YAOGBB

 El Alto La Paz is only 'tres hora' (3 hours) from Copacabana. When you ask somebody in Bolivia how far away somewhere is, you always get an answer in time, few can tell you the distancia.  Tres hora works out to about 150 km.  The area around Copacabana is very beautiful but as you approach La Paz it gets flatter and bleaker.  Soon you are in the middle of El Alto, a chaotic zone of ugly buildings, unbelievably heavy traffic, people everywhere, and no signs or directions.  Then like coming upon the Drumheller valley in the middle of the bald prairie, La Paz appears far below. La Paz La Paz is as modern appearing a city as can be found anywhere.  There are some differences from what I am used to, there does not appear to be any form of public transit, but, just about all the traffic you will see is privately owned buses and taxis. Todo Privado as my taxi driver told me. Interspersed with the typical modern urbanite are the Indigeno ladies in t...

  You may have noticed that Copacabana is dominated by a large hill or small mountain, with stuff on top of it.  When I first saw it, I said naw,,, I am on holidays. The next day I walked around the whole thing in the morning and got most of the pictures posted on Picasa previously.  I had lunch, did some blogging, and had nothing to do so.... nothing for it but to climb that mountain. It turned out to be an easy climb considering how steep the slope was and that I was at about 13,000 feet above sea level.  The walking club will no doubt be disappointed that I did not do it all in one go, I did stop to rest a few times. What it turned out to be, was the stations of the cross.  If you don't know how many stations of the cross there are, you will just have to go here to find out. When you get to the top, this is what you will see.  What is really interesting is that the final station, the cross of Jesus does not occupy the highest point.  To find o...

This post is especially for Ron Y and his many admirers, but all are free to take the challenge. Hidden in the photo above is the KTM, now named Waldo. This is what you are looking for, photographed in situ.  (may not be the full view) The first one that emails me back an attachment with with Waldo circled or otherwise identified will get a full size, really excellent photo, that has not been posted on the blog or Picasa.

No destination today, just hanging out in Copacabana, by the shores of Titicaca (thanks Henry).  I am in what is most likely the best hotel in town, good internet, lotsa international tourists (mostly Europeans), a great view (the above photo was taken from my window), all for 300 Bolivianos, or $43 or thereabouts. If you have been following this blog, I am sure you will be relieved to hear that President Morales' MAS party probably elected 6 Gobiernos, an increase of 2, which will consolidate the power of the MAS.  No riots or other excitement, but there was lightning last night. President Morales, who was re-elected last December (yesterday's were regional or municipal elections), is Bolivia's first indigenous president.  I believe that besides Bolivia, only Peru has elected an Indigeno president (the proper term, indian or indio is considered pejorative).  Most Bolivians are Indigeno, and have maintained a traditional culture that is very distinctive.  T...

Bolivia is turning out to be quite an adventure.  After a border crossing reminiscent of Centro America's most chaotic, I could not even get documentos for mi moto, on accounta the Aduana's PC was down.  Hopefully this will not bite me in the ass when I try to leave. As I reached the outer part of La Paz, which showed every sign of being the typical South American city I have 'groan' to love (not), I checked into the first hotel I saw that looked like it might be a cut above the usual Hostal/jail cell.  They informed me the hotel would be closed tomorrow (Saturday) as there were going to be elections on Sunday.  I arrived there about 3, and everything was already locked up, and I mean everything, stores, banks, cyber cafe's, todo cerrado.  Fortunately, the Cajero Automatico (ABM) was willing to give me 1400 Bolivarianos, so at least I could pay for stuff, if only I could find someone willing to sell it. I could not get a good explanation on why this should b...

This is Peru, the outskirts of Arequipo; This is Peru about 20 kms from Arequipo, while I was getting lost trying to find the way to Bolivia.  Peruvian cities are indescribable, indescribably bad.  The towns are not much better, but a lot safer.  I eventually got back on the right road to get out of this crazy country.  It started to climb and did not stop till I reached 4500 meters, I guess that is about 15,000 feet give or take.  I did not notice any effects from the altitude whatsoever. (yet :-). The road goes through a national park, one of the last refuges of the vicuna, a type of wild Lama.  They are easy to spot as there is no vegetation higher than 6 inches up here, and it is cold!  I was wearing all my cold weather gear.    The scenery here is just incredible, I would still be taking pictures but the sun was going down and I needed to find a place to stay in a strange city, always an adventure in Peru,  but I did get a s...

The kitty litter gets more interesting when it is juxtaposed with El Mar Pacifico.  I have been following the coast for about 2,000 kilometers, but the ocean is always out of sight, except for the odd glimpse in the distance.  Today I chose to head for Arequipo and the world's deepest canyon instead of Machu Pichu.  A few kilometers out and I was right beside the ocean for most of the way.  I stopped here in Aticlo, about 300 km from Arequipo. This may be why the road stays away from the ocean :-)  Actually for most of the way there was very little sand, mostly kitty litter.  The next picture was taken by setting the camera on the ground on a typical spot, thousands of kilometers of this, it looks like those mars pictures.   I have been trying to be polite about the food in Central and South America, but the truth is I don't really like it that much, overcooked and bland.  Peru will change all that.  Along with the pretty girls, Per...