(This is a new version of something that disappeared when I hit a wrong button and then couldn't reverse it. So if something is repeated, it is because of that.)
We are now in La Paz, Bolivia, and have been here for about five days or so. It is simply amazing, and I am sorry to keep using the same superlatives over and over again, but words like "amazing" are the words one really has to use if one is to be truthful.
We left Lima and took a bus to the Peruvian city of Arequipa. I liked it better than Lima because it is smaller, and easier to negotiate. The overnight bus was very comfortable, and I slept beautifully. We spent a couple days there, visiting museums and looking at the three giant volcanos that surround the city. It was a lot warmer than it was in Lima, and we enjoyed that. We toured several museums, all of which had mummies that were found in the surrounding volcano areas. One of them was not really a mummy, but rather a frozen body that is amazingly intact. It was a tiny bit creepy to see it, with the hair and skin and everything, but extremely interesting at the same time. She (it is the body of a young girl) is kept in a sort of see through refrigeration unit. The artifacts found with her included gold and silver, as well as beautifully woven textiles. We also toured a very large convent, in which lived nuns who were entirely cloistered from the day they entered the convent. It is related to Catherine of Siena, who was, as it turned out, the first nun who was also a doctor, although she never had any formal training. Part of the convent is still a cloistered residence for some nuns, and I figure most of them are elderly now. It was fascinating if for no other reason than for the incredible collection of religious art.
After Arequipa, we took another bus to Bolivia. This trip was more difficult because it was not a straight shot. We rode at night from about 11:00 pm until 5 am, at which time we stopped for a bit, and then had to check out of Peru and into Bolivia, then wait a bit, then got back on the bus and continued into Bolivia. This is at Lake Titicaca, by the way. We had to change buses there, and at one point had to get off the bus and on to a ferry to get across part of the lake. The bus then got on another ferry (after disgorging the passenger weight) and we all met up on the other side of this enormous lake. (We did not visit here, as we plan to do so on our way back.) The ferries were just large wooden barges, and I was really surprised that the one the bus went on was able to hold it. After that, we finally arrived in La Paz, where we easily got a taxi to the hotel. Unfortunately, I started getting sick as we left Peru, and just got sicker as we traveled on. Mike was sick for a day, but he got better fast. I am still sick, but not so much that it is slowing me down. I did spend my first whole day here in Bolivia in bed, feeling like crap. But that is all over now.
La Paz is truly a vertical city, and it has to be seen to be believed. I don't mean vertical like New York, with high rises everywhere, but rather geographically vertical. From every direction when you look up, you see crazy twisted streets going up and up and up every which way. I have been completely out of breath every time I walk any where. The people are friendly and many of the women (young and old) wear indigenous dress - these gorgeous full skirts with shawls and bowler hats. I have not figured out how the hats stay on, as they are worn perched on the top of the head at a rakish angle. No hatpins in sight.
On our first day when neither of us were too sick to enjoy it, we went to the main square. While we were sitting on the steps looking at our maps, we met two men who stopped to talk to us. They were sort of dirty and disheveled, but very pleasant and friendly. They told us they had just gotten out of prison. Then, before we could react to that, told us they were still actually in prison. If you are in prison here, they let you out for twelve hours a day. Then they have to go back. Both of them were in for cocaine problems, with one of them in for many years because he had a lot of it (2 kilos, he told us) so he is classified as a narcotraficante. The other guy was in for a shorter time because he only had a few grams. They were both Canadian. The short timer was waiting for some money to some via Western Union, upon the arrival of which he would apparently be able to buy his way out. No such luck for the other guy. Both of them were very polite and friendly, and did not ask for money or anything else. A very interesting encounter to say the least.
We have plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow we are going to visit some ruins just outside of town, at a site that is way older than the Incas. And the next day we are going to take a crazy bike ride on what is called the World's Most Dangerous Road. We go down at least 3600 meters in about four hours. (That is more than 10,000 feet.) And a week from Monday, we are scheduled to begin a six day trip into the Amazon basin. We will bike down from the Andes mountains, then take a boat down a large river through the jungle. We will be camping for part of it. My main concern is keeping up with the group. There will be six of us, plus our guides. I am excited beyond words.
Anyway, that will be it for now. We are taking lots of pictures and I am really looking forward to sharing them here and on Facebook.
"Money can't buy happiness but at least you can go sulk in Aruba." (Seen on the wall at Oliver's Travels, a pub here in La Paz.)
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