I´m uploading new pictures right now from the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni and of Christmas in Sucre. They should be done soon.
Check them out here:
Salar de Uyuni
Christmas in Sucre
I´ll try to get some more detailed posts in soon.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
La Paz
We're in La Paz right now, currently planning our next excursion to the Salar de Uyuni. Basically a big salt lake in the southern altiplano of Bolivia.
La Paz reminds me a lot of Santo Domingo. It's loud, dirty and unorganized. The only things that are different are that it is not stifling hot every day and there are mountains here. It gets pretty chilly at night, which never happened in the capital of the DR. We don't have much time to explore, but did do a little shopping today. Tomorrow in the afternoon we leave for Uyuni so we'll have a little more time to explore the city.
La Paz reminds me a lot of Santo Domingo. It's loud, dirty and unorganized. The only things that are different are that it is not stifling hot every day and there are mountains here. It gets pretty chilly at night, which never happened in the capital of the DR. We don't have much time to explore, but did do a little shopping today. Tomorrow in the afternoon we leave for Uyuni so we'll have a little more time to explore the city.
I'll Meet You at the Copa...Copacabana
After paying our hefty $135 visa fee to cross the border into Bolivia, it was only a few kilometer ride to the tourist town of Copacabana.
Copacabana is a huge Catholica pilgrimage town. Every February and August (I think?) people from all over Bolivia, and probably South America come to the church here to visit the Virgen de Copacabana. It is only during these two holidays that the move the glass cage with the Virgen inside. They have superstitions that if they move her on other days that there will be large floods.
Another reason people come to Copacabana is because it is the easiest to visit the largest natural island on Lake Titicaca from here. The island is called Isla del Sol, or Sun Island. For the tours you can opt to get dropped off on the northern part of the island and hike 15 km to the souther part, or you can roam around the northern part and then get back on the boat to the southern part. Since we just did the inca trail a week ago, we decided we would not be hiking. So, we started exploring the northern part of the island searching for some of the Inca ruins we heard about. We got lost twice, but finally ended up finding them.
Pics from Copacabana here
That was pretty much it for Copacabana. One other note about this town: it's filled with dirty, grungy hippies. I haven't quite figured out the reason why, but there were so many of them.
On that note, take care!
Copacabana is a huge Catholica pilgrimage town. Every February and August (I think?) people from all over Bolivia, and probably South America come to the church here to visit the Virgen de Copacabana. It is only during these two holidays that the move the glass cage with the Virgen inside. They have superstitions that if they move her on other days that there will be large floods.
Another reason people come to Copacabana is because it is the easiest to visit the largest natural island on Lake Titicaca from here. The island is called Isla del Sol, or Sun Island. For the tours you can opt to get dropped off on the northern part of the island and hike 15 km to the souther part, or you can roam around the northern part and then get back on the boat to the southern part. Since we just did the inca trail a week ago, we decided we would not be hiking. So, we started exploring the northern part of the island searching for some of the Inca ruins we heard about. We got lost twice, but finally ended up finding them.
Pics from Copacabana here
That was pretty much it for Copacabana. One other note about this town: it's filled with dirty, grungy hippies. I haven't quite figured out the reason why, but there were so many of them.
On that note, take care!
Lake Titicaca from the Peruvian Side
A fun fact about Lake Titicaca before I begin: it's the highest navegable lake in the world.
We got to Puno, Peru and checked into our hostel after walking a mile or so from the bus station. We had a really nice private room this time. We walked around for a little bit to check out the city and book our tour for the islands on Lake Titicaca. Puno is a really nice town: not too many tourists and just an overall relaxing feel to it.
The following morning we were picked up by the tour company to begin the day. We drove to the dock where we departed on a little boat to the Uros Islands. The Uros Islands are man made, floating islands. The people who live on the islands live a very simple life and make almost all of their money from tourism. I was skeptical because they called them floating islands, yet they seemed pretty stationary. I was proved wrong when they showed us how they tied them down so they didn't move. They basically put big stakes in the reeds they use to make them and then tie strings around them and then anchor them to the lake floor if they are in a shallow part, or use longer strings and tie them to rocks which they drop to the lake floor, no matter how deep.
After the floating islands it was a 2 1/2 hour boat ride to Taquile Island. Taquile is a natural island; not man made. The people on Taquile still stick to all their old traditions. An interesting fact is that only men on Taquile know how to knit and start learning at the age of five. Women only know how to weave. Their textiles are recognized by UNESCO, the United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Based on the type of hats people where, you can tell if a person is married or single. There were some other explanations of their textiles but I don't remember them now. I also got to participate in some dancing, which I unfortunately don't have pictures of, but Maryam does. When she posts them I'll let you know.
After Puno, we crossed into Bolivia, to the lakeside pilgrimage town of Copacabana...
Check out pics from Puno here: Puno Pics
We got to Puno, Peru and checked into our hostel after walking a mile or so from the bus station. We had a really nice private room this time. We walked around for a little bit to check out the city and book our tour for the islands on Lake Titicaca. Puno is a really nice town: not too many tourists and just an overall relaxing feel to it.
The following morning we were picked up by the tour company to begin the day. We drove to the dock where we departed on a little boat to the Uros Islands. The Uros Islands are man made, floating islands. The people who live on the islands live a very simple life and make almost all of their money from tourism. I was skeptical because they called them floating islands, yet they seemed pretty stationary. I was proved wrong when they showed us how they tied them down so they didn't move. They basically put big stakes in the reeds they use to make them and then tie strings around them and then anchor them to the lake floor if they are in a shallow part, or use longer strings and tie them to rocks which they drop to the lake floor, no matter how deep.
After the floating islands it was a 2 1/2 hour boat ride to Taquile Island. Taquile is a natural island; not man made. The people on Taquile still stick to all their old traditions. An interesting fact is that only men on Taquile know how to knit and start learning at the age of five. Women only know how to weave. Their textiles are recognized by UNESCO, the United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Based on the type of hats people where, you can tell if a person is married or single. There were some other explanations of their textiles but I don't remember them now. I also got to participate in some dancing, which I unfortunately don't have pictures of, but Maryam does. When she posts them I'll let you know.
After Puno, we crossed into Bolivia, to the lakeside pilgrimage town of Copacabana...
Check out pics from Puno here: Puno Pics
An Interesting Dinner
On our last night in Cusco, Maryam and I wanted to try the local Peruvian Delicacy. Maybe you can guess what it is, but if not I'll just tell you. It's guinea pig. We both didn't want to leave the region without having tried it. We needed to advise the restaurant four hours beforehand so that they had time to prepare it...oven-baked. The four hours may have also been to catch one.
Anyways, it was delicious. It reminded both of us of the roasted pork we ate in the Dominican Republic, just a little smaller and with many more bones. It was hard finding the meat on this guy.
Check out the photos on my picasa site if I ever get them uploaded.
Anyways, it was delicious. It reminded both of us of the roasted pork we ate in the Dominican Republic, just a little smaller and with many more bones. It was hard finding the meat on this guy.
Check out the photos on my picasa site if I ever get them uploaded.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Pictures from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu
I posted some of the pictures from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, but not all of them yet. You can view them here:
Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Pics
I will probably be uploading the rest tonight.
Stay tuned for a post about how the trek went.
Inca Trail and Machu Picchu Pics
I will probably be uploading the rest tonight.
Stay tuned for a post about how the trek went.
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