On the Incas' tracks

Overlooking the beautiful city of Cusco

Gathering for festivities on la Plaza de Armas

I spent my last two days in Cusco, Peru, which was basically a giant party-city (hum, I mean, more than usual!). Indeed, Cusquenos were celebrating Inti Raymi, a big festival in tribute of the sun that happens every year at the turn of winter (June 24 is the date of the official celebration, of course a local holiday). It is a big carnival were people parade and dance in the streets in traditional costumes and reenact Inca ceremonials. It was mostly unplanned on my part to get here at this date, but it surely was a lot of fun. Now I am off to trek through the jungle to Choquequirao, a sister Inca city to Machu Picchu, for the next five days, then finish with the visit of the world-famous - but much visited - wonder of the world on the sixth day. This should be special, according to the locals, so wait for the report...

Cusquenos parading on the street for the Inti Raymi festival

Copa, Copacabana...

Overlooking the bay of Copacabana

Copacabana is a quiet Bolivian village on the shore of Lago Titicaca, at the border of Peru. Today, not much happens here, and it is a great place to relax and enjoy the sun and magnificent landscape with the Andinian peaks plunging into the frigid lake at an altitude of 3800 m. However, this region, and in particular the nearby Isla del Sol, is believed to be the birthplace of the Inca religion and civilization.

El templo el Inca en la Isla del Sol

The Isla del Sol is a relatively small island that can be crossed in one day - it is a 3-hour pleasant walk from North to South - and that bears a striking resemblance to the Greek islands, if it were not from its pre-Inca and Inca ruins of temples, villages (where houses were connected by what looks like a maze of pathes) and other energy-charged sacred rocks. The weather was beautiful and it was a perfect way to spend my birthday. I hope to do more celebration this weekend in Arequipa, Peru.

Jungle Boogie

I am back from a trip to the jungle near Rurrenabaque, in the north of La Paz. The contrast is stunning between the two cities: in a 35-minute plane ride the altitude drops 3700m, and the temperature goes up 15 degrees C. After 3 hours of jeep, we reached the Yacuma river, where we "lived" for 3 days. The animal and vegetal life is unique and we can almost touch the hundreds of caymans, yellow monkeys and amazonian kingfishers. A few of my impressions just after the trip: hunting the anaconda is the dirtiest job in the jungle (feet in the swamp), piranha fishing requires a lot of patience (they know how to eat the chicken around the hook), and swimming in muddy water a few meters from the caymans is fun but not very comfortable.

A Cayman on the Yacuma River

Catch of the Day: Piranha

Not So Peaceful La Paz and The Death Road

View of the city of La Paz from El Alto

I love La Paz. It is a reasonably small city for being the center of economical and political power of Bolivia (about 1 Million inhabitants) and it is niched, at 3700m, at the feet of 5000m to 6000 m peaks, including the Huayna Potosi (the snowy mountain on the picture above). 300 m above the city is the Altiplano, a high plateau shared between Bolivia and Peru, from where views of the city are incredible.

The pace of the city is close to mad in the 'centro', where the traffic of pedestrians, cars, micros (buses) and minibuses is incessant (quite literally: cars never stop at red lights), while residential areas like la Zona Sur are much more quiet and posh. In town, there are markets everywhere and street vendors sell about anything, from DVDs to shampoos, from alpaca sweaters to vitamins. Women in traditional indigenous clothing talk on their cellphones while businessmen in suits chew coca leaves. People watching is my favourite activity here. The nightlife is incredible too, it starts early, unlike in Argentina, and ends in the morning at a time most people go to work. On top of all that, it is a backpacker heaven because it is very inexpensive - lunch costs 1 to 2 dollars, about the same as a taxi ride. I decide to use La Paz as a center for other activities, including the descent of the death road on a bike and a trip to the Amazonian jungle.

The death road - camino de la muerte - is the name of a segment of the old road between La Paz and Coroico. It is named like this because many people died every year (about 200) when it was still used by autobuses, trucks and cars. It is unpaved and very narrow, which caused many trucks and buses to fall over - particularly during rainy season - and because the vertical dropoff on its edge is sometimes over 600m, there are not many chances of survival for their occupants. A new road exists since 2006 and only a few cars and trucks still use the old one, in addition to the mountain bikers. Many less people die on the road now since it is not terribly dangerous on a bike when it is dry and when one keeps their two hands on the handlebar and their eyes on the road. The best parts of the experience are the views, and the vegetation change along the 61 km: the ride starts from an altitude of 4700m (basically: no vegetation) to arrive at 1200m in the jungle. Surviving it - and getting the t-shirt to prove it - is quite nice too...

El Camino de la Muerte at San Pedro Waterfalls

Bolivia is Dynamite!

Dynamite can be bought at the grocery store in Potosi

After a night in Uyuni, a 7-hour bus ride (200 km, I can forget about the comfort of Argentinian buses) on an unpaved but superb road through the mountains brings me to Potosi. It is a mining town that used to be the richest town in South America during the 16th and 17th centuries because of the supply of silver provided by the mountain the city is built on (Cerro Rico). Incidentally, it is also one of the highest cities in the world (4060 m).

Today, the situation is not as good, mining is still one of the main activities here but no more silver is found. Instead, miners work in horrible conditions (I went into a still-active mine for 2 hours today and thought I was going to die) to extract zinc, tin, and other minerals. It was really interesting to talk to the miners and share their daily life. We brought them some juice and cigarettes and dynamite (that we bought at the store, crazy!). Of course we finished with a little bit of fun: holding up some lit dynamite before blowing it up.

The only fun part of mining

More Salt... and Cactuses

The immigration office at the border crossing between Chile and Bolivia

The 3-day trip from San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) to Uyuni (Bolivia) starts with a picturesque border crossing - and breakfast - at an altitude of 4500 m. After that, we transfer our bags to a 4x4 that takes us through the Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa to the great salt flat of Uyuni, the largest in the world. It is a great and unique experience, including the first night in a "hotel" without heat or hot water at an altitude of 4300 m (the outside temperature is -20º C).

Sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni

The last day, we wake up early to see the sunrise on the Salar, before visiting the cactus-friendly Incahuasi Island, which offers breathtaking views of the Salar. Under the crust of salt is a saturated solution of water, salt, lithium chloride and magnesium chloride which will probably start to be extracted in the near future (particularly for the lithium).

I have only been in Bolivia 3 days but I already love this country. The nature is incredible and the people are just great, simple and friendly.

The view from Incahuasi Island: Cactuses and Salt