Quick note: I have posted the following photo entries in such a way so that scrolling from the top of the page you'll go from our earliest to newest photos. The photos start in La Paz, where our trip began three weeks ago.
A view of the temple at Tiwanaku.
Our bus crosses a strait as we make our way to Copacabana.
We hadn't intended to stay in Oruro more than overnight, but our train turned out to be leaving a day later than we expected. Here are some photos from Oruro.
Before we started our tour of the actual Salar de Uyuni, the driver first took us to see two nearby lagoons, which were right next to each other; one saltwater, the other freshwater. This is a closeup of the saltwater lagoon.
Looking down this street in Potosi you can see the Torre de la Compañia de Jesus (a Jesuit tower) and in the distance, the Mirador
A view of Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia
Photos from our time so far in Santa Cruz.
Well, just wanted to let everyone know that we are safe and sound in Santa Cruz. We arrived Thursday morning, and it is hot and humid here (it just rained tonight). We are staying at El Jordan, the same place where we were married in 2003.
For those who didn't yet hear, let me make it official: Yoli is pregnant. We will have a baby this year!
We didn't find out for certain until the day we left on this trip. That made it hard to get the word out. We didn't post it on this website because we wanted to surprise Yoli's family, and we didn't want this news to reach them before we got there.
Well, technically we aren't there yet, but we will be tomorrow. And I hope the news won't travel faster than we will.
Anyway, we've already started buying "baby things" like a miniature poncho we got here in Sucre. We are excited about the future!
Sucre has a relatively new attraction: dinosaur tracks. We decided to check them out on Tuesday morning. We went to the plaza to wait for the "Dino-Truck" which arrived ahead of time (a bit unusual for Bolivia!). It transported us outside the city to a concrete plant. Behind the plant were the tracks.
Today was museum day in Sucre. We saw some interesting things. But before we get to that, let me tell you about something else we saw: an unsuspecting young woman (presumably a tourist) was pelted in the head with a water balloon as she walked with some friends in the plaza downtown. One thing we've learned is that around here you need to walk around with your eyes open, or if you're on a bus, keep the windows closed. Kids walk the streets with water balloons they throw as a prelude to Carnaval. But the guy today was no kid... he was probably college age or even older. Last night, a boy threatened to throw a balloon at us if we didn't pay him 50 centavos. We pretended we didn't understand Spanish (It was probably harder for Yoli to get away with that). This morning, on our way to our first museum, we saw a pack of kids roaming around outside a church/convent complex looking for targets.
Sunday morning we had been scheduled to visit the thermal waters in Potosí with Yoli's Tio David and the rest of his family. However, this didn't work out because they had problems with their car. Instead they invited us to lunch.
We got to see his house, which us undergoing some major construction as they add a second story. We also got to meet two of his children: Karina (with her husband) and Daniel. Daniel is studying linguistics and speaks some English, so we had interesting conversation with him.
But something gave me a feeling I was getting into something over my head.
Saturday morning we headed over the San Francisco, an old church in Potosi. The guide was young and energetic and showed us lots of interesting things. We started by looking at paintings on the four walls surrounding a large courtyard, mostly on the subject of San Francisco de Assisi. Then we went into the main church sanctuary and he showed us the miraculous image of the Señor de la Veracruz. It's a giant sculpture of Jesus on the cross made from one piece of cactus. It's really quite beautiful. The "miraculous" part comes from the story of its origin. The statue showed up unexpectedly on the church's doorstep one day, but headless. Then three guys came to town and offered to fashion a head. Not knowing these guys, they were asked to stay isolated in a room for three days, which they did. They never ate a thing. When the people went to the room to see why they weren't eating, the dudes were gone. The statue of Jesus suddenly had a head, and it looked as if it had been part of the statue from the very beginning.
After a very late check-in, we slept in and started our first day in Potosi around 11 a.m. At first we were thinking of switching hotels since the one we were at was a bit pricey and not everything was working as it should (tv, telephone, toilet, lamp, etc). But eventually these problems were fixed and we decided to stay.
We went to the Torre de Compañia de Jesus and climbed to the top where we had a spectacular view of the city and Cerro Rico ("rich mountain"), the mountain that made Potosi wealthy and famous. You see, silver was discovered in Cerro Rico, and that led to a mining boom. The truth is that during colonial times, Potosi was the largest city in the Americas and the source of enormous wealth for the Spanish empire. This led to the construction of tons of beautiful churches and buildings across the city. But all this came at the expense of the lives of Indians from across the region forced to work as slaves in miserable conditions in the mines.
Sorry, Utah, but Uyuni has you beat. The world's biggest and highest salt lake is the Salar de Uyuni in southwest Bolivia. We went there, and it was a wonder to behold.
After having found out that we would have to stay in Oruro an extra day before moving on, we decided to check out some local attractions. The first place we went was the Faro, a sort of lighthouse or beacon set on top of a huge rock near one of the edges of town. From there we had a spectacular view of Oruro. The city begins against several yellow-brown mountains, and then spreads across the plain below them. It was a long walk to get there, but from that high place we spotted some interesting buildings far off that we later walked past.
After returning from Copacabana to La Paz on Sunday, we scrambled to get to the bus station and buy a ticket to Oruro. We made it in time and arrived Sunday night around 9:30 p.m. We found a comfortable hotel (Hotel Bernan) with hot water (and no "electric showerhead of death"!).
Monday morning we had nice showers and some delightful breakfast (api, a thick purple corn drink; and buñuelos, a pastry). Then we set out for the train station to buy tickets to Uyuni, a city next to a giant salt lake... One of the wonders of Bolivia, and something Yoli has never seen. We expected to leave around 11 am. Oruro was just a transportation stop-over.
The bus ride took longer than we thought it would. The most interesting part of the ride was when we had to disembark from the bus to cross Tiquina Strait. The bus went across on a ferry and, after paying a fee (of course), we were herded into motorboats and went across. Once on the other side, we petered around the plaza and waited for the bus to arrive. Once it did, we got back onboard. But not everyone realized the bus had come. The driver didn't seem to care. He began driving off after honking a few times. Some passengers began yelling "Faltan! MUCHOS faltan!" (Missing, there are many missing!) So he relented and went back to pick up the stragglers, who were still unaware of their plight.
On Saturday morning we hoped to have clear skies so we could get a good photo of La Paz with Illimani in the background. But the clouds foiled us again.
So we took a bus to Calle Jaen, a quiet historic street in La Paz, which is home to four municipal museums. We wanted to see these museums before we left later in the afternoon for Copacabana, where we would see Lake Titicaca.
We awoke early this morning feeling much better than yesterday. We both slept fairly well, though the beds are a bit....bowed, I guess. My neck was still a bit sore from the plane ride, too.
We changed our plans for Friday because we heard about a transportation strike scheduled for Monday, the day we originally intended to leave La Paz. Travel will probably be impossible that day, so we realized we would have to leave for Oruro on Sunday night instead of Monday. That forced us to push up our excursions to the ruins of Tiwanaku and Lake Titicaca. On tap for today was Tiwanaku.
A quick update on how the rest of Thursday went. Basically we were able to meet our friend Carla for lunch. She was waiting for us at a theater on the main avenue in La Paz. We went to a restaurant called "Dumbo" (yes, that Dumbo) and had a nice time talking, showing pictures, eating, etc.
We arrived to El Alto (a city in the altiplano adjacent to La Paz) this morning around 7:30. No problems with the flight, other than a couple delays. In fact, I was amazed we weren't selected for a "thorough" screening when we went through TSA at Lambert. That was the first time that's happened since we got married.
Well, there's only two days until Yoli and I embark on our first trip to Bolivia since marrying.
Unlike my previous extended trip, this time we will pack very light because we intend to do two weeks of travelling before heading to her hometown, Santa Cruz. If all works out, we plan to visit La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Uyuni (a huge salt-covered lake/desert), Sucre (the white city), and Potosi (once the biggest city in the Americas because of its silver mine).
We'll use this weblog to talk about our adventures, so please keep checking back every few days. Feel free to leave comments, too.
If you aren't familiar with our story, you can also read the archives here to learn more. You'll learn about our cross-cultural adventures in becoming engaged, getting a marriage visa, marrying, and getting Yoli's green card. It's been quite a ride!
Of course if you need to reach us while we're gone, just send an email.
