Bolivia 2017
Last supper in Santa Cruz
17-01-25 After leaving the rain forest we flew back to La Paz where we said goodbye to six of our comrades who opted for a week’s extension in Peru. Soledad stayed with them in La Paz and made sure they were set for their next adventure, while the remaining 9 of us and Sonia continued […]
Indigenous
17-01-24 On our last night at Madidi Jungle lodge we asked Alejandro if he’d talk to us about his community and the impact of the dams proposed for the Rio Beni. He recruited the manager of the lodge, Henry, to talk with us as well and used a map hanging in the gathering area to illustrate […]
Floating toward the Amazon
17-01-22 Madidi National Park stretches from the tops of the Andes mountains in the west down into the Amazonian basin. Located here on the Rio Tuichi, upstream a couple hours from its junction with the Rio Beni and the cleft in the interior mountains in which Evo Morales wants to place a hydroelectric dam, the […]
Madidi Jungle Lodge
17-01-22 A raucous flock of parrots flew overhead as I sat down to write this, sitting here in a hammock on the veranda of a palm-frond thatched cabin in the rain forest. This lodge is just right for us: owned and run by members of the San Jose de Uchupiamonas village and sitting on the […]
Chacaltaya
17-01-18Rising above La Paz are snow-capped peaks of the Andes mountain range. For many decades starting in the 1940s, two enterprises stood near the summit of Chacaltaya mountain: a ski resort run by the Bolivian Alpine Club with stunning club houses and a ski lift to the top of Chacaltaya glacier, and a research base […]
Taboo subjects
17-01-17 Traveling leads to all sorts of intestinal distresses, and traveling together means we talk about them regularly. Constipation, diarrhea, upset stomach, how many times we each pooped during the mountain climb, all are interesting and relevant topics of discussion, even during meals. Also of interest are the remedies. I’ve mentioned before the popping of […]
Torotoro / El Vergel
17-01-12 Between Cochabamba and Coqueza we visited the town and National Park of Torotoro. This is a great example of community-based conservation, as the whole city has themed itself around the dinosaur footprints found there and the natural attractions the park has. One of those is El Vergel, which we visited on last day there. […]
Climbing Volcán Thunupa
17-01-15 We rose at 4:00am this morning to meet guides and see how far up the volcano we could get. Our hotel is in the town of Coqueza on the edge of the Salar de Uyuni, so one of the goals was to get up high enough to see the sunrise over the Salar. The […]
Lake Poopó has died
17-01-13 We walked out on Lago Poopó this afternoon, a case study in the effects of changing climate and changing land uses on wetlands. Where once it covered an area of about 400 square miles to a depth of 3-12 feet, it now is just a flat sand plain dotted with salt-tolerant succulents. Its main […]
Cochabamba: city of eternal spring
17-01-09 Cochabamba is a beautiful city nestled in a mountain-ringed valley with a local climate much like coastal California where I grew up. My wife and daughter and I spent our sabbatical here in 2012-2013, and it’s been nice to revisit some of our favorite haunts. We’ve had one day of sightseeing, and one day […]