Copabana - Lake Titicaca

!Hola to you all!

And a very BIG HOLA to all the students and teachers at Nuhaka School. I am missing you all!!! Im having a wonderful time meeting and seeing many interesting people and sights ...... but Ive decided, these no-where like home. Mr Tait told me you have had a lot of rain and cold weather. This last week in Bolivia the weather was so cold during the school holiday, the President said the children were to have an extra weeks holiday.



Room 4, I know you are doing your very best for your teacher. While spending many hours on buses, Ive put together an idea (a loose script even - although Ill need more input from you) of a whole class movie!!! Yippee!!!! Everyone has a part to play! More about that when I get back to school.




Jarki and I spent a day on the Islar del Sol. Its an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca - this lake straddles both Bolivia and Peru. Lake Titicaca is 230km long and 97km wide. Isla del Sol is a legendary Inca creation site and is the birthplace of the Sun in Inca mythology. We saw some of ruins of this great empire.We stood at the site of their most important temple, a temple once covered in pure gold. I stood in awe and looked at the steep, rocky hiills around me - all terraced from top to bottom - every piece of ground used to grow crops. The Inca had used the rocks from the hillsides to build flat land for agriculture. They grew quinoa, corn and many other grains. (My spanish is poor so I had difficulty understanding). The Inca would rotate the land - they would plant for four years then let the land rest for seven. The Inca had three rules -
You must always tell the truth,You must not steal, and everyone must work. If anyone transgressed, broke these rules, their heart was cut out and buried in front of the temple.


On this page you can see me standing in front of a large rock. This is the rock the Inca believe they came from - interestingly, a compass does not work any where near this rock. Hmmm......
Got to go, Ive run out of time at the internet cafe.

Hasta leugo

¡Hola!

When travelling to Sucre we stopped at a city called Potosi - the highest (4600m above sea level) city in the world. The adobe brick city clings to steep, rocky, barren, brown hills. The climate is very harsh. The city is steeped in tradition and history - tragic and true. It´s where huge silver deposits were found in the hills in the 1500s. Thousands of people still work deep under ground - mining these deposits, many of them children. This city was once the wealthiest city in South America - underwriting Spains economy. (¿Oscar, did you know this?)

It´s common to see Bolivians with wads of coca leaves in their mouths. They suck these leaves as they help them cope with altitude, temperature fluctuations, and overall good health.
¡¡¡¡Jarki has taken a liking to coca leaves - I´ve caught here surreptiously stuffing them in her mouth!!!!! I´m not worried because I´ve been told Jarki needs to chew 5 kg at once to get the same buzz as 1g of cocaine. ¿Is her mouth big enough?

The farm land is not divided into paddocks or fields. There are no wire or wooden fences to define bounderies , instead the people gather rocks on the land and make pens to keep the animals in. It was common to see a man , woman or child sitting minding a group of pigs, goats, or sheep as they grazed. The animals grouped close by their shepherd.

Jarki and I spent a few hours at a market close to where we are staying. We were intrigued with the wide variety of goods the people had for sale - spices, grains, fruits, clothing, food, shoes and utensils. These people have my upmost respect - they are very, very hardworking. Their food is
nutricious, infused with different spices and herbs. Their clothing is beautiful - woven and colourful. Their music is heavenly - uplifting and very happy. The people have a happy, gentle disposition.

Tomorrow we fly to La Paz, then bus to Copacabana (Lake Titicaca).

Hasta leugo
P.S Thanks for your comments. Not sure how to answer each one personally.

¡Eh tu!
We,ve arrived in Bolivia after a fourteen hour bus trip!Whew! Again, jolted by seeing how hard working the people appear - carrying heavy loads on their backs, pushing carts laden with goods to sell, babies strapped to their mothers backs while they worked outside! The street scene above is typical! Again adobe brick houses, llamas and dogs wandering the streets, quiet communities. The modes of transport people use are mainly bicycles, push bikes, donkeys, and their own two legs. There are some cars here and there.
We met up with some other travellers and decided to take a guided three day tour of the Salar de Ujuni (a huge national park filled with many awesome natural phenomena. On the way we stopped in a village for lunch which included quinoa, llama meat, and coca cola. These two photos are Jarki and I with our new friends, eating lunch in a village eating establishment. The photo on the left is our hostess - a small Bolivian woman in typical clothing, gathered skirt, felt hat, layered in shawls and cardigans, hair long and platted, and wearing heavy knitted knee length stockings. I understand why... it´s so b***** cold up here. We are 3000m above sea level. ¡Brrrr! The young people we were with were a lot of fun - full of the joie de vivre!
I felt like a real pleb beside them as they all spoke muliple languages - FLUENTLY! Sophie - German (English, German, Spanish), Alexis-French (French, Portugese, English, Spanish), Damian-French (French, Spanish), Amanda-Canadian (French, English, Spanish), Che - Irish(Spanish, Gaelic, English), Angela-NZer (Lazy English), Jarki- Australian/Nzer (Sloppy, Twangy Aussie). We saw many interesting land forms - I wished I had a geologist attached to my arm to explain the landscape - huge glacial valleys, volcanoes, geysers, rainbow coloured mountains. We spent a day on the emense salt flats - 12000 square kms, 6-8m deep, altitude 3600 m above sea level. One evening we stayed in accomodation that was 5600 m above sea level. My nose bled a few times and we had difficulty breathing. temp -15 degrees c.Mindblowing! We had a lot of fun experimenting with perspective photos. You can see me holding Jarki in my hand, me holding my friends on an apple and us standing in our giant shoes. This is the Laguna Colorado. The lake is pink due to the crustacea - that live in the lake - thousands of pink flamingo come to feed here every year. They are in this photo!
Adios amigos! XXXXXXXX

¡Hola! ¡Buenas tardes!

Jarki and I are still on the planet. We arrived in Sucre, Bolivia last night. We´ve been moving fast, covering a lot of ground. We´re looking forward to spending a few days here - resting, looking, walking, and washing our feral selves. The continent is huge! We´ve FELT every kilometre while travelling in the bus!!! We have rattled and rolled in dust and people filled buses, accompanied by a bouquet of smells and scents.

All the roads in Bolivia are gravel - not sealed! I will never complain about transport in NZ again! The first photo shown is a typical village scene. The people´s homes and dwellings are all adobe brick! There is no grass, no paved footpaths - the footpaths and roading in the villages is dust and stone. These first two photographs on this blog are taken at Tilcara - northern Argentina. Our favourite place so far!! The hills surrounding the village are layered in multicolours - pink, orange, blue, cream, red and brown. Jarki and I couldn´t understand how the local people could always look so clean and tidy while living in such a dusty environment.The pople are quiet and gentle.

The land is arid, dry and dusty - I´ve seen few trees, instead a lot of scrubby tussicy plants. The people are amazing .- I stand in awe at how they can eak (sic) out an existance in such a harsh environment. These people are so adaptable - they grow their crops and use the resources within their environment to make their clothes, build their homes and to get their food. They grow quinoa, all sorts of interesting and colourful potatoes, and corn. Their clothing is woven from llama wool, their furniture and lamps made from dried cactus (very decorative), their food grown in the land around the village.

From Tilcara we travelled to the Bolivian/Argentinian border. Another new experience for me - moving through a border crossing, walking through the ´no man´s land´ between the two countries. The photo on the left is Jarki and I entering Bolivia!

Right - our friends we met in Tilcara are standing at the Tropic of Capricorn!!! Check that out on the atlas!
XXXX Adios

Parque Nacional Iguazu

¡Hola!
¡Hola! Here I am at the falls. ¡Such mighty power, such size, such noise! Pienso que fue bonito. There are two hundred and seventy five waterfalls, crashing eighty meters into the Rio Iguazu.

¡I am soaking wet in the top photo as I´ve just been under them! Took a ride in a small boat - under we went! Whoo-wee!! ¡Cold, pummelled, invigorating!

These falls border Argentina and Brazil. We were on the Argentinian side.

¡Am hanging out for some good coffee and chocolate!

Ciao

More Buenos Aires

¡Hola!
Finally I found a computer where I can download some photographs.
My sister is sitting on the hostel stairs. ¡She´s beautiful!
A couple dancing the tango.

The wonderful drumming, dancing carnival we stumbled upon. The pulsating rhythm, moving, dancing and energy was great. Buenos Aires has many beautiful sculptures - the people love beauty.

Just befire we left Buenos Aires, Jarki and I got talking to a well dressed man whose English was quite good. ¡He told me he wanted to date me! Before I could open my mouth, my sister piped up and told him I was married.......hmmmmm, thus ended the beginning of a good story.

In this huge country of 41 million, very few people speak English. I like the challenge of working out the written spanish - but understanding what the people are saying is a problem.

The bus trip to Puerto Iguazu was comfortable. We travelled through miles and miles of flat farm land where cattle were grazing. Argentina is famous throughout the world for it´s beef.

Puerto Iguazu is a tourist destination - known for it´s gigantic waterfalls. The fauna and flora reminds me of Queensland - colour, scrubby, and the low density of the vegetation. Tonight we leave for Tucuman, travelling by cama bus again. I can´t access the waterfall photos today- I´ll try and blog them next.

Adios amigos

Argentina

Hello everyone!!!! I´ve arrived in Argentina. Flying with Aerolineas Argentina, I travelled 10,324 kilometres to get here, at an altitude of 10,000m, and an average speed of 922 kilometres per hour. The temperature in the atmosphere (or the troposhere) outside the craft was -56 degrees celcius (Brrrrrrrr). I crossed the International Dateline - Argentina is 17 hours behind New Zealand.
My flight was comfortable, thankfully no snorers were within a 5 metre radius. The flight was full, approxiamately 200 people on board. I dozed, ate, listened to music on the airphones and read.

Argentina is a big city. It´s warmer here than what I expected, 22 degrees celcius. I´m loving the city! The buildings are all brick and plaster, with wrought iron features - the spanish influence. The streets are narrow, tree lined, with tall, old buildings either side. I love being surrounded with spanish speakers - the languge flows beautifully, with music-like intonation.
While travelling on the bus to the city I saw a lot of groups of people playing soccer in the parks while their families looked on.
In the city, there an électric´atmosphere. The people are vibrant - they love to sing, play music, talk, and dance. One evening we came across a group of people spontaneously playing drums and other other percussion instruments. ¡People in the streets were dancing - really letting go! The rythmn was hypnotic!
I´m staying in am International Youth Hostel - ¡Yes, I qualify! The building is an old, old house - beautifully restored. It has marbeled floors, tall ceilings, and wrought iron railings. Our bedroom is on the roof-top.I am meeting people from all over the world - Colombia, Ireland, Chile, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. People are friendly and love to talk and share their travel stories.
Today, my sister and I are travelling north to Iguazu Falls - they border Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Our journey will take 17 hours. We´re travelling by bus - a HUGE bus we can sleep on. ¡It has BEDS! The spanish word for a bus with beds is cama.
I have to go now - my sister is yapping at my heels.
Ciao