tourism and the rest just live there. They are called Uros Islands. It was a fun day.

People and their pigs living on the islands

Women working with the fish...

Next we drove to Copacabana in Bolivia, there were no problems crossing this border. Before dinner we went for a hike to a hill which had many crosses on it. Copacabana is an important spiritual center where people make an annual Easter-week pilgrimage.

Going for a ride in the reed boat.

Many walk from LaPaz or even further to visit the Candelaria Virgin (or Black Madonna). This black virgin was carved in the 1570's and unlike other virgins in other Cathedrals of South America, this virgin is never paraded for fear that a severe flood will overcome Lake Titicaca.

The Church is called Copacabana Shrine and the Candle virgin has her dress changed monthly. A dress is never used more than once, then the dresses are put into a museum as they are full of silver and gold threads.

The saying goes that if half of the dresses in the museum were sold, then the Bolivian Government would be solvent for quite some time.

Copacabana Shrine

This morning we took our rice bags and went down to get on the boats that will take us to Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun) and to Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon) for the start of a four day trek of the islands. When we went down to get on the boats, the police were there, they have stopped us from leaving until our boatmen can prove that they have voted today. It is Election Day and it is mandatory to vote in Bolivia, so the men went back to the polling place and either voted or brought back a piece of paper that said they had voted.

It has been a very pleasant two hour boat ride and upon arrival at the Island we hiked for three hours to see some Inca ruins, which were interesting. We have now arrived at the accommodations for tonight however our rice bags have not yet arrived. So we sat and played cards until they came. Had dinner then had a fire outside along with music played by some locals.

We were up early this morning and were hiking early, and at noon we arrived at Challa Pampa. We will stay here in a house owned by a local family. After lunch we went over the island to see some more ruins and to see the beach on the other side.

After dinner a fire was built outside and the local Shaman came to show us his stuff. He did a half hour of offerings to the Gods on our behalf, his religion is mixed up with Christianity. The first thing he did was make the sign of the cross on his chest. He burned a lot offering and said a lot of words in his own language. Then for a small fee we had our fortunes told with the Cocoa Leaves, this is what he said to me.

Question: have you been suffering with an ailment sickness?
My Answer: No I have not.
His Reply: then go straight on doing what I am doing.
Husband - he said, stay there, and at times I am very sad about the situation.
Kids - He said my oldest son will be very, very rich along with my help.
All the rest was just so so, but it was fun to have the fortune told with the cocoa leaves. Just to make sure, I did send my oldest son a fax and told him I would sign anything. It was a fun evening.

Today we are up very early and had breakfast outside. We then went by boat to Copacabana, the wind is very strong and the boat trip was really bumpy. We took a Bus from Copacabana to a small fishing village where we will spend the night. The accommodations were dreadful and very dirty, they had not expected us, so we were relocated in a great hotel with a swimming pool and a Sauna.

Today we leave for La Paz, which is the home of more than a million Bolivians, over half are of Indian heritage. La Paz is the nation's largest city and has a center for commerce, finance and industry, it also has the highest altitude of any Capital city in the World. 11,811 ft (3600 m). The city is built in and on canyons, the town goes up the sides of the canyons. The downtown is at the bottom and there are lots of tall buildings. It appears the rich people live down at the bottom and the poor people live up top where the views are marvelous, but the hike up is demanding. This is a large city, and they say it is almost impossible to get lost as there is only one major thoroughfare named the Prado which runs down the canyon. Away from the Prado everything is steeply and narrowly uphill and many streets are cobbled or unpaved.

In the afternoon while walking, we saw the newly elected President, along with a lot of guards and bands playing. We also visited three large Churches whose names I did not get. I was in bed early this night, it had been a long day.

Today is strike day in La Paz. It is labor showing force to the New President and his government. We went to any of the Museums and Churches that were open. All the Shops were closed, so a number of us walked all over La Paz. After getting a little lost we did end up back at the hotel. To-night is our final dinner and party, it was a great farewell dinner.

The group is starting to breakup and leave today, some of us have a few more days here in La Paz. We went on a Bus tour to Tiwanaku which is an ancient city near the south shore of Lake Titicaca.

Today, a small village of Aymara Indians resides in the area close to many of the prehistoric Tiwanaku ruins. Next we went to Moon Valley south of La Paz. In the morning as we were leaving for the tour, the freeway was blocked in three places by the woman, who went on Strike.

They took their empty propane gas tanks and used them to sit on across the freeways. All over the city people were completely out of propane which they use to cook and possibly heat their homes. These women managed to stop traffic on nearly all the main streets and the traffic was really snarled up. On our return we saw the propane trucks coming to La Paz and we only had to go around one detour.

When we got back to the hotel, we found one of our group had returned from the airport. The Airport had a labor strike and the planes could not take off, so he had to rebook. A few others decided to take the bus to Puno, and then the train to Lima to try and make their flights out of Lima.

Today, is the last full day in La Paz and I walked with Hans all over La Paz, we went to the Markets and of course to the most colorful and unusual market in La Paz is the Mercado de Hechiceria also known as the 'Witches' market. Here you can buy just about anything for the good or evil spirits. You can also purchase the dead fetus from a Lama, some are real small and some are very large. The custom is, when you build a new house you put a fetus from the Lama in the foundation to ward off all evil spirits. It was a long and interesting day. My feet were really tired.

Up early this morning and off to the airport for an early morning flight, we are flying La Paz to Santa Cruz to Miami and then to Dallas. Here in Dallas, Hans catches his flight for Vancouver B.C. I stay in Dallas and make my connection the next morning for Boise, Idaho. This was a great trip and with marvelous company. It was raining in Miami and raining in Dallas, wonder what it is doing in Idaho.

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