Sunday, October 31, 2010

Sucre-mania

October 31st - A Happy Ghoulish Halloweenie to you all!

We are soaking in the sights, sounds, smells and culture of the colonial city, Sucre. Since the moment we arrived, we have noticed that Sucre has a more festive and warm vibe than the other cities we have visited in Bolivia. Cars will slow down for pedestrians, the central plaza is well taken care of and most to all the benches are filled throughout the day and evening, siesta (noon-3pm) is taken seriously, parades are common to see in the evening with marching bands and young adults and teenagers dancing in the streets, the weather has been absolutely beautiful (a high of 27C day, low of 15C night) and even the ice cream is great (the best we had in all of SA and usually enjoyed at least once, sometimes twice a day)! According to the Governmental Code, all buildings in the downtown sector must be whitewashed annually, giving the buildings a very clean colonial feeling. Also, all the roofs in Sucre have red tiles, making downtown reminiscent of Santa Barbara.

Beginning yesterday afternoon, festivities of both Halloween and Dia de los Muertos began with a bang! (LOTS and LOTS of fireworks) The main streets throughout Sucre began filling with locals and tourists with the anticipation of some sort of parade. Around 6pm the marching bands began their circuits, dressed in costume and playing their instruments with full force. The march bands, firework explosions, noise lasted until the wee hours in the morning. Though Ivan did not get to enjoy this festive evening, he was still able to hear the bands and explosions from the balcony at our hotel (see why below).

After visiting Casa de la Libertad, we learned that Sucre is the official capital in Bolivia, but holds no power, expect for an ineffectual Supreme Court. In the mid-1800s, the established oligarchy of the New World decided it no longer wanted to be beholden to the crown of Spain. These white, wealthy lawyers and aristocrats incited a civil war in which the poor masses had no choice but to fight a bloody war against the Spaniards. Bolivia was the very first uprising against Spain, but Argentina was the first country to gain true independence from Spain. So sadly, once the Spaniards were out of Bolivia, the purported freedom fighters continued the harsh tradition of La Meta or indentured servitude for the population that just won their war. The museum estimated that in Potosi alone 9,000,000 miners perished in a 300-year period of forced labor and abysmal conditions. Bolivia’s painful inception is still ever present in the country of today where there has been a new president on average every year and a half (even though they are supposed to be 5 year terms…oops!) ((Though this country is a little less than 100 years younger that the USA, it has had 22 more Presidents…wowzers!!)) Ironically, Bolivia’s yellow, red and green flag is very similar to the Spanish flag, which had held the dominion over them for so many years. The tradition of corruption is why the political power is in La Paz, rather than remaining in Sucre. The silver industry and tin industry began a north and south feud for political sway. Tin or La Paz, won this tug-of-war and took unequal power for themselves (and rewrote the constitution...). Sucre still proudly, though somewhat lamely, declares that it is the “true” capital of Bolivia.

Another interesting piece of information is the new law that was passed that is a controversial attempt to stop all forms of racism and prejudice. The law was inspired by a similar one passed in Venezuela, which prohibits anyone from using any racial or prejudicial epithets. For example: If in a fit of road rage (which is extremely common) you call someone a “cholo de mierda” (their version of the N-word) and if a policeman would overhear this (or one of the road raggers tattletale) would result in not only in jail time, but a substantial fine. ((*Ed’s colorful mouth would not survive in Bolivia* Bolivia has forced a “Hagis filter”!)) This law has many people countering that it is a violation of free speech and undemocratic. Perhaps this is why the President of Iran has visited the Country 3 times in the past year…(as a funny aside, Iran funded a public hospital in a poor district in La Paz, however the Catholic nurses are REQUIRED to wear the black berka’s at all times…what a confusing world we live in!)

During one of our adventures though the city, we spotted a flyer for volunteering to teach English and learn Spanish. We ventured to the school, which happened to be a block away from our hotel, and signed up. Kristin decided to take 3-hour one-on-one Spanish lessons for a few days, while Ivan would volunteer to teach English to children (2 students) for an hour lesson on Thursday and help set-up for a Halloween party Friday.

Kristin thoroughly enjoyed her Spanish lessons, and had a close bond with her professor as they would both exchange cultural similarities and differences in Spanish. Many subjects included childhood, family, relationships, university, politics, religion, homosexuals, corruption, traveling, etc…literally all encompassing lessons. Kristin was able to bring back many interesting facts, insight and knowledge to share with Ivan after her daily lessons. Her teacher was very encouraging as he said her Spanish conversation was much better than she led on to believe. Kristin would like to continue classes in a future city as well as continue practicing with both locals and Ivan. These few, but extremely enriching lessons will serve to be a platform for building more of the Spanish language, which Kristin is finding to be quite beautiful.

The English lesson that Ivan gave was small and informal, but the students were bright and fairly engaged. The teacher that Ivan was working with handed him the reins immediately and with just seconds to look at the workbook started the one-hour lesson. Ivan was able to teach them numbers and different foods. For some reason, the boy was so excited to learn the word “dog biscuit” that he fell backwards in his chair. Towards the end of the hour, the very shy, young girl opened up and asked many great questions. The next day, Ivan’s substantial height difference was exploited for several hours to help hang Halloween decorations for the upcoming evening party. It was fun working with the kids to prepare for a dance party that meant so much to them.

FOOD! COMIDA! FOOD! COMIDA!

Primer Parte

We planned this trip, to not only be enriched by the South American people and sights, but to be fully versed in the language of eating! We have been spoiling ourselves with food from the beginning, but this past week in Sucre, we have really taken it up a belt notch!!! At the start of almost every meal, we have enjoyed a wide range of homemade soups. One of our favorites is a chicken-based quinoa vegetable soup. Very hardy and healing like Mom intended. A local’s breakfast favorite is the Saltena. The saltena is a larger version of the empanada, usually stuffed with chicken chunks, cooked egg and beef stew and thoroughly enjoyed by both of us. Recently, we found a bustling Dutch restaurant that not only had great coffee (thankfully!), but fantastic cruquets with fries! Of course, we ordered a large beer to go with it. (MUUUY HOLANDES!) Then the other night, Ivan experienced true dinner fondue for the first time! Ivan giggled like a small child while throwing the tender raw meat chunks and veggies into the flaming hot oil on our table. A glass of wine and four platters of veggies, meat and cheese later, Ivan and Kristin could hardly stand (no cabemos ni un alfiler) as they paid for their delicious meal ($12). The next evening was an even bigger treat, a recommendation by Kristin’s Spanish professor to go to a local French Restaurant. Initially, Ivan was very skeptical after experiencing the inhospitable food of Paris that was served with a profound frown and flaring nose. However, the meal was phenomenal!! Kristin started with the creamy, festive pumpkin squash soup (on par with Lorelei's festive soup! YUM), which quickly became her new favorite, while Ivan enjoyed his hardy beef noodle soup. Accompanying the soup were endless breadbaskets, this may not seem like a big deal, however, typically you are lucky to receive more than 4 pieces of bread in your basket during one sitting. To continue, the suave French Restaurant also included REAL olive oil on the table –a real treat for us since most restaurants offer only cheap oil vegetable oil!!! Next came the main course, Kristin ordered the popular Filet Mignon with bits of rosemary cheese and chives stuffed inside and reduced in red wine and mushroom and Ivan ordered the chicken reduced in white wine and mushrooms. Also, a half bottle of Campos de Solana, a local Bolivian wine shared between the two. This meal is on par with many fancy restaurants in found in Santa Barbara or Sacramento, the only difference being, we paid a whopping $24 for everything!

Ivan (el aguasfiesta) has caught yet another food-born illness, completely proving that the raw cheese is laced with poison (saying this with conviction as his stomach is turning and tossing around on the cheap mattress) Lesson learned…again…

On Monday, if Ivan is feeling better, we will be heading to Potosi, the highest city in the world and silver mining capital! (we are finding that we are going to so many places that claim they are the “highest”, “largest”, “deepest”, “smallest”, etc…in the world…exciting, YES!).

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Hardcore buses and dinosaurs

October 25th we hopped on the 7:30 pm bus (that predictably left at 8:30). We are only mentioning this bus ride because we think it has and will be the most intense 3rd world bus we will EVER experience. Within 25 min of leaving the station (a zoo of speeding buses and milling people), we stopped, or actually the bus driver stopped, for a 30 min dinner that only he enjoyed while everyone was too fearful to dine themselves (in fear of being left behind). Once we were back on track Ivan was able to talk to a local coca farmer about his business, which was super fascinating. Apparantly there are 4 cosechas per year, and a 50 pound bag will earn the farmer 1,000 bolivianos, or $2.85 per pound (pretty good money for a small time farmer). Even more interesting, was that his crop wasn't for chewing or tea, but rather the popular cocaina. Bolivia is actually the biggest producer of the leaves, which all make there way to Colombia to get processed (CNN and Reagan drilled the rest of the story into common knowledge). As a shameless aside: going for drugs at the "source" is not only expensive, impossible, and unethical, but so futilely American...

Anyways, the bus bounced on, and the humidity and accompanying BO kicked to dizzying levels, but we tried to get some hard to reach z's anyways. This was basically impossible, since the bus route was on an off-road track, and we found ourselves involuntarily headbanging and bouncing in our seats. Fortunate for Kristin, the evil bus deity found it necissary to keep her on her toes and flung a heavy bag onto her stomach right when she fell asleep... It didn't help that it was Ivan's bag... An hour later that SAME bag flung one seat farther and smacked Ivan square in the face. awesome...

To make the bus ride even more memorable, Ivan had the ONLY seat that couldnt recline, and was broken, so it constantly tried to spill him out into the isle. Not too easy to sleep under such back bending circumstances... Though every seat was taken by adults, there were about 10 kids who were passed out in different contortions on the dirty bus isle (along with a dog and small lamby). Ivan wasnt able to stretch out his feet, unless he wanted to plant his shoe on a poor childs face. (Kristin didnt even have the option with a fully reclined seat in front of her, and had a teenager snoring and sliding into her seat. The sly Bolivian cuddle technique...

At 6:00 am the bus suddenly stopped, and everyone was allowed to go out and relieve themselves for a quick 2 min. Ivan ventured out, and saw a very desperate urinating melee, with men, women, and children using their appropriate biological urinating endowments with fury... It was a mess, but what a relief!!



At 7:30 am we arrived in Sucre, stumbled into a taxi, and then into our squeaky taco shaped bed. When we awoke, we started to tour the beautiful (and very colonial) city of Sucre. The main plaza is really great, and the city has a productive and safe feel to it.




Today we went to the worlds largest collection of dinosaur (bird and reptile) footprints. We learned we were witnessing tracks from the Cretaceous Period over 70 million years ago, when the herbivores and carnivores roamed the chalky CaCO3 lands. There were 5,000 footprints from over 150 different animals on this surface. The largest footprints were guessed to be from a dino that was 35 m long and 19 m tall. YIKES! The footprints were on a vertical surface due to the continental uplift that happened millions of years ago from the Nazca Plate in the Pacific. This upward movement and folding is also why we have the Andes Mountains


Ohh so fierce!!


Prints from mama and baby carnivore

Ivan dodging some Dino-doody

The dino prints were discovered by the enormous cement factory on site 25 years ago. The minerals that they were excavating changed and weren't ideal, so the company moved to another part of the mountain. As a consequence of this, the prints were preserved and were slowly revealed to the amazed workers who were excavating nearby. Today there is a fairly large exhibit and looks upon the varied prints that criss-cross the adjacent hillside.

It was an incredible feeling witnessing these large tracks from millions of years ago. Even though couldn't get close to the wall of footprints we daydreamed the size of these animals as the marched, ran, ambled and fought across the lands swinging their tails.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Cochabamba - City of Valleys

Main Plaza

Our stay in Cochabamba wasn't too adventurous, but made mellow by health constraints...
However when we first arrived, we enjoyed a sunny day in the local mercado. We experienced all the unique smells and flavors. Ivan got a watch (finally!), and Kristin found some stretch pants. We enjoyed some fresh smoothies (a daily fave), bought some local fruit, some Chilean Cabernet, and the questionable cheese wedge. The market was a bustling hub of activity and was the center of the towns commerce (we never once saw a supermarket or even a small grocery store). Later that evening, Ivan opened the wine with his leatherman (no easy feat! :) ) and we headed off to a spectacular music performance by a very famous Bolivian folk-music band called Savia Andina. The 6 man band amazed us with their guitar harmonies, cochanga strumming, and of course the beautiful zampona reed flute. The concert was 2 hours of some of the most amazing music we have ever heard (it made Los Lobos look like clumsy school girls). We bought their entire discography for $1.00 too! The crowd was also very much a part of the musical performance and were compelled to clap with the complex rhythms. Definitely our best night out for music or enrichment.

A beautiful boy in a beautiful theater!
The Zampona!


Unfortunately, the following day Ivan was bulldozed by a very nasty stomach flu (perhaps caused by the innocent looking cheese, or the spicy empanada...). So the next 3 days really weren't remarkable other than nurse Kristin babying the fallen giraffe, and way too much bad daytime TV. When we could venture out into the harsh daylight, we decided to take a trip up the gondola to jumbo-Jesus and enjoy the panoramic sunset. A plaque claimed its the largest in the world, but 2 Brazilians were adamant that the one in Rio is far bigger (Ivan agreed, since a cab driver that day said Bolivia is the only land-locked country in the world... Paraguay their neighbor is too, but erroneous!!). The enourmous statue was pretty cool, and was over 40 meters tall and took 7 years to construct. Their was a wedding at the top, and whole lot of entanlged couples. The sunset was incredible and silhouetted the city beautifully. Be prepared to see a whole lot of J-Dawg....he was our photo MAN




Other than that, not a whole lot has happened... Well, we did encounter a very rude and residentially challenged individual in the main plaza today who simply got up from the bench next to us (he had that one alll to himself...), stepped over to our bench and told us that he wanted to sleep there. After asking him what the difference between the two benches was, he told us he didn't want to look at us and commenced to lay down and started to stretch his feet out over Kristin. We got up and Ivan politely told him he was crazy, and in response we got an emphatic "come mierda!" A good laugh for the morning, and had quite a few locals gawking (I think they were more surprised by how calm we took it). Too much leaded gasoline exposure, maybe?


Tonight we are catching a cramped 10 hour bus ride to the beautiful town (and sort-of secondary capital--look it up, its convoluted) Sucre. The next blog should be about the Dinosaur footprints!!.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Cholitas wrestling: a locals Sunday family event !!

Last night, we joined our traveling and fellow Inka Trail friends, Mark and Laura for some tasteful Bolivian entertainment. A must see when in La Paz! The night started with an eventful taxi ride, Ivan, Laura and Kristin in back, the taxi driver, his wife and Mark crammed in front. After a block of driving the taxi driver realized he could not shift too well with his plump pumpkin wife sitting on top of the shifter....so he graciously threw her in the trunk for the 20 minute ride up the hill.

At the very top of the city, we stepped out into the muddy mayhem (of locals snacking on chicharrones and cars honking and zooming by) and into the rowdy arena with the wrestling ring in the center.

After a couple of snacks the speakers erupted with the Rocky theme song, "Eye of the Tiger" and the announcer jumped into arena to welcome the first contenders. The first match consisted of 4 luchadors all dressed in crazy costumes, spandex and masks (think movie: nacho libre). The first two (obviously to be favored by the crowd) were in more heroic costumes, while the second two had Slipknot music and black, dark and beaked masks. Flipping each other over their shoulders and flinging each other over the ropes, the heroic team was clearly winning, when suddenly the ref turned on them and team evil started to play dirty to win. The fight suddenly turned around and (though it looked fake until one of the members of team Awesome tackled an evil guy outside of the ring and the careened to the concrete floor) team Awesome won!! The unfortunate "evil" beaked man was definitely limping off of the arena floor...






The second fight was between a "Cholita," or a woman who was dressed in traditional country garb with a beautiful embroidered shawl, versus a fascist looking dictator in fatigues. The referee and the fascist quickly ganged-up on this woman, and she was soon being 'bloodied' on the arena. While we knew this was all theatrics, we were both mortified seeing a young girl completely convinced that this woman was being gang beaten by 2 men. Fortunately she 'won' the fight, but we're sure this girl was scarred for life. A shame so many people bring their sweet, young children to shows like this...

A doggy pile with the dictator in fatigues on bottom and the 2 gringos who jumped in the ring to "help" the cholita underneath her

The next fights were of a clown versus "Jenny de Dos Caras." This was hillarious because the clown would blow his whistle in unison to his movements (i.e while he was doing push ups, summer-salts, etc...) to make fun of Two Faced Jenny and challenge her to copy. The following fight was between two portly "Cholitas" who energetically battled it out. The show lasted for about 3 hrs and was more entertaining as the fights went on, the crowd riled up, music got louder and the costumes and theatrics increased!


Two faced Jenny got angry and smashed the fence down between the ring and the crowd. She chased her opponent into the crowd and smashed his head into the pilars...
Don't worry the blood is fake

All in all it was some interesting entertainment that we definitely won't need to experience anytime soon, but glad we were able to get a taste of "local family" Sunday entertainment in La Paz. (Note: don't bring children under the age of 12) After the show we grabbed some yummy thai food, a beer and ice cream sundaes with Mark and Laura and reflected on the crazy show.

Tomorrow we are leaving La Paz and on our way to Cochabamba. A small, quaint town east of La Paz, known for its art and music scene. Side note: Kristin is learning to play the Zampona, a hollow bamboo like flute, with two rows of reeds (7 and 8) that you blow over to make noise. Maybe a possible cafe performance in the future ;)

Downhill Riding in Bolivia!


Our Brave Group

On October 16th I signed up for a day of downhill mountain biking around the mountains of La Paz. Myself and 8 other brave riders geared up with Kona "Stinky" downhill bikes and body armor and hopped into the two vans that shuttled us up the steep hills just outside of the city. The 3 guides that accompanied us were very funny and good spirited, but perhaps a bit optimistic as to the obstacles the the average adventurer could handle. The first run they took us to was a "race course," which was a steep hillside flanked by cactus and spikey bushes. The steep loose terrain immediately claimed several other riders who slided out on the steep slopes. One girl crashed 20 yards into our very first run and dislocated her shoulder. Another guy (second time on a downhill bike) decided he could gap a river bed 3 meters wide; he did land it, but crashed into a waist high boulder and was flung 12 meters down the hill. After being rushed to the hospital we shuttled up the mountain for another run. The second run was actually very fun. It turns out the moutain was decorated with the namesake "muelas del diablo," or the devils teeth.



My Lucky Bike (only one who didn't fall!)



High above La Paz

As to why I am the only one without a full-face helmet isn't an act of heroism, but rather my unusual size. I blame my parents who genetically endowed me with a large head that not only doenst fit the average helmet size, but also has been greeted by door-jams and street signs :).


The second ride we went on was amazing!! We hopped back in the vans and drove 45 minutes up another steep mountainside. After 2 delicious sandwiches at the top we geared back up and started riding down the dirt road. Fortunately the guides decided to split us up into 2 groups and so the faster group was able to do several laps on the very fast single track. The terrain consisted of fast s-turns and rock gardens.

We started from the tippy top

After a full day of riding, the guides treated us to beer and pork sandwiches (not on the itinerary, but they were very friendly!). All in all, riding an unfamiliar and small 16 1/2 inch frame and new terrain, it was a very fun day and I satiated by bike-fix.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Copacabana y La Isla Del Sol

On October 11th we took the bus from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Boliva. The bus ride was only 3.5 hours, and the border crossing was fairly smooth by South American standards. It was a bit frustrating to notice that we USA citizens were the only ones to pay an outrageous entry visa tax (135$ each for 90 days). It was interesting to see that Bolivians weren't particularly excited to have Americans in their country, but after doing a bit of research its very reasonable to understand why they hold animosity against us. Irregardless, most of the people have been very warm and polite.


October 12th, Ivan's birthday, was a day strictly for R&R. Unfortunately, Ivan was recovering from a serious case of PCSGIES or Post Ceviche Spontaneous Gastro Intestional Explosions Syondrome. Don't eat the lake trout raw, he learned. Other than that, it was nice to sit by the lake, have a romantic paddle around on a plastic swan boat, soak up some sunshine, and enjoy some of the local food and wine and of course spend this special day with my loving, sweet, Kristin. The highlight of the day was being surprised with birthday cards that Kristin had been collecting and holding on to since early September from family and friends. It felt like I was celebrating with all of you! It was such a special surprise to have the support and love of a classic birthday party, even though we are continents away.
Our hotel was the large pinkish one on the right. On the beach with a beautiful balcony to view the sunrise/sunset

October 13th we caught an early boat out to La Isla del Sol. The boat moved at an incredible slow pace, but the lake and surrounding scenery was spectacular. Unfortunately the 'gas' smelled like mixture of turpentine and dirty kerosene, so the fumes were a bit distracting, so we hung our heads out of a broken window at the front of the boat and caught the cool morning breeze.


The Island is only 9.6 x 5.6 km in area, but hiking on it had us huffing and puffing against the altitude (4200m). After a quick sandwich, we tagged along with a tour group to the 'sacred' Inka and pre-Inka ruins. The guide was very enthusiastic and seemingly knowledgeable, but the 'temple' was a series of terraced farms where it used to be, and the incredible sacred 'stone' was in the center of someone's backyard and barely in view from the trail. A bit enlivened in town when we bought the tickets...

burro y burro post burro lick


Farther up the hill we came to the sacrificial and astrological altar. Unfortunately the Spanish conquistadors had defaced most of it (and of course taken the huge gold cache) that been a cornerstone of Inkan wealth. The large stone altar was the supposed birthplace of the first 2 Inkas who started the Inkan empire (their garden of Eden, but with some serious conquering and subjugation being the result rather than original sin...). In January and August, many people make a pilgrimage from the port to this stone crawling on their knees. The site has is supposed to have the most religious significance out of the entire Inkan empire.



The hike from the northern side of the island to the southern was spectacular. The color of the water was deep blue, framed by the snow capped mountains, and of course the beautiful cloud-scapes. Hilariously, different checkpoints were set up by various villages who demanded money to cross on their road. We heard every excuse in the book as to where the money would go, and how we wouldn't make it back to the mainland if we didnt' pay... We fell for the first checkpoint, but ignored the second 2. A bit of a sad way to make a living, but there's enough gullible tourists to go around...



Today, October 14th, we took a bus for 30 bolivianos, or for a grand total of $4.35, down to La Paz. The city is enormous with 8 million people all jammed into this valley. Though its a much different pace than what we've seen so far, the city has a very nice vibe and energy to it. We are looking forward to exploring the city and surrounding areas in the next proceeding days. Another blog on the city to come soon...