We`re in Chile! But now, about Bolivia

Today we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean in Iquique, Chile. In a few days we went, by land, from Lake Titicaca at 11,000 feet to sea level. So, I´ll try to catch you up a bit:

I uploaded photos of the Uros Islands, the islands made of reeds (totora), onto the Flickr site. The islands are really a tourist trap, but worthwhile to see anyway because they are so unusual. We were given a little tour, and also invited to eat the bottom part of the reeds, which are starchy and taste good!



Click on the photos to go to the Flickr site to see more.

Back on the mainland, in Puno, we got to ride in a bicycle taxi. I want to drive one of those! But the driver had to work really hard transporting us straight uphill, away from the lake.

The fiesta in Chucuito was amazing, like carnaval. Huge marching bands, traditional Andean flute music, dancers in traditional and modern costume, some swinging rattles made of dead armadillos, I think, men in costumes that look like wedding cakes or maybe hoop skirts, women in short skirts and very tall boots ... the official parade went on for about six hours. After that, the judging was over but the people continued marching. The parade went around and around the plaza late into the night, much later than we stayed up by the looks of it. I took tons of pictures, on Flickr. The Chucuito fiesta goes on all week, but we left after a couple of days. We actually liked the quiet town of Chucuito better before the fiesta started. So we went on to Bolivia.




We crossed Bolivia quickly, on our way to Chile. We really liked Bolivia, but we are going back there in December with friends Bertha and Harald. Bertha is a friend of mine from the United College, and is from La Paz. We´re really looking forward to seeing Bertha and Harald, and to traveling with them! Meanwhile, they live in Europe so we won´t see them until they return to Bolivia at Christmas time. For now, we are on our way to southern Chile to meet friends, and we are looking forward to returning to Bolivia.

The bus ride to Copacabana, Bolivia, was beautiful. We were next to Lake Titicaca for most of the time. For awhile, the lake was on both sides of the highway, as we drove on a mountainous ridge between water. I wondered how we would cross the lake, and eventually we pulled up in a tiny town and everyone got off the bus. The bus crossed the lake on a barge, while we crossed on a motor boat. We met a traveler from Israel during that bus ride. So far, we´ve met quite a few Europeans, a few Canadians, people from other countries in Latin America, but very few people from the U.S.

You can see right away that Bolivia is very poor, even compared to Peru. For example, the gas stations in Copacabana don´t have gas pumps. They have plastic containers of gas, with handles. I didn´t see them used, but it looks like the attendant picks up the container and uses a funnel to fill your tank.




In La Paz, the tourist police met our bus and helped us get into a safe cab to the bus terminal. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the terminal, we had bought tickets and were on a bus to Oruro.

I liked Oruro. There were few tourists, and a pretty plaza. We spent half a day sitting in the sun on the plaza watching everything. There is a scam in Bolivia in which someone spills a vile liquid on you and a "good samaritan" steps in to help you clean up, but actaully steals all your money. In the plaza in Oruro, a vile liquid landed on my arm. I quickly looked around for the "good samaritan" until I realized that the liquid came from the pigeons in the tree above!

One thing we´ve noticed everywhere is that people are watching American TV shows. Kids are watching Barney, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, all dubbed into Spanish. While eating at a restaurant in Bolivia, we saw Barney sing a song about the cowboys in Wyoming dancing the polka. I wonder what effect this massive exportation of US culture to people as young as toddlers all over the world has.

There are much fewer throw away products here than in the US. For example, instead of giving you butter and jelly packets for your bread, they put a dollop of butter and of jelly on your plate.

In Bolivia, the toilet paper is hot pink! We really liked Bolivia, and care looking forward to going back. Also, it´s extremely cheap to travel in Bolivia (which will be good to restore our budget, because Chile is expensive!) In Copacabana Bolivia, we paid about $8 for our hotel room. In Chile, we´re paying $34. But we´re checking into couchsurfing.com.