BOLIVIA - La Paz/Chacaltaya/Tihuanaco

A. La Paz/Chacaltaya/Tihuanaco

I left Miami at 945 pm on October 6 for my night flight to La Paz, Bolivia. The flight was packed, because American Airlines had suspended flights to Bolivia from 9/21 until 10/05 due to supposed political instability and potentially hazardous travel. It was only a seven hour flight, dropping almost due south, and La Paz is even in the same time zone as Miami. I arrived at 0600, and the airport, in the high town of El Alto, where the poor sections/slums are, is at 13,500 feet. My guidebook had warned that some people have been known to collapse on arrival from the altitude. I felt slightly light-headed, but mainly tired, since I didn't get too much sleep on the flight down. It was a quick trip through customs/Bolivian immigration, where I had to get my 30-day travel visa and pay my "George Bush Tax", as one English tourist put it. This is a 135.00 (must be in dollars!) levy on only American tourists for a travel visa, Europeans, Canadians, and South Americans don't have to pay that, they just show their passport and get the stamp. Oh well...
My first impression of La Paz and the area as I hurtled down the 1000 feet cliff on the highway into the city from El Alto was that it looked like Northern California. Because of the eucalyptus and cypress trees, and the fact that it is always cool at that altitude, even though we are in the tropics. The taxi ride was startling, since I was so tired, and it quickly became apparent that drivers in this area, like in most of Latin America, are aggressive, and traffic lights are suggestions only, to be followed only when absolutely necessary. You can see from the above picture how the main part of La Paz, with the skyscrapers and government offices, is much lower than the high plateau (the so-called altiplano) surrounding. Probably the only city I'm aware of where the lower your elevation, the more well-off the neighborhood. The poorest, most crowded slums are in the exploding city of El Alto, on the 13,500 foot altiplano above the canyon La Paz flows down into.

The pigeon covered plaza is Plaza Murrillo, around which the center of government for Bolivia is centered, the Presidential Palace (directly across there), and the National Assembly building, as well as several other governmental offices. This is where, a few weeks later, a huge march/political rally was held, as you'll see. It is beautiful, all those old Spanish colonial buildings, some more than 300 years old. A turbulent history here too, a statue plaque describes one of Bolivia's president's demise in 1946. He was dragged from his office and killed in the plaza for malfeasance and corruption in office! On the other side is the National Art Museum, this beautiful old building on the right. I toured it, there were hundreds of oil paintings and sculptures dating from 1560 to modern art, really amazing. We Americans are not used to seeing old works of art and buildings, especially me, since I've spent my whole life in the West, where it's rare to see anything more than 50-100 years old. The three mile taxi-ride from my hotel, to Plaza Murrillo, cost 10 Bolivianos, or about $1.40! I also ventured up the clogged streets around my hotel to do a little preliminary shopping. The streets in that section of La Paz are clogged with thousands of little stalls with people selling every possible thing, categorized by the street. Thus there is a blue jean street, a gold jewelry street, an electrical supply street, etc... on and on.

So my first day in La Paz was spent just lazily exploring the center-city, while I acclimated. The next day, 10/08, I woke up feeling quite good, almost normal in fact. So I checked with the state-run tourist agency in my hotel lobby. There was a tour of Chacaltaya, the highest ski area in the World, that morning. Fantastic! So I paid up and loaded right on to the bus with eight Norwegians, and two Bolivian guides, one of whom is also a meteorologist with their Weather Service! The bus slowly wound it's way up through La Paz's tortorously slow and congested streets to El Alto, which is even more crowded and clogged. Our guide explained that indigenous people migrating to the city start out in El Alto, to try and find work, as farming and herding in the altiplano, the old, traditional way of life, is very hard and a poor way of living. So El Alto has exploded in the past 20 years from 100,000, to 1.5 million. The road to Chacaltaya cut north and east out of El Alto, and we started to slowly ascend. It had actually snowed overnight, even in El Alto, but by the time we got above about 14,500 ft., there were a few inches on the ground. The first picture, above left, is Huayna Potosi, the "easiest 6000 meter peak" in the World. That is, it is a very easy climb, more of a walk really, to it's summit of 6088 meters (19,969 ft). Our bus had to stop at about 15,500 feet, there was too much snow on the road. So we all got out, and started walking. I had just a light 15 lb. pack on, food, water, a few clothes, and walking up the gentle incline of the road, my heart was racing from the altitude, but I didn't need to stop. However, when a few of us took steeper shortcuts, then I had to stop every 50-100 feet or so to catch my breath. It was only a couple miles to reach the ski lodge, above right, at 5300 meters (17,384 ft). It was surprisingly well kept up, as it really is no longer a functional ski area. The glacier that used to provide the snow base for the runs, melted back, and so skiing is only now sporadically possible, when heavy enough snowfalls occur, which is fairly rare. Our Bolivian Weather Service guide mentioned that this is their main concern with climate change, glacial recession, as the Andean countries rely on them for water supply and hydro power. And it is estimated that all their glaciers in the tropical Andes could be gone in 40-50 years.

When we got up to the lodge, in about an hour, the snow resumed fairly heavily, and our visibility was cut down. But I felt surprisingly good, no headache or nausea, and I had a nice snack with hot tea in the lodge. On the way in though, since I couldn't see very well, I stumbled on a rock in the snow, and up it came onto my shin. Maybe it was the altitude, but it didn't seem to hurt much. I decided to check it a few minutes later though, and this is what I saw. I think if this had happened near sea level, I would have had to take a break for a few minutes! As several of us were walking around outside the lodge, in the falling snow, we saw a flash, followed by a crash, in less than a second. Shit! Lightning up there exposed like that, not for me! We raced into the lodge, but didn't hear another one for a few minutes. After my NDE # 4 (near death experience) on the Kesugi Ridge Trail in July 2007, I get very uneasy in exposed locations around thunderstorms. The walk back down to the bus was a little scary for me, as there was more lightning, so I actually ran a little.

The final part of our tour was something completely different, a drop down to the lowest sections of the city. There is a reserve called Valles de Lunes (Valley of the Moon), a bizaare area of eroded gullys. The hills around La Paz are composed of easily eroded sandstone, and so in some steeper areas, what ends up occurring is what you see on the above, right. There were a few miles of trails through this strange landscape. Since we dropped down to 10,000 feet, it was near 70 degrees, and I was stifling in that torpid, heavy air after being in the lofty heights earlier. On our way there, we came through Zona Sur (south zone), the richest area of the city, where all the foreign embassies are. It looks just like any city in North America, really amazing, since most of the rest of La Paz is clogged with the street vendors and market stalls. Our other Bolivian guide, Namicio, since I was the lone Yanqui, kidded me about George Bush and ugly Americanism. I had to laugh, and then I told him "Yo soy en Parti Verde, Alaska, Estados Unidos, Hugo (Chavez) Si! Evo (Morales) Si!" That is, I am in the Green Party, Alaska, USA, and I like Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales. He got a kick out of that. He is an Aymara man, of which 40 percent of Bolivia is composed, 20 percent is Quechua (Inca) and other indigenous groups, and the other 40 percent Mestizo (mixed race) and Caucasian. He strongly approves of Evo Morales and the MAS government currently in power. Viewpoints shared by most, but not all, the people I talked with.

We got back to our starting place, the hotel Rosario, in late afternoon. I then went dodging down busy, clogged Calle Illampu, shopping a little. I stopped at an ATM just as a strong thunderstorm started up, with heavy rain, and small hail. By the time my money came out, there were 2 inches of hail clogging the streets and sidewalks, and since the ATM was just out there fronting the sidewalk, uncovered, I was drenched. I rushed away from there fast, and took cover in a store for about 10 minutes. Then I looked in my wallet. Shit! I left my ATM card in the machine. I rushed back, and it was gone. I was in a panic, my trip was just starting, and I needed that to keep getting funds. I called my bank and asked for advice, and they said try and get a cash advance from my account. I went to the nearest bank, but they couldn't do it, as they were not part of an international network. Feeling very despondent, I went back to the ATM just in case. Sure enough, there was a security guard standing nearby, I hadn't seen him earlier. I asked him about the card in my broken espanol. He said there was a card and asked me to identify it. When I did, he gave it back to me. What a relief! I gave him a good reward and thanked him profusely. The ATMs there give you your money and receipt first, then the card last. Here it's the other way round. Now I was ready for my dinner date with the Norwegians. They were all there to tour orphanages they helped support, a very worthy project. We went to an Argentinian Churiascaro (basically a BBQ joint, Argentinians love their red meat) in Zona Sur, very fancy. The food was great and we had a great time hanging out and drinking wine. But, I didn't realize until afterward, at 12-13,000 feet, one drink has the same effect as 3 or 4 at sea level. I had a rough sleepless night with a headache and slight nausea, after just 3 glasses of wine. But the next day I felt alot better.

Day three in Bolivia was spent touring the pre-Inca ruins of Tihaunaco, thought to have been built around 1200 b.c. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiwanaku

I signed up for a guided tour, and there was only one other tourist, a German woman named Anna, with our guide, Alejandro. He is from La Paz and spoke English, and some French, besides his Spanish. He was about 28, and said his parents were worried, because he wasn't married yet (while he flirted with Anna). The drive out to Tihaunaco (the spelling varies) was about 90 min., it's 60 miles west of La Paz, and through the classic wide-open, dry and barren altiplano (high plain), the large plateau covering much of Peru and Bolivia at the foot of the Andes, ranging in elevation from 11,000 to 15,000 feet. Here is a typical view, about 30 miles west of La Paz, at about 14,000 feet. You can see how little grows there, the average annual precipitation is about 15-20 inches most areas of the altiplano, but it is just so cool year-round, with hard freezes during the dry/winter season every night. Some trees will grow there, up to about 14-15,000, if planted, but none are native.

That's Huayna Potosi in the clouds, the 19,969 ft. peak. It took us about 2 hours to get to the ruins, because there were two toll booths on the highway, and we even had to show our passports. Bolivia is a democracy, but at every turn, seemingly, we had to show them, checking into hotels, getting a bus or train ticket, toll booths every 1 to 2 hours on roads. Interesting.

It was somewhat anti-climactic arriving at Tihaunaco, because it is surrounded by ugly, chaotic development, tourist attraction that it is. But once on the site and exploring it, the magic returned. Alejandro explained the supposed history and culture of the builders, but there are still alot of unkowns. It is thought to have been at least started in 1200 b.c., or even earlier, by the ancestors of the Aymara, with the rocks being somehow transported from 40 miles away, near Lake Titicaca. When I saw those huge slabs, and tried to envision how they could be moved, without our technology, my mind went blank. Much less, how they cut them so perfectly (they did have bronze and copper, but no steel or iron) and put them into place, such that a piece of paper would not fit into the cracks. It's no wonder that outlandish theories about space aliens, etc.. were developed. Though I prefer to give the indigenous cultures there the credit. Perhaps some day it will be discovered how it was done. We spent about four hours touring the ruins, which cover about 20 acres (the actual site of the surrounding ancient city is much larger, but the temple ruins are the most imposing). There were hundreds of school-children on a field trip all scattered around, and they were really cute, a few knew some english words and were trying them out on us. None of them were begging either, which was nice, and they were all fairly well-behaved. It looked like they were between 7 and 12 years old. Alejandro was interesting, he was only the second Bolivian I had a chance to really converse with, since he spoke english. He said he was Mestizo, meaning half Aymara and half Spanish, and he did look a little lighter and taller than most of the people on the streets in La Paz. He said his culture is much more conservative than in Europe or los Estados Unidos. He had some reservations about the current government, saying he thought that Venezuela and Cuba, by sending so much technical aid and advisors to Bolivia, might be exerting an undue influence. And he was worried about the separatist provinces, the "media-luna" (middle crescent), the three lower-elevation provinces where the bulk of the oil and natural gas are. They have been requesting more autonomy from the central government, and have threatened to secede, because they want more control of the funds from those resources. Alejandro was worried that a civil war could occur. We all talked about these things on the bus ride back, Anna, the German tourist included. I always like being around European tourists, because we are very much alike. That is, I am a European Green, in my socio-political outlooks, and so fit in very well with them.

We got back to hotel Rosario in late afternoon, and then I got ready for my departure the next day for my 3-day 2 night tour of the Uyuni Salt Flats and the wonders of SW Bolivia, to be followed by a venture into Potosi, the old mining city, which at 14,000 feet, is listed as the highest significant city on earth. La Paz is the highest capital city.