Good vibes in Valdivia...

Erik: After our 23 hour trip to Santiago, we thought nothing of a 10 hour bus ride, so we skimped and bought the economical “classico” tickets – where the seats don't recline quite as much. As I'm sure you can guess, that was a bit of a mistake. We couldn't get comfortable, and so had a long night's ride.

Upon arrival in Valdivia, we were approached in the bus station by a woman offering us affordable lodging in her hospedaje. After looking at a few rooms, we decided upon one with a mini kitchenette, and were quite happy until we found one thing after another broken in the room. The bed leaned to one side, the shower dripped loudly and constantly, and the kitchenette sink plumbing kept breaking and leaking. Oh well! We had too little time to look elsewhere, which was a strange feeling for us – the first time we'd really had a deadline looming and couldn't take as much time as we wanted, since we had to be Lima in a few weeks time for the flight home...

At first we weren't too crazy about Valdiivia – it actually reminded us of a suburban american town. But then we went for a sunny walk along the verdant waterfront, found some enormous sea lions lounging near the pier (in fresh water, which is odd. Apparently they're well-fed at the pier market, and so swim up from the ocean for a leisurely vacation.) They sell delicious, cheap smoked salmon and have the freshest fruits, so we ate quite well.

We were in Valdivia during chile's annual telethon for the handicapped – much like the Jerry Lewis telethon, but much bigger, with the entire country tuning in to watch, and all the cities and towns hosting free concerts, etc. It's a really important event for them. One night we wandered downtown to have a drink, and ended up in La Bomba, a little firefighter's dive bar, where we watched the telethon with the locals and got quite drunk on beer and pisco (well, I did!) We met some wonderful locals – Hardy, an older man well-dressed in a wool suit, very polite and friendly. Jaime and Jose, younger men full of local advice for us (Jose seemed very interested in Talor, and wouldn't let go of her hand), and Cristal, an overly-friendly and overly-drunk woman who kept hugging us both and kissing me all over my face. We had a great time until the 3^rd pisco told me that it was time to go home...

The next day we took a bus to the nearby port town of Niebla, where we took short ferry rides to small ports and nearly-uninhabited islands around the bay. The area reminded me of the sounds around seattle- green islands with steep hills overlooking the clear blue, cold waters of the bay and the ocean beyond. But the colonial german houses and old spanish forts and castles constantly reminded us that we were in chile, nowhere near home. We were very lucky to be there in late spring, with wonderful weather and landscapes boasting every shade of green, broken up only by the clear waters or blooming flowers. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

As much as we were enjoying valdivia, we knew that we should move on to experience other areas of southern chile. For our next stop, we decided on the island of Chiloe, much further south and just off the coast of Patagonia...

Talor: Valdivia is a strange mish-mash of old and new, but I really liked it. Has an old small town feel to it, but then we'd see these modern supermarkets and department stores next to antiquated homes. Cross the bridge and the landscape changes to rolling green fields with farm houses and cows grazing. And the waterfront was beautiful with clear blue waters perfect for a morning run.

We visited the market where we picked up yummy smoked salmon, and gorgeous fruits and vegetables. That evening, made a nice pasta dinner in our mini-kitchenette, and felt good to sit down to a meal we had prepared ourselves. It had been forever since we'd cooked anything and I realized how much I missed it. It's funny to think that throughout our travels, having a kitchen has become the ultimate luxury!

Could have stayed longer, but time is running out, so onto Chiloe...

To see more photos of Valdivia...

Valdivia, Chile

Return to Santiago...

Erik: In the end, the bus ride wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. They showed movie after movie, including such greats as “Big Moma's House”, “Free Willy” and “The Golden Compass”, all dubbed in spanish, of course. Our seats were comfortable enough and we did manage to sleep a bit. Early on the Atacama desert was impressive, but a bit too reminiscent of bolivia and peru. Then after several hours we saw the pacific ocean on the horizon – a very welcome sight! I managed to sleep a good few hours, and the next morning we awoke to see not only the ocean, but green landscapes – a bright, wonderful change from the dust and brown mountain vistas of peru.

In santiago we already knew our way around a bit, and found a nice hotel with an “affordable” apartment-suite complete with kitchenette. After the very simple food of the salar trip, and the incredibly chewy beef of peru and bolivia, I was craving a good steak, so we splurged and went to a very nice grill restaurant nearby and had a huge meal of steak, potatoes and good chilean wine. That combined with a good night's sleep, and the batteries were fully recharged.

The next day we'd arranged to meet our friends Patty and Marco Torres, who we'd met in Mendoza, Argentina. We found them at the Plaza de Armas the next day at noon, and they took us via the very modern and technologically sophisticated metro (subway) and bus lines to their home, where we met up with their kids, Belen and Martin. Patty prepared a delicious lunch of pasta and roast chicken, and Marco opened up a nice bottle of wine. Only a few days in chile, and we were living well!

We spent the entire day with the Torres – visiting a local park, and then to Patty's parents' house for “onces” (afternoon tea.) What a wonderful day. We're very lucky to have such hospitable and generous friends.

Our first visit to santiago had been in august – the heart of winter, and we'd not found it terribly pretty nor pleasant. What a difference a season makes – now santiago was sunny with green trees and blossoming flowers everywhere. We really enjoyed just walking around and visiting the small parks that dot the city. It proves just how wrong first impressions can be.

After a few days, though, we were eager to move on to the south of chile, which according to everyone we spoke to is one of chile's most beautiful areas. Marco Torres is from the southern lake district town of Valdivia, and after talking with him a bit, we decided that it should be our next stop. It was a good 10 hours away, so we bought tickets on yet another night bus...

Talor: After days spent in the desert, Santiago was such a welcome change with everything in bloom. What luxury to be able to go for a run in the morning (on paved asphalt!), pick up provisions for breakfast, and dine on fresh baked bread, rich delicious cheese and luscious fruit in season, including my favorite, the chirimoya! Erik is right, what a difference a season makes! Made the 23-hour bus ride worthwhile.

Chileans are known for their hospitality and rightly so. The day we spent with Patty, Marco and family was just lovely. They welcomed us into their homes and prepared delicious meals for us as we chatted and got to know each other better. It was the best welcome back!

Our photos of Santiago...

Santiago, Chile

San Pedro de Atacama

Erik: The end location on our Salar de Uyuni tour was San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile. San Pedro is a small village oasis in the middle of the Atacama desert, supposedly the driest desert in the world. There really isn't much to the town beyond the pretty main square and old, adobe church. The town seems to live for tourism – people drawn to explore the desert or the bolivian salt flats which we'd just arrived from. Virtually all the restaurants in town catered to tourists, and the prices for everything – from lodging, to food, to services, were greatly inflated. Talk about sticker shock! We went several months in peru and bolivia, two of the most affordable countries in south america, to one of most expensive towns in the most expensive country in south america. A night's stay jumped from $10 for a nice room with private bath, to $40 for a dumpy cubicle with shared bath. Ouch!

There was little to keep us in San Pedro, but that night we did have a festive farewell dinner with the gang from the salar tour, as well as friendly and fun Ilse from belgium who we'd met along the way. The next day we bought tickets to santiago, a frightening 23-hour bus ride away. While waiting for the afternoon bus, we were lucky enough to find one of the only affordable dining spots in town, a little BBQ shack near the football (soccer) field, where we had huge helpings of delicious grilled chicken for about $3 – the perfect send off before our longest bus ride yet.

To see our photos...

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Salar de Uyuni Tour

Erik: The next morning at 10:30am we headed to our tour agency to leave on the 3-day jeep tour. As usual, we waited an hour or so for them to get organized, etc. During the wait, we got to know our travel companions for the next 3 days; Stefan and Simone, a lovely Swiss couple, Mateas from Lyon, France (who reminded me much of my friend Eric Philips in Paris) and Gwil from Vancouver. We were very lucky, as everyone was interesting, considerate, and generally fun. We were all in the same position, having quit our jobs for longer-term travel - and our 3 days in the landcruiser passed quickly and remarkably painlessly. We'd really had great luck-of-the-draw, as your fellow passengers on a trip like this could make-or-break the experience.
The first day's long, hot drive included a visit to the train cemetery, with 20 or so rusting old steam engines and freight cars. From there, we were on to the salt "museum", mainly a tourist-trinket outlet with some interesting sculptures, furniture and entire buildings built in salt from the salar.
Then on to the salar itself, which is thousands and thousands of square miles of flat, white (well, gray from the tourist traffic) salt - from the time when the pacific ocean reached into these high altitudes. We visited a hotel made completely of salt, and then much further on, lunched at "Isla Pescado" - "Fish Island" - a small hillock of huge cacti in the middle of the great white nowhere. We munched on llama steaks and then were taught a course in salt-flat photography by Gwil: shots using the harsh light and never-ending horizon to create plays on perspective - good for a few hours fun before piling back in the landcruiser to continue for several more hours, and one flat tire, to our resting place for the night in San Pedro de Quemes - a small desert village. We dined and play cards together until the lights went out...
Next day we were up at 6am, and after showers and breakfast, off at 7. We passed an active volcano, fields of razor-sharp lava and huge rock formations. We'd left the salt flats at this point and were passing through the driest desert in the world...very, very slowy! After lunch by a salt pond full of pink flamingos, we visited the "world famous" large stone tree, and another bizarre rock formation full of small, long-tailed rabbit-like creatures called vizcachas - a good spot to rock climb and stretch the legs. We finished off the day with a visit to laguna colorada - a bright red lagoon with many bright-pink flamingos. Finally we arrived at our spot for the night - a way station full of 20 or so groups just like ours, each piled into separate dorm rooms. We drank beer and wine and continued our card games until lights out.
Next morning up at 4am (argh!) and off to the geysers for some pre-dawn, freezing cold steam walking. This was the coldest we'd been in all our 10 months of travel, but the landscape was so spooky-cool, it was worth it - bubbling mud craters, sulferous steam jets - all in the eerie, early-morning light. Until we could no longer feel our toes...Luckily our next stop was a thermal hot spring where we hopped in the water and regained feeling in our appendages after 20 minutes or so. We had a quick breakfast there before heading on to laguna azul - "blue lagoon" which was less impressive than the red lagoon the day before. (better in the afternoon, they say!) After that, we arrived at the Chilean border. After passing through bolivian immigration we boarded a nice, clean bus and crossed into Chile, where we were immediately met by smooth, paved roads - hooray!

Talor: Though throughout our three days of desert travel, we saw some crazy cool, amazing terrain, after awhile, it became one big blur as we went from sight to sight, climbing in the car, climbing out of the car, in-and-out, in-and-out. The highlight for me was definitely getting to know our travel mates, a diverse international group from very different backgrounds that played nice and shared well. We had great fun swapping stories and exchanging travel tips. And when it was time for us to say good-bye and go our separate ways, I thought to myself, "Hope we'll stay in touch..." Thanks guys for a really great time!

To see more photos of our tour...

Salar De Uyuni Tour, Bolivia

Slow train to Uyuni

Erik:
The whole point of our going to Oruro was to take the train to Uyuni, the starting point for organized tours of of the Salar (salt flats) of Uyuni and surrounding desert landscapes. Once again, the thought of avoiding another long bus ride by taking a relaxing train ride was too tempting to pass up.

The train was scheduled to leave at 3:30pm. We say "scheduled" as, yet again, we were caught in the midst of a transit strike, though train travel was not supposed to be affected by the strike, only buses. We'd arrived a bit early for the train (as there's not much to do in Oruro), and we found ourselves seated in the one full-to-overflowing car of the train. Kids under 5 travel free on the train, but without their own seats, and our car seemed to be both sold out and with an extra serving of kids-sans-seats. It was bustling in the aisles and oh so noisy!

The car next to ours was oddly empty, so we planned to move into seats there as soon as the train pulled out, but to our surprise, it didn't. I've never seen a train wait for late passengers, but that's exactly what ours did - over an hour. I guess that leaving with less than half the passengers (all stuck in buses trying to by-pass the strikers) wasn't appealing, and a bit after 4:30pm, we saw about 30 or 40 more backpack-toting gringos arrive and pile on board. Luckily, they all seemed headed for 1st class, and the car next to ours remained nice and nearly empty. We took new seats there as the train finally pulled out.

The ride itself was beautiful - at least the daylight portion, which had been shortened an hour due to the late departure. We passed salt marshes full of pink flamingos in flight, tiny villages with waving children, desert landscapes tinted bright red by the fading sun. Really quite stunning. A few hours later, though, it was just a dirty, dusty, dark train showing terrible movies. We read books for a while, then moved to the dining car where we drank beer and played cards until our arrival about midnight (an hour late...)

We then had the joy of shuffling through 3 hotels before finding one with running water. We slept well, and wandered the town the next day talking to tour agencies about the trip through the salar to chile. There are over 60 tour agencies (and not much of anything else) in Uyuni, but we found a local guy who ran a bar as well as tourist information center, who helped us narrow it down to 3 better agencies. The tour is a 3 day landcruiser ride through the salt flats and desert. They pack 6 of you in the vehicle along with a driver and a cook, so it's quite important to get a good vehicle, and hopefully, an even-keeled, friendly group of fellow tourists. In the end, after much back-and-forth haggling, we did just that. To celebrate, we went out to a "gourmet" pizza parlour in town, which for once, lived up to its hype - it was delicious.
Our photos from the trip to Uyuni:

Uyuni, Bolivia

The mining town of Oruro...

Erik: From Cochabamba, our next stop was the old mining town of Oruro, from where we could catch a train south. After so many hours in so many cramped buses, the idea of a train ride was very welcome, and worth a small side trip.

Unfortunately, Oruro itself is not much of a town. It does have a pleasant, pretty main square, surrounded by an odd mix of modern and colonial architecture, but outside of that it is a dusty, polluted altiplano town without terribly much to do or see. Again we ran into an issue trying to find lodging. There were cheap, very basic, dingy digs, and expensive higher-end options outside our budget, but very little in between. At first we opted for one of the cheapo options until we noticed that the plumbing in the bathroom didn't quite work, so we ran across the street to a much more upscale option. We'd been lugging our packs across the city for hours at this point, and it was raining on-and-off, and we just wanted to relax. The price was a bit exploitive for what they offered, but the bed was big and comfortable and the bathroom clean, so we bit the bullet and checked in.

The next morning we bought train tickets for the following day, and then wandered the city looking for things to do. We found an old miner's museum housed in a defunct mine shaft, which proved interesting, especially the idols of the miner's god “Tio” (“uncle”), which is a sort of devil character to whom the miners make offerings of booze, cigarettes and coca leaves for good luck.

We also took a short ride out to some thermal baths (a glorified warm swimming pool) for a soak, and met some very friendly Pacenas (La Paz residents) on the way back. They had Korean friends in La Paz and enjoyed trying out their little bit of Korean lingo on Talor.

We'd read about a fancy “cordon bleu”-esque restaurant in Oruro, and went there that evening to spoil ourselves with some fancy dining. The restaurant itself was nothing special, with décor similar to the comedores we'd been having our cheapo lunches in everyday. Still, we thought we'd give it a try, and were perusing the Bolivian menu when the gruff waiter stepped up, yanked the menu out of our hands and replaced it with an english-language menu with fewer food options and higher prices! We asked him about the differences between the menus, to which he lied, saying they were the same. We walked out after that, and had a nice dinner in a local , much cheerier pizzeria for half the price!

Talor: I have found that oftentimes the trying moments happen for a reason and almost always something good comes out of it...

Moment 1: After over an hour of walking around in the rain searching for accommodations, we grew increasing frustrated and were cursing the town. Then we settled on the Hotel Respotero, where we had one of the most comfortable beds for a great night's sleep.

Moment 2: Returning from the hot springs of Obrajes, we boarded the last micro (mini-van) returning to Oruro. We stuffed ourselves into the only seat available that was large enough for a school child, smiling at the 15 others already crammed into a car with a maximum capacity of 8. But then the 40-minute ride passed really quickly because we had fun chatting with the young and energetic Rose from La Paz. We spoke in three different languages (Spanish, English and Korean!), took photos of each other and exchanged emails to stay in touch.

Moment 3: Finding dinner that night was quite the chore... we passed on the chi-chi restaurant Erik talked about then proceeded to look up two others that were either not there anymore or were closed. Hungry and tired, we settled on the Salteneria La Casona, which turned out to be a warm and hospitable place that served up a huge chicken omelette, both filling and delicious... ahhhh.

After those happy moments, we were ready to board a train to Uyuni...

Photos of Oruro...

Oruro, Bolivia

Wonderful hospitality in Cochabamba...

Talor: Arrived into Cochabamba in the early evening after a seven-hour bus ride that got in late due to some drama (argh!). We were feeling dehydrated and disoriented, and as we were getting our bags, a woman tapped Erik on the shoulder and asked if he was Erik. What a lovely surprise! It was Julie, Gigi's mom! We had planned on calling her after we got settled into a hotel, but apparently, Rosita (Julie's sister) had called to say we were coming, and she waited for us at the bus terminal for two hours... yikes! She had a hotel picked out for us, walked us there, and even came up to the room to make sure everything was alright! And so began her hospitality...

Thought La Paz was supposed to be the culinary capital of Bolivia, but we spent the next day eating the most delicious saltenas (famous in Cochabamba), rellenas (stuffed potatoes) and cheesebreads. But the best meal of all was dinner at Julie's house, where she lovingly prepared Silpanchos, a traditional dish of rice and potatoes with a thinly breaded chicken cutlet, two fried eggs and topped with tomatoes and onions... mmm, mmm, MMMM!! We were joined by the lovely Marcela, an old college buddy of Gigi's for dinner. And after we were so full we couldn't eat anymore, Julie broke out into a dance, and we all worked off the food dancing to salsa music from one of Dean's (Gigi's husband's) CD. It was a wonderfully fun evening!

The following day, we invited Julie out to lunch at La Contanata, supposedly the best Italian restaurant in Bolivia. Miriam, another one of Gigi's friends, joined us, and though the food was good, the best part was spending time with them. Afterwards, Miriam drove us to see the impressively large statue of Christ (larger than the famous one in Rio, Brazil!) up on a hill. Then it was time to say good-bye... sigh. We felt so sad to leave, but at least we got Julie to promise to come and visit us in NY in August next year.

Before leaving the next morning, we had one last good meal at a Korean/Japanese restaurant. Though not terribly traditional, I was happy to get my kimchi-fix, and was ready to move on after gaining 15 pounds in two days!

But more than the food, it is the hospitality that we will remember... Thank you Julie, Marcela and Miriam! And Gigi, thank you again for putting us in touch with your wonderful family and friends!

Erik: Cochabamba is a pretty city, known as the city of eternal spring for its year-round temperate climate. Of course, luck being as it may, we were there for some rare but much-needed rain, and even a freak wind storm. Still, we had plenty of sun as well, and enjoyed walking around the city's scenic, tranquil plazas full of trees in bloom and lounging locals.

I was overwhelmed by Julie's hospitality, and was kicking myself after she met us at the bus terminal, as we'd meant to call her before boarding the bus, but didn't have time. (We were rushed aboard the bus in La Paz, then, of course, sat and waited 15 minutes for it to leave!)

Dinner and dancing at Julie's home was so much fun, and she and Marcela were gracious hosts, and very patient with our mediocre spanish. Julie has been raising rabbits in her front yard, and we got to watch her feed all 10 of them (after feeding us) as we waited for a taxi. They were incredibly cute, and we were very happy to have been served silpancho rather than rabbit that evening...Yes, thank you Julie, Marcela and Miriam for such overwhelming hospitality, and we hope to see you all again soon.

To see more photos...

Cochabamba, Bolivia

A room with a view in Coroico...

Erik: We decided to take a short side trip to the little mountain village of Coroico – we'd read good things about the laid-back, relaxing lifestyle there, the beautiful mountain vistas, and the temperate, high-altitude jungle climate. To get to Coroico, we had to travel down “The world's most dangerous road,” a winding, mountainous descent which to us seemed far less dangerous than the tiny, cliff-hanging dirt roads we'd suffered through the mountain passes in Peru. Still, despite that being said, I did count over 15 road-side memorial shrines on the road to Coroico before our passage was socked in by a fog so thick that we couldn't see the cars in front of us. The fog added to the anxiety of the trip, but in the end, the world's most dangerous road wasn't all that (which we were quite happy about.)

Coroico sits along the side of a fairly steep hill, overlooking a river valley far below. We lugged our packs up and down hills looking for a decent hotel, but everything we found was either very basic or ultra-luxury (the town depends largely on tourism). As the basic lodgings were over-priced, we finally opted for the upscale Hotel Bella Vista, aptly named for the panoramic views from full-wall windows of the rooms. We had an absolutely breathtaking view of the mountains and valley from our bedroom. As it turned out, we paid mostly for that view – the other amenities of the hotel were a bit lacking, but the afternoons spent gazing out our window at the soaring hawks and river valley were worth the price.

There was very little to do in Coroico. There were some interesting hikes on offer, but they required a full day with a guide, and we were only planning on a short stay, and decided to simply relax. We found a little restaurant offering swiss fondue, which seemed such an oddity that we needed to try it. The Bolivian cheeses they used actually weren't that bad. We never felt that we were in a swiss alp ski chalet, but we enjoyed the meal – a nice change from the typical bolivian fare we'd been eating.

We found the people in Coroico a bit stand-offish, perhaps because the town gets so many tourists. We were happy, though, that the dogs were much friendlier, always wanting to play and share their fleas with you. After a day and a half, though, we were ready to head back up to the world's most dangerous road to La Paz, from where we could continue on to Cochabamba, where Rosita's sister, Julie, lived. (Julie is the mother of our friend Gigi in Seattle.) We spent one more night in La Paz, and were happy to be able to share a great meal with Rosita in one of La Paz's oldest restaurants.

Talor: Though the views at the Hotel BellaVista were simply magnifico!, the non-existent services and the surly staff made the stay unpleasant. We were happy to get back to La Paz and the rundown Hotel Torino, where we paid a third of the price for the accommodations, but which came with a hot shower and a friendly staff who welcomed us back.

The dinner with Rosita was definitely a highlight! We searched high and low for an appropriate gift for her, but all we found were Bolivian tourist trinkets so we settled on one of our silly momentos from Peru (a hand-woven couple with traditional clothes) and took her out to dinner. Of course, before we said good-bye, she presented us with the most thoughtful gifts... a set of antique silver spoons wrapped in a beautiful woven cloth and tied with ribbons representing the Bolivian flag and a book from the Bolivian International Film Festival... WOW! But more than anything else, we really enjoyed spending time with her. Muchas gracias Rosita!
Below is a link to our Coroico photos:

Coroico, Bolivia

Lucky in La Paz...

Talor: Unlike most capital cities, I really liked La Paz. It's a nice mix of old and new, both touristy and not, and can be pricey and economical at the same time. Situated in a valley, we rolled into town with views of the city built on hills . It reminded me of Valparaiso, Chile, but bigger. The bus dropped us off at the Cemetery, where we were greeted by a nice member of the tourist police, who promptly put us into a taxi towards the center of town. Thank you Officer!

We were lucky to find a room at the Hotel Torino, which is situated just off the Plaza Murillo. Although considered the center of town, it wasn't too touristy. The Torino is an old, slightly worn building that houses an art museum and a cultural center in the courtyard. Our room on the 4^th floor, though it had seen better days, was airy and got great light. With a hot shower and a firm foam mattress, it was a bargain at $11/night. And as an added bonus, we got to see shows going on at the cultural center by sneaking up to the balcony!

We also got lucky with the weather. Sunny and warm during the daytime and mild in the evenings, we set out to explore the city, and got great exercise huffing and puffing up and down the hills. Found some cool little museums to check out, including the Museum of Musical Instruments where they had an impressive collection of instruments from all around the world, some of which we had fun playing. At the Coca Museum, we read the interesting role coca played in the Bolivian culture and history. And at the Witches' Market, I was totally grossed out by the dried llama fetuses!

We got lucky with the food too... along the Prado (the main drag), we found great snacks... pizza by the slice, gyros and delicious coffee ice cream at Bits and Cream. There was also higher-end international food to be had... pretty good Asian food at Thai Old Town and super-spicy curry at the British Indian Curry House. But my favorite food, hands-down, has gotta be the Bolivian saltena (originally from Salta, Argentina). Similar to an empanada, they are filled with potatoes, peas. carrots, sometimes hard-boiled eggs and olives and bits of chicken or meat, and these little guys are tasty! Slightly sweet on the outside, savory on the inside, it is best eaten on the street bent over because the juices squirt everywhere when you bit into them. When slathered with a spicy peanut sauce, they make the best breakfast or snack anytime of day.

But the best luck of all was getting to meet and spending several hours with Rosita, Gigi's Aunt, who lives in La Paz (thank you Gigi for the introduction!). We had a lovely evening at the Cafe Marbella, chatting while sipping tea and eating pie. Before saying good-bye, she gave us departing gifts, mementos from La Paz. How sweet! How lucky!

Erik: Yes, the tourist police welcome was warm – I guess that the cemetery isn't the safest part of town for the buses to be dropping off tourists. In fact, a funny thing happened on the way to the cemetery (and La Paz...) It was about a 3 ½ hour ride from Copacabana. We were told that we'd need to get off the bus about ½ way and take a ferry across another part of Lake Titicaca. We naturally imagined we'd get off our bus, take the boat, and board another bus on the other side. When, we arrived, though, I went to fetch our backpacks, and was told not to bother. I was confused by this, until as we boarded our “ferry” (really a tiny boat built for 6 or so that 20 of us were stuffed into), that I saw our bus backing up onto a tiny barge, hardly wider than the bus itself. I have no idea how the tiny platform supported a large tourist bus, but I was very happy to be crammed into our tiny boat rather than riding on the bus floating on that tiny, motorized float. Despite my fears, the bus stayed afloat just fine, we re-boarded, and were soon in La Paz.

The next day we took advantage of La Paz's cosmopolitan nature, and took in a film – the new James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace”, which had just opened that day. We had no idea that the plot of the film revolved around a new Bolivian revolution, and that much of it was took place in La Paz and the surrounds. Small world, indeed! (Turns out the Bolivian scenes were actually filmed in Chile and Panama!)

Meeting Rosita was a real pleasure – a sophisticated woman, self-taught in French (which came in handy a few times during our conversation), and simply a warm, caring woman. We hope to return soon and see her again and reciprocate her great hospitality.

Despite all the warnings we'd received to the contrary, we felt safe and comfortable in La Paz, and enjoyed a relaxing, rejuvenating stay there.

Our photos of La Paz...:

La Paz, Bolivia