One Day in Santa Cruz

August 2, 2009

Our cab driver caught us off-guard and probably made double his typical fare, but we made it to our hostel and checked in without a problem. We had brunch at a giant, bright mega-restaurant/ice-cream store (Café Bonaparte?) as we couldn’t find anything that was listed in our guidebook. It was pricey, but the food was decent and the portions were huge.

Being a Sunday, there wasn’t a whole lot open, but Santa Cruz has an interesting zoo with an amazing toucan, sloths hanging about in the open (we got some adorable photos) and an escaped monkey who was trying desperately to get back to the safety of his cage. It was a great, relaxing way to bring the Bolivia portion of our trip to a close.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the city center and checked out Manzana Uno (english), a cultural center with a great sculpture exhibit and an artisan’s market. The entire city is shockingly “western” with almost no one in traditional dress, and a very moneyed appearance, the SUVs outnumbering sedans by quite a bit.

We dined at La Bella Napoli, an expensive recommendation by our guidebook’s shoestring standards, but it was our last night in Bolivia. We split a pricier bottle of Bolivian wine, as well (Campos de Solana Cabernet Sauvignon), which was drinkable but definitely not worth of its $12 price tag. We genuinely wanted to find the beauty in Bolivian wine. My stomach has been jacked, so after dinner we shimmied up the fancy rooftop bar on the plaza for a bottle of water, before calling it a night.

Amazing Museums in La Paz

August 1, 2009

We got a late start on Saturday, mostly because we could—our check-out was late and we had to catch another overnight bus in the evening, but I also had a cold and was feeling run-down.

Around 11:30 we went to the Museo Nacional del Arte, which had a nice collection with great write-ups on each piece, drawing attention to the piece’s significant features or trends. Unfortunately, I had trouble focusing due to a runny nose, congestion-headache, and passing waves of nausea.

We finished and sat outside in the plaza, watching hordes of kids feed the pigeons until I’d recovered enough to attempt the uphill walk for lunch. At 3,500 meters above sea level and a city with more hills than San Francisco, even being in great shape the walk can feel like a challenge.

I ordered a coca tea, thinking it would help with any of my altitude-induced symptoms and a vegetarian sandwich.

My sandwich was the size of a football, cut in half and served open-faced. It appeared they’d used an entire avocado to top a thin layer of lettuce, then sprinkled on fine layer of chopped celery.

The sandwich sat like a rock in my stomach but the tea seemed to help a bit. I felt like I might make it through the day, after all.

The Museo de Etnografia y Folklore was the other highly recommended museum which had a great photo exhibit on Peru (?!), an interesting display on ceramics, and an all-exhaustive exhibit on money. The notable part of the money exhibit is that it occupied the bottom floor and the museum named the floors after the indigenous peoples world—making the bottom floor the underworld.

There were also great exhibits on feathers and masks, however the “mood lighting” was too dark to read the descriptions or even see the pieces very well.

Then there was the incredible room on textiles, where the top half of the walls featured various weavings and the bottom half was lined with skinny drawers, each containing more extensive examples.

Tammy, who seemed to have caught my morning issues wanted some coca tea after the second museum, so we went to a cafe full of tourists. Everywhere we went seemed to be full of tourists, with locals eating squatted on the sidewalks in front of food/drink stalls.

At the cafe we ordered a couple veggie sandwiches for the bus, which took an amazing 45 minutes to arrive (10 of which we spent waiting by the door, pushing to leave). The sandwiches were cold, and since we hadn’t ordered during a mealtime, it was never clear why they took so long.

The bus was good, aside from my cold medicine (non-drowsy relief!) keeping me up until 4 a.m. We arrived in Santa Cruz at the incredibly sane hour of 10:30.

Bus driver’s best friend—coca leaves for a 16-hour drive to stay alert.

Ruins and shopping

July 31, 2009

Friday we’d lined up a visit to the Tiahuanaco ruins. We began at the museum with a very proficient guide who lead us through both the museum and the ruins.

Lunch was interesting, as our end of the table had two North Americans, two Brazilians, a Swiss, a Japanese, and an Argentine. Up until lunch the Japanese had expressed a solitary interest in taking pictures, but at lunch he opened up and made an effort to talk to everyone, including everyone in the conversation.

We stopped briefly by some smaller ruins after lunch and over an amazing lookout as we entered La Paz.

As our Bolivia time is coming to an end, we went shopping for souveniers when we got back to La Paz. I bought Martín and Kevin silly hats and a Paceña beer t-shirt for Kevin as well. Then, a colorful bag for Martín.

Our hostel, Adventure Brew Hostel offers a free beer each night from the on-site brewery, so we went back to drop off our purchases and take advantage. The beer was great, but we managed to stick to just a couple pints each, and actually leave the hostel for dinner.

We ate at Angelo Colonia, this tiny two-room restaurant with less than 20 tables and loads of iron weaponry and decor. It was a little pricey, with small portions which turned out to be just the right size for me. I had a lasagna loaded with about 10 different vegetables (tomatoes, broccoli, corn, carrots, spinach…)

We then attempted to find some nightlife, however I was pretty zonked and had left the map in our room.

Paceño nightlife isn’t female oriented, so we couldn’t just venture anywhere. We opted to go back to the hostel pub…which didn’t last long. We called it a night around midnight.

Hiking La Paz

July 30, 3009

As all mornings following an overnight bus, Thursday started super-early with our 5:30 a.m. arrival in La Paz. We dropped our luggage off at the hostel and went to a 24-hour cafe (Cafe Ciudad) to wait for the city to awaken.

As we entered the quiet restaurant, a woman in a corner table yelled, “Hello, Ladies!” We looked, she waved, and we dismissed her as drunk. I went to the bathroom, and came out of the stall just as a man entered.

He looked slightly disoriented, and I wondered if he could really be lost enough to have missed the men’s room right next door. He started talking to me, and it appeared he’d followed me into the restroom. He held out a folded paper, which I presumed contained his number or a message, and said “Bienvenido a Bolivia,” I accepted it, assessing him to be around 50. “Es muy buena,” he said. Odd.

He finally left and I opened the paper. It contained a fine white powder. Scenes from a dozen different movies where tourists are set up on drug charges passed through my mind, and I quickly deposited the packet on the sink.

I made it back to the table and noted he was seated at the table with the woman who’d yelled to us when we entered. A minute later, he came over and introduced himself. He was a congressman. “How was it?” he asked. “I don’t know yet,” I answered carefully, not wanting to risk any problems.

Luckily, just then the waiter ushered him away. He receded to the back of the large restaurant, by the bathrooms and I regretted not throwing his “gift” away. Surely he’d enter and see the abandoned gift. I avoided the bathrooms as we killed time in the restaurant, but Tammy was so unnerved we didn’t stay long.

At one moment, he sat at the table next to us to make a phone call, and she was done.

We started the Lonely Planet walking tour (which is really more an exercise in map reading), praying the sites of interest would be open by the time we walked to them.

We visited another Iglesia de San Francisco, with a very detailed mestizo facade and an interesting altar with random, indigenous faces popping out. Angels?

Next, we headed through the artisan alley (which was mostly closed) to the Mercado de Hechicería (Witches Market), a couple blocks of stores selling traditional medicines, charms, and lucky llama fetuses.

Apparently, the dried membranes are considered a sacrifice, and buried for good luck. (Fotos available.)

Our visit then took us to the “black market” which we never really lcated, but also didn’t feel compelled to invest much energy or time on.

We found the Mercado Lanza, which was like a drugstore cosmetics counter, set under market tents, and then visited the Museo Tambo Quirquincho, which mostly displayed prints of their featured artist’s work. However, the building was nice and for one boliviano (15 cents), the price was right.

Next, we wandered over to the Plaza Murillo and enjoyed ice cream cones and people watching. The plaza was full of pigeons and the kids alternated between chasing them, and feeding them seeds sold by vendors in the plaza. We were too bus-lagged to realize we were surrounded by the presidential and legislative houses until hours later.

Once noon hit, we made a beeline for lunch at Yussef’s, a Lebanese restaurant where we shared the sampler platter: hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, dolmas, rice pilaf, tabbouli, pita bread, and a cucumber tzatziki salad. After a year without, the food was fabulous!

In the afternoon we stopped by the Coca Museum, which was interesting and informative though not put together in a very coherent/objective manner.

Finally, it was time to clean up and chill out. We both enjoyed hot, uninterrupted showers and some quiet time. Then, it was beer time!

We headed upstairs to our hostel’s brewpub, where a pint turned into a pitcher turned into their Mexican buffet. Excellent, but way more than I needed! Diet, tomorrow!

Potosí, the silver city

July 29, 2009

Thursday morning started early as promised. We arrived in Potosí at 10:30, as all the buses were running much more quickly than predicted.

We booked a tour of the infamous silver mines with Andes Salt Mine Expeditions and I grabbed a quick empanada on the plaza as we headed toward the Casa Nacional de Moneda (the mint). The empanada from the street vendor was amazing! 1 boliviano (15 cents) and filled with a perfectly spiced mix of veggies.

Unfortunately, the mint (which only offers 2-hour tours) was closed for lunch and wouldn’t re-open before our mine tour. However, we got to see some adorable girls in costume for a perfomance, and then visited the mestizo church of San Francisco, with its famous facade of moons, suns, and the bounties of mother earth (Pachamama ).

We entered during a service so we didn’t have a good look inside. Then we went to lunch at Kaypichu, noted for having healthy, vegetarian lunches. I ordered the Pizza de Verduras, which ended up being whole-wheat English muffin pizzas. Four flat rolls topped with veggies.

Next up: the long anticipated mine tour. Rough. Dangerous. Shocking. Important. The Andes Salt Expeditions office gave a better (more detailed, selling) sales pitch than the equally reputed Koala Tours, so we went with Andes.

However, our guide left a bit to be desired. She was not an ex-miner as we were lead to believe our guide would be, and spoke mostly in harsh, reprimanding English. It was unclear whether this was due to a serious lack of mastery of the language, or her own personality. Explanations were sparse, and she seemed more interested in hooking her buddies in the mines up with the gifts we were encouraged to buy them, than educating us about the mine.

Therefore, the tour was a bit more like a spelunking expedition in an active mine. We started out being lead from the bright, friendly office through the city to the back room an anonymous building several blocks away. There, we were given yellow suits, boots, and hard hats.

The guide was brash from the start and offered no introduction or explanations as she led us to the van. Our first stop was the “miner’s market” which was actually just a single storefront where she explained the importance of various supplies such as pure (96%) alcohol, coca leaves, dynamite, and these exotic, hand-rolled cigarettes filled with nutmeg, cloves, coca, and some tobacco.

Then we were “left” to buy gifts for the miners, while our guide kept a careful inventory of our gifts.

In the mines, we were lead down a puddled path, and occasionally pulled to the side as a trolley of ore passed. We climbed a bit, and due to her sharp, nonspecific instructions, we slid in a lot of mud.

The miners were friendly, which was probably helped by our generous gifts and the owner’s son was happy to speak with us at length regarding our questions about his work.

A British couple bought dynamite at the miner’s market (because “that’s the whole point of going on a mine tour, to make explosions”), and our guide helped them detonate it after leaving the mine. Tammy took a fabulous photo of me holding the live dynamite. My camera was already on the fritz.

The explosion was fun, identical to a movie, but with more oomph. The three Brits enjoyed it immensely, answering Tammy’s question after reading about the detonations in the brochures, “Really? Do people care?”

So, while I found the experience emotional in the sensitive material being covered so blithely by an inadequate guide, it wasn’t as personally shaking as I had expected. The miners seemed well adjusted to their fates.

After the intense (and dirty) tour, we washed up at the coffee shop, Cherry, which focused more on pastries than coffee. However, we needed to have an early dinner before another overnight bus ride, so we didn't get to sample the goods.

We had an early dinner at 4060, a restaurant/pub where I once again got my Mexican fill with Huevos Rancheros, which appeared rather soupy in their tomato sauce, but tasted fabulous with the restaurant's homemade salsa.

Our bus to La Paz was overwhelmed by Brits, but otherwise incredibly comfy, giving each of us thick, warm Bolivian blankets.

Bolivia Itinerary: Villazon, Tarija, Sucre, Potosí, La Paz, Santa Cruz

Sucre—Here we go again!

July 28, 2009

Despite consuming a copious amount of alcohol the night before, we got to bed at a reasonable hour and intended to have a full day on Tuesday. However, those plans came to a quick halt as we dealt with the hotel’s finicky shower. (You must turn the knob as slow as possible for it to trigger the hot water, then listen for the humming in the wall, to know that it worked.)

We ended up accomplishing everything, making a convoluted trip to the bus station (our guidebook instructed us to hop on a bus, and for a good reason—their maps were totally useless!), then catching the Dino Wagon, just as it was pulling away from the curb.

The first attraction of the day—dinosaur footprints at the Cal Orck’o Parque Cretacico. Apparently, they were big, we weren’t allowed within 2,000 meters of them, but we did get some photos. Rather unimpressive from this angle, they measure over 1,000 meters in either direction. Yes, people are just a speck within them.

We lunched on pasta at the Bibliocafe then went to visit the Iglesia La Merced. Charging a hefty 10 bolivianos to enter, the church had a beautiful rooftop terrace, and an interesting altar featuring syncretism. We were first made aware of this phenomenon at the Pajcha in Salta. The indigenous people who were conscripted with the construction of churches often incorporated their own traditional beliefs in the buildings, much to the dismay of the Catholic church. Pregnant angels (symbols of fertility), hearty crops, and sacred animals are particularly prevalent in the north of Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.

After soaking up some rooftop sun, we headed to an internet cafe for a bit of research, then did a bit of shopping. I found a fabulous handmade alpaca sweater for my dad.

We had some wine in the plaza and then headed to dinner. The restaurant we were looking for wasn’t there, so we opted for the equally touristy-looking joint in its place. The only vegetarian option was a “Mexican lasagna” which was only Mexican in its use of tortillas in place of pasta. However, it was tasty with eggplant and goat cheese. Once again, we called an early night for the sake of our early morning.

Sucre—Day 1

July 27, 2009

We arrived bright and early Monday morning and set out for breakfast. We found the tourist-oriented Joy Ride Cafe, which offered some eggs-and-toast American options, but I opted for the Bolivian sampler plate. There was a great cheese empanada, a ground beef empanada (oops!), a mil hojas cake (similar to those in Argentina but with a lot more cake and less dulce de leche), and a rock hard roll that was salty with cheese. And coffee and juice.

It was a ton of food, I would have been good with just the first empanada, but it was fun. Fortified, we hiked up to the mirador and Iglesia and Museo de Recoleta.

The view was great, but even more interesting was the central plaza filled with foosball tables. It seemed they were setting up a fair/carnival and these tables were first out.

The museum visit came with a guided tour, which was nice, and featured the property’s 1,500-year-old massive cedar tree.

Next up, gluttons for catholic relics, we visited the Cathedral and Museo Cartedralico. The museum was interesting, featuring an incredible quantity of silver and jewels, but filled me with some typical catholic-style guilt in having paid a church $20 bolivianos ($3.30) to see their riches, as people slaved outside for just one single boliviano to buy a bit of food.

We lunched on burritos at Locot’s (I tried to order a traditional fried egg and potato dish with peanut sauce, but they were all out). The burritos were delicious, though unconventionally shaped.

In the afternoon, we visited the Museo de Arte Indigena (Textile Museum), part of a fabulous anthropological project aimed at revitalizing the art of weaving in indigenous groups in Bolivia. Lead by scientists, the weavers were educated in the more sophisticated weaving techniques employed by their ancestors while encouraged to create new works using their own personal experiences and interpretations of beauty.

Then, we returned to Joy Ride for cerveza. At 7 they were showing the film, “The Devil’s Miner,” a film about the silver mines in Potosí—which is where we were headed next! We figured the film would give us a great for our Wednesday visit.

However, during the film, we downed 2 more pitchers of beer and were in no shape to go anywhere else for dinner. I enjoyed a delicious Joy Ride Salad (yes, even after two pitchers, I was trying to watch my pizza and burrito-bloated figure), which was an enormous mound of lettuce, carrots, radish, bell peppers, croutons, and cheese topped with a honey mustard dressing. Did I mention we’ve been eating well?