| November 22 Lady: Corioco sits on the side of a mountain with blue skies above and a lush, tropical forest in the valley below. From the hotel pool I get an amazing view. I took advantage by spending the day sunning, swimming, and reading a great book. Matt: I hired a driver to take me to Alto La Paz to meet my guide, Freddy. In the shadow of the stunning 19,795 foot peak of Huayna Potosi, we praticed ice wall climbing and generally goofed off on the glacier. Back at the refuge, I saw a vescacha, a wild rabbit with a long tail and ears. Hotel - $7, Food - $14, Guide - $59, Random (laundry - $$6, Meds - $7) Total - $93 |
| November 23 Lady: Happy Thansgiving!! I spent the day again by th pool but took time out to call home for the holiday. As you might imagine, the tomatoe and avacado sandwich I had eaten for lunch didn't sound that great after hearing what was on the tables back home. Matt: Freddy and I went hiking, laboring a bit from heavy packs and the altitude. The Andes scenery is incredible and I saw several soaring condors. We grilled hot dogs for dinner. One of the interesting stories Freddy told was that for years the campesinos believed the visitng gringos were climbing mountains because there was gold on the summits. Hotel - $7, Food - $12, Guide - $59 Total - $78 |
| November 24 Lady said it was hard to leave the pool and friends just to come back to La Paz and meet me. As for my part, I got up early and enjoyed a great starscape. We did some clibing but I wasn't feeling too well because of the altitude. I returned to La Paz about an hour before our overnight bus left for Sucre. Hotel - $6, Food - $5, Trans - $28, Guide - $59 Total - $98 |
| November 25 The former capital of Bolivia, Sucre is a relaxed, white-washed colonial town. We came primarily to visit the Museum of Indigenous Arts which is dedicated to the region's textile traditions. We really enjoyed the weaving room where we could sit and watch the artists. For the rest of the day, we didn't accomplish much or try to. It was a sunny, warm day and the ice cream was great. Hotel - $11, Food - $16, Trans - $1, Tour - $3, Random (internet - $4) Total - $35 |
| November 26 About an hour and half east of Sucre, the still traditional town of Tarabuco holds a Sunday market. We thought it was a perfect mix of touristy items and local necessities. We walked around to side streets of the plaza which were filled with the crafts like bags and old weavings as well as everyday goods including boots, dried chili peppers, baby chicks, and potatoes. More charming were the costumes worn by the older townspeople. Men wear short colorful ponchos, 3/4 length white pants, and sandals. Women wear a wrapped skirt of their own weaving and a woolen shawl. All wore hats. Men usually wore Spanish leather hats resembling a saddle while others inexplicably wore hard hats. We liked the unmarried women's hat which were decorated with sequins and a bright plume. While walking to dinner in Sucre, we passed a quaint antiques store. We stopped to look in and met the friendly shopkeeper. He had been playing chess with his student and invited me to play. We stayed for hours talking about life, antiques and chess. One of my favorite memories. Hotel - $11, Food - $10, Trans - $6, Museum - $5, Random (video games - $4) Total - $36 |
| November 27 We began another great day at the university museum which displays an odd collection of modern arts, old pottery and Incan mummies! Then we hopped onto the Dino truck for a moving experience. Discovered in 1994 and open to the public three months ago, the world's largest paleontological site is 5 minutes outside of Sucre and in the middle of a cement factory. Over 5,000 dinosaur footprints were left by T-Rex, Stegasaurus, Brontosaurus, and Triceritops over 60-80 million years ago. The site is changing world theories of how these animals lived and interacted. Oh yeah, the cement factory is still active and there were dynamite explosions during our tour. Prints disappear everyday but so far new ones are being found in the successive earth layers. The chess student from last night requested a rematch so we delayed our departure for a few hours. With some luck, this allowed us to run into Martin, another friend from Galapagos (we all joke about a reunion). Then a short twilight bus ride to Potosi. For dinner, I couldn't resist eating viscacha when the waistress said it was the night's special. Tastes like rabbit. Hotel - $10, Food -$20, Trans - $6, Tour -$4, Random (guidebook - $4) Total - $44 |
| November 28 At 14,000 something feet, Potosi is the highest city in the world (Bolivia is clearly a superlative place). Its history is dominated by the gold and silver mining at Cerro Rico, a red mountain that sits above the city. The Spanish heavily exploited the mine using Indian slaves. By 1635, Potosi was the largest and richest city in the world. The work was the worst kind of maunal labor and a death sentence for those indentured to 6 years inside the mine. Over 8 million Indians died here. As an aside, once slavery was abolished and wages introduced, the Spanish invented the company store to permanently indebt the workers to the mines. With our guide, a former miner, we entered the mine and its claustrophobic maze of tunnels, bringing with us gifts of coca leaves and dynamite. Incredibly, mining is done in exactly the same way as it was 400 years ago. Miners use pick axes and manually place and ignite their dynamite. The work is dangerous in both the short and long term. We met miners as young as thirteen who work up to twelve hours a day without food, water, or fresh air (they chew coca leaves to suppress hunger). On average, they will die by 35 of silicosis of the lungs. And unless they stricke it rich, today's co-op miners will be poorly paid for their lives. It was an eye-opening and enriching experience.. Costs unknown |
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