The open pit copper mine Chuquicamata.June 30, 2007
Breakfast at Tatio
We visited the Tatio geysers at the highest geothermal field in the world. We had to get up at 4 am to be there at sunrise when the temperature change causes the geysers to erupt. This isn't garbage in the geothermal pool--the tour guides are warming up milk for coffee and boiling eggs for our breakfast.
The Inca Trail
You can see part of the extensive centuries-old Inca trail heading off toward the mountains in the distance. The white structure marks the Tropic of Capricorn.
On the Bus
We traveled the Panamerican highway for much of our 36-hour bus trip. It starts (or ends, depending on your perspective) in Alaska and ends (or starts) on the Isla de Chiloe.
Algae Harvest
One of the economic activities on the Isla de Chiloe is harvesting algae, which is then dried and shipped to Japan for use in cosmetic products and gel capsules.
In the Arms of Christ
Here's the Christ statue up close. You can climb up inside the statue to the arms, looking out through holes along the way.
Cochabamba
The view from our hotel in Cochabamba. The Christ statue seen in the distance is a little higher than the one in Rio de Janeiro.
The Party in La Paz
A small sampling of the dancers and musicians who participated in La Fiesta del Gran Poder.
June 29, 2007
Getting to Know You
While it is certainly easier to express myself in English, there are some great Spanish words. For example, trámites describes all those bureaucratic procedures you have to go through to get something done. The Department of Motor Vehicles survives on trámites. There's also the two verbs most often translated "to know": conocer and saber. Saber means to know something intellectually, such as a subject you studied in school. Conocer is to know something through experiencing it.
You'll notice I get more reflective as my journeys come to an end, but why am I on this tangent of different ways of knowing? Because Tuesday we saw Chuquicamata, the largest open pit mine in the world, a hole in the ground kilometers wide and almost a kilometer deep. This copper mine is owned and operated by the government of Chile. Near the mine is the company town of the same name that is essentially a ghost town. The government decided the town was too contaminated so they have moved the workers to Calama, a town about 15 km away. A good decision, but it leaves houses, an auditorium, a theater, schools, parks and playgrounds eerily empty. The hospital has already been covered by mountains of rock from the pit and houses are soon to follow. The town of Chuquicamata reminds me of the Ukrainian town of Prypiat near the Chernobyl nucelar plant. Prypiat was also abandoned due to contamination, but in a matter of hours instead of years.
There is a scene in The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about Che Guevara's travels with a friend through South America, where they are at Chuquicamata and a foreman tells them the mine is not a tourist site. I agree; however, I think the point of visiting places like Chuqui and Chernobyl isn't to pasear (another great Spanish word), but to conocer, to know somewhere or something or someone personally and to learn from them.
You'll notice I get more reflective as my journeys come to an end, but why am I on this tangent of different ways of knowing? Because Tuesday we saw Chuquicamata, the largest open pit mine in the world, a hole in the ground kilometers wide and almost a kilometer deep. This copper mine is owned and operated by the government of Chile. Near the mine is the company town of the same name that is essentially a ghost town. The government decided the town was too contaminated so they have moved the workers to Calama, a town about 15 km away. A good decision, but it leaves houses, an auditorium, a theater, schools, parks and playgrounds eerily empty. The hospital has already been covered by mountains of rock from the pit and houses are soon to follow. The town of Chuquicamata reminds me of the Ukrainian town of Prypiat near the Chernobyl nucelar plant. Prypiat was also abandoned due to contamination, but in a matter of hours instead of years.
There is a scene in The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about Che Guevara's travels with a friend through South America, where they are at Chuquicamata and a foreman tells them the mine is not a tourist site. I agree; however, I think the point of visiting places like Chuqui and Chernobyl isn't to pasear (another great Spanish word), but to conocer, to know somewhere or something or someone personally and to learn from them.
June 25, 2007
Pimp My Llama
On Saturday we had a Chilean guide, Juan Ignacio, who had spent time living in the U.S. and other places abroad. He has seen too much U.S. television (haven't we all). On of his jokes was that the llamas had different colors on their ears because they had been on the MTV show "Pimp My Llama." We went with Juan Ignacio, two Brazilians, some other Chileans, an English girl, and even a couple of Americans (the first on any of our tours in Chile) to the Lagunas Altiplanicas and the Salar de Atacama. These salt plains (salar) are different from the ones in Utah or Bolivia because the salt has formed vertical, crystalline structures, and there are lagoons with flamingos living in the middle of it all. Photos will be coming soon because some of these things defy description.
June 23, 2007
The Second Longest Day
It has to be the second because I already wrote about the longest in my previous travels. On this second longest day (actually more than one), we spent 36 hours going by bus from Puerto Varas to San Pedro de Atacama. Both the length of time on the bus and the change of scenery were extreme. We went from the lake district in the south to the Atacama Desert in the north.
Only 3 hours after getting off the bus in San Pedro de Atacama, we were on another bus, a tourist bus, going to the Chilean Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). This was definitely more impressive than the Bolivian version we visited near La Paz. The most impressive time to see the valley is sunset. We were there, but so were the clouds, so the effect was muted.
I have to explain about the buses because anyone who has ridden buses in the U.S. probably thinks we're crazy. There are different levels of service here depending on the length of the trip and how much you want to pay. The classic level, which we took to Valparaíso, is the basic level--clean, comfortable buses with a bathroom in the back. We used the executive level on the way to Puerto Varas. You get more leg room and the seats recline farther. For our long trip, we took the highest level of service, cama premium, a two-story bus. It includes meal service and larger and softer seats that recline to almost horizontal. It's quite comfortable, though 36 hours is pushing it. At all levels of service you have screens that invariably show Hollywood action/adventure movies dubbed in Spanish. I have now seen every movie of that genre from the last two years.
Only 3 hours after getting off the bus in San Pedro de Atacama, we were on another bus, a tourist bus, going to the Chilean Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley). This was definitely more impressive than the Bolivian version we visited near La Paz. The most impressive time to see the valley is sunset. We were there, but so were the clouds, so the effect was muted.
I have to explain about the buses because anyone who has ridden buses in the U.S. probably thinks we're crazy. There are different levels of service here depending on the length of the trip and how much you want to pay. The classic level, which we took to Valparaíso, is the basic level--clean, comfortable buses with a bathroom in the back. We used the executive level on the way to Puerto Varas. You get more leg room and the seats recline farther. For our long trip, we took the highest level of service, cama premium, a two-story bus. It includes meal service and larger and softer seats that recline to almost horizontal. It's quite comfortable, though 36 hours is pushing it. At all levels of service you have screens that invariably show Hollywood action/adventure movies dubbed in Spanish. I have now seen every movie of that genre from the last two years.
June 20, 2007
It Was a Dark and Stormy Day
This is winter, so the rain is to be expected. Actually, we've been quite fortunate in leaving the worst weather behind us in Santiago. Until yesterday. Yesterday we went to the Isla de Chiloé, the second largest island in South America, according to our guide. He studied electronics, though, so we had a running joke about whether to trust what he told us. The best part of taking tours, besides learning a lot about local culture and history, is the people you meet. We were in a group of 6--us, Lily from Brazil and Ruben from the northern desert part of Chile, plus the guide and the driver. Ruben had come to the south to experience the cold and the rain so he was happy with the weather. Spanish was the common language we all understood. Lily spoke only Portuguese, but we could get the gist of what she said.
Yesterday was also seafood day. I tried clams at lunch and abalone for dinner. I still don't understand the appeal. It's hard to take someone who grew up about as far from the sea as it's possible to live and get them to enjoy sea food. I've had better luck with the drinks here. I'm on a quest for the best café cortado. It's a layered drink of hot milk, hot coffee and foam. I'm going to switch to finding the perfect pisco sour. Pisco is a type of brandy that I'm told is originally Chilean. I have to say so far the pisco sours in Perú were much better, but I'm not giving up yet.
Yesterday was also seafood day. I tried clams at lunch and abalone for dinner. I still don't understand the appeal. It's hard to take someone who grew up about as far from the sea as it's possible to live and get them to enjoy sea food. I've had better luck with the drinks here. I'm on a quest for the best café cortado. It's a layered drink of hot milk, hot coffee and foam. I'm going to switch to finding the perfect pisco sour. Pisco is a type of brandy that I'm told is originally Chilean. I have to say so far the pisco sours in Perú were much better, but I'm not giving up yet.
June 18, 2007
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
Yes, I stole the title from Ernest Hemingway, but unlike his short story, this will not be a depressing entry. I think of his short story whenever I go into a café overseas that is bright and welcoming. We found just such a café in Valpo called the Marco Polo. The first time we went in there it was drizzling outside so it was nice to be someplace warm and dry. Other people were eating these round doughnut-like things called picarones. After the huge sandwiches they gave us, we couldn't eat another bite, so we had to come back to the Marco Polo our last day in Valpo to try the picarones. They turned out to be hollow rings drizzled in caramel. Actually not the tastiest thing I've tried here, but we had the same waiter in the same clean, well-lighted place, so it was like being part of the city for a short time.
June 16, 2007
Planes, Trains and Funiculars
We really are limited in the transportation options we have in the U.S. Unless you live in a big city, you have to get in the car to go anywhere. We've taken lots of different forms of transportation already:
- Planes
- Taxis
- Buses - including an English-style double decker bus on our Cochabamba city tour
- Subway and commuter trains
- Tram to the Christ statue
- Feet
The most unique way has been the ascensores (elevators) here in Valparaíso. Even though they are called ascensores, the guidebook says all but one are technically funiculars (I guess this is an English word). You get in a little cabin then chains and cables pull you up the hill while a cabin on the other side goes down. Valpo is a port city surrounded by hills, so these funiculars are a good way to avoid climbing hundreds of stairs.
Walking is certainly one of the best ways to see the sights, and we've done a lot of it. Luckily, Mom's ankle stopped hurting the day we arrived in Chile. Because so many people walk, you have minimarkets and pharmacies and all types of businesses around every corner. Some of the comerciantes (businesspeople) set up on the street every morning and put their stuff away at night. Last night we saw people hauling all of their wares on different wagons and dollies and such. I'm not sure where they were going, but it looked like hard work.
Tonight we're taking a bus to Puerto Varas in the Lake District of Chile. It's an overnight bus, so we'll arrive tomorrow morning.
June 15, 2007
In Paradise
Santiago had a lot of rain while we were there, but the sun came out as soon as we arrived in Valparaíso yesterday. We got breakfast in bed this morning. At this hotel we order what we want and they bring it to our room. The meal we had last night was one of the best yet, then we went to see the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 3. At the movies, they brought popcorn, drinks and candy to your seat like vendors at a baseball game. For a town with paradise in the name, it is certainly living up to its promise.
June 13, 2007
Arriving in Chile
We briefly saw the Chilean cities of Iquique and Antofagasto as the flight from Bolivia stopped in both places. We saw more of Iquique because we had to get off the plane there to go through Immigration, but we didn't go through Customs until Santiago. As expected, Santiago is cold and wet. We don't plan on spending a lot of time here because we are not city people, and we want to see some of the more spectacular parts of Chile like the Atacama Desert and the Lake District.
We are staying with my friend Marcela's mother. She is a spectacular host, just like her daughter. Chileans eat a lot later than we are accustomed to. Lunch starts around 2 and dinner around 9. Lucky for us they have a tradition of onces a late afternoon tea. We didn't make it to dinner because we were so tired from getting up in the middle of the night to make our flight.
We are staying with my friend Marcela's mother. She is a spectacular host, just like her daughter. Chileans eat a lot later than we are accustomed to. Lunch starts around 2 and dinner around 9. Lucky for us they have a tradition of onces a late afternoon tea. We didn't make it to dinner because we were so tired from getting up in the middle of the night to make our flight.
June 11, 2007
It's Not the Heat--It's the Humidity
We are now in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and it's much lower than La Paz or Cochabamba. We've gone from cold to mild to hot and humid. It sounds like we're going back to cold in Santiago, Chile. Good thing we brought many types of clothing. We leave for Chile at 4 in the morning, and we have to be in the airport 2 hours before that, so we won't be getting much sleep tonight!
The Peace Corps Reunion
I am way behind in describing what we've actually been doing. The most important reason for this trip was to attend the reunion of my parents' Peace Corps group. Their group is B-9 meaning they were the ninth Peace Corps group in Bolivia. The Peace Corps started in 1961, and they were in Bolivia from 1964 to 1966, so they were there at the beginning.
A lot has changed. My parents told us stories of living without electricity and running water. Letters were their only form of communication with people back home. Now the volunteers have cell phones and access to the Internet, and though they still live pretty simply, most have electricity and water. Of course, Bolivia itself has changed a lot in 40 years. Like U.S. cities, the towns around Cochabamba that used to be separate entities now seem to be part of the ¨greater Cochabamba¨ metropolis. We visited the towns of Quillacollo and Vinto where my parents lived. Mom said these towns used to be out in the country; now they are like suburbs.
About half the B-9 group came to the reunion and many brought spouses and/or children. We were probably 25 in all. The first night we all ate together at the hotel, and the next day we took a city tour of Cochabamba, then a smaller group of us visited the suburbs (what used to be the small towns) around Cochabamba. The Peace Corps office decided it was a big deal to have so many RPCVs (Returning Peace Corps Volunteers) in the country at once, so Friday they put on a media extravaganza and presentations and lunch with some of the current volunteers. Saturday some of the group helped at a community clean-up day organized by one of the volunteers. On Sunday we all met for breakfast followed by speeches, singing, tears and good-byes. They decided to have another reunion in three years somewhere a little bit closer.
That final day we got to see the inside of the church where my parents got married. When we found the church the other day, we discovered it was only a couple blocks from our hotel. We went by it that Sunday afternoon hoping someone might be there, and one of the church workers was! She let us see the inside and told us the pastor who performed the ceremony still comes once or twice a year to visit. (The church used to have missionary pastors from the U.S., but they now have a local pastor.) It was a nice way to end our time in Cochabamba.
A lot has changed. My parents told us stories of living without electricity and running water. Letters were their only form of communication with people back home. Now the volunteers have cell phones and access to the Internet, and though they still live pretty simply, most have electricity and water. Of course, Bolivia itself has changed a lot in 40 years. Like U.S. cities, the towns around Cochabamba that used to be separate entities now seem to be part of the ¨greater Cochabamba¨ metropolis. We visited the towns of Quillacollo and Vinto where my parents lived. Mom said these towns used to be out in the country; now they are like suburbs.
About half the B-9 group came to the reunion and many brought spouses and/or children. We were probably 25 in all. The first night we all ate together at the hotel, and the next day we took a city tour of Cochabamba, then a smaller group of us visited the suburbs (what used to be the small towns) around Cochabamba. The Peace Corps office decided it was a big deal to have so many RPCVs (Returning Peace Corps Volunteers) in the country at once, so Friday they put on a media extravaganza and presentations and lunch with some of the current volunteers. Saturday some of the group helped at a community clean-up day organized by one of the volunteers. On Sunday we all met for breakfast followed by speeches, singing, tears and good-byes. They decided to have another reunion in three years somewhere a little bit closer.
That final day we got to see the inside of the church where my parents got married. When we found the church the other day, we discovered it was only a couple blocks from our hotel. We went by it that Sunday afternoon hoping someone might be there, and one of the church workers was! She let us see the inside and told us the pastor who performed the ceremony still comes once or twice a year to visit. (The church used to have missionary pastors from the U.S., but they now have a local pastor.) It was a nice way to end our time in Cochabamba.
June 9, 2007
El Pueblo Boliviano
Cochabamba declared a holiday the day after we arrived. Are these people great or what! Okay, it was a national holiday that had nothing to do with us. Still the people really are some of the nicest I've met. We were searching yesterday for the church where my parents got married, and we couldn't find it. A lady on the street knew where the church was, so she helped us get a taxi and gave the driver directions. About 20 of the reunion group went to the Savia Andina concert yesterday. They are a Bolivian group that plays Andean music and instruments. They welcomed all the extranjeros (foreigners). While they have done shows around the world, I don't think they've seen so many foreigners at a concert in their home country! There aren't a lot of tourists in Bolivia, and especially in Cochabamba, and I have no idea why. The people, the music, the food and drink, the sights--they are all spectacular.
June 8, 2007
LPB to CBB
On Wednesday we flew from La Paz to Cochabamba. Because the air in La Paz is so thin, it took the whole runway for the plane to have enough lift to get off the ground. This is a 30-minute flight from take off to landing, but they gave us a little bag of snacks and even managed a beverage service. We're planning on taking a bus from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, our next destination in Bolivia. I would write more, but I'm dreaming about breakfast--fresh-baked bread, fresh fruits, freshly squeezed juice--you get the picture. I'll tell you more about Coch this evening.
June 7, 2007
Prison Life
I showed Mark (my brother) a little of La Paz yesterday. We visited one of the plazas near the center of the city. On one side of the plaza is a prison, on another side is a school, on a third side is a hotel and the fourth side had businesses with people living above them. In the center of the square is the garden area where people sit on benches and talk or walk around or buy newspapers or candy from little news stands. Mark found the multi-use nature of the plaza interesting because in most American cities you have separate areas for businesses and for residences, and there's no way a prison would be in the center of town. The guidebook described the prison as a town within a town because there are no guards inside the prison. The prisoners themselves organize their social structure and living arrangements. The book also said you used to be able to tour the prison. I've seen the inside of enough Latin American prisons. I guess I should clarify that. When I worked in Honduras, I occasionally had to visit Amercians being held in Honduran jails, so I saw 3 or 4 different prisons there.
June 6, 2007
The Other Gringo Has Landed
My brother arrived this morning in La Paz. He's doing very well considering this is the first foreign country besides Canada he's visited. I think he's stepped over the border into Mexico, too, but border towns rarely give the true flavor of a country. Mom and I saw many of the major sights in and around La Paz. On Monday we visited the ruins at Tihuanaco, about 30 miles from La Paz. Tihuanaco was the main city of a civilization that predated the Incas. The site has many impressive carved statues. One of the largest used to stand in a main plaza in La Paz. About 5 years ago they replaced it with a copy and moved the original to a museum in Tihuanaco to better preserve it. The site itelf isn't very big, but they are doing a lot more excavating, and it should be really nice in a few years.
The Submarino was delicious by the way.
The Submarino was delicious by the way.
June 5, 2007
Food and Drink
Well, we're certainly not starving here. We had a fantastic Bolivian meal on Saturday night. Sunday night we tried a Cuban restaurant. I had ropa vieja (old clothes) and a mojito, a typical Cuban drink with muddled mint, sugar, rum and soda. The mojito was missing something; I think it was the splash of bitters. The Cuban coffee was excellent, though! I am doing the hot drink tour of La Paz. Breakfast is included with our room, so we eat at the hotel every morning. They set out hot milk, and I make my own concoction of 3/4 coffee and 1/4 milk, basically a café con leche. Last night we ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant, and they had Arabic Coffee. This was our most disappointing dining experience--neither the food nor drink was very good. Tonight I'm going to try a Submarino, a drink of hot milk with a Bolivian chocolate bar stuck in it. My mom doesn't like hot drinks or alcoholic drinks. I tell her she's missing out on half the experience!
June 4, 2007
Somebody Get Me Some Oxygen
La Paz is at 12,000 feet, and even though I live at 7,000, it's still an adjustment. Yesterday we went to the Museo de la Coca (Cocaine Museum) and learned all about the properties of the coca leaf, such as it helps people cope with the altitude. We also went to the moon--the Valley of the Moon, that is. It's a stark and rough landscape near La Paz. The golf course (world's highest) is the backdrop for the valley, so that ruins the effect of being on the moon. The lack of oxygen is similar, though. More later on yesterday's tour and our activities today.
June 2, 2007
La Fiesta del Gran Poder
The Bolivians are so nice they threw us a party as soon as we arrived. It started about 9 this morning and is still going on. Okay, it wasn't just for us. It's a yearly festival called La Fiesta del Gran Poder. All these different dance groups do a variety of traditional and some modern dances. The schedule has 52 groups on it, and each group has between 100 and 500 dancers in colorful costumes with their own marching band (the larger groups have more than one band). People set off fireworks and throw confetti from the sidelines. It's like our parades only much longer and more lively.
The Gringos Have Landed
We've arrived in La Paz. It seems like a continuation of the previous day. We started from Albquerque and changed planes in Dallas and Miami. Even though all planes were almost full, we had an extra seat in our row on the flight to Miami and the flight to La Paz. ¡Que suerte!
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