Oct 24, 2019 - Santa Cruz Seclusion

Flight to Santa Cruz was over mountainous, mostly uninhabited terrain. Oddly, there was a large body of water that seemed to just begin in a valley, 'flow' for miles & miles, and then end. Google maps shows it, but does not identify it ? Former River, Current Lake ? Arrived to Santa Cruz airport where hotel driver awaited us and one other guest. Driven a mile or so on airport access road to perpendicular intersection with four lane highway to/from Santa Cruz. At that point vehicular traffic is blockaded - in any direction except back to...

Oct 22, 2019 - Sucre, The Old Sweet Capital

Rather than a 9+ hour overnight bus from La Paz to the Uyuni Salt Flats, we decided to fly to Sucre and from there visit Uyuni and also the old colonial town of Potosi; at 4,050 masl (13,290'), a tad less elevation than El Alto. When we arrive to our hotel in Sucre demonstrations are starting in the city. The demonstrators are protesting President Evo Morales' decision to declare victory in the recent election. Sucre was a pleasnt city to walk about, and had some relatively level stretches that made it much easier for Lidia. We decided to...

Oct 20, 2019 - Isla del Sol

Used our boat ride ticket to Isla del Sol; ~12km from Copa. A rapid ride (as on the Hydrofoils we watched fly by us) our boat was not; took more than an hour to go ~7 miles, or in nautical terms our boat 'trolled' along at 5 knots/hr. It was a leisurely ride, and managed to transport Lidia to lullaby land. The Isla Sol trip entailed the roundtrip boat ride and a hike from the Sol disembarkation point to the embarkation point. Approaching the island it became obvious that the hike was not a leisurely stroll along the beach. Nope, it would be...

Oct 19, 2019 - Copacabana at Lake Titicaca

Rode a 'Bolivia Hop' bus from La Paz to Copacabana. The bus would continue on into Peru and we were glad we were ending our ride in Copa. Not the most comfortable bus we've ever been on - actually one of the least, and the seat belts were less than functional. The ride proceeded from front of hotel pick-up (plus point) up & out of La Paz Valley to El Alto and then across the Bolivian Altiplano. Great views of the snow caped Andean Mountains to the east that rose up from (no exploded out of) the intervening flat lands. And those multiple...

Oct 18, 2019 - Touring La Paz From the Teleferico

Decided to tour and view La Paz by the Teleferico System, a signature achievement of President Evo Morales. The system was designed & built by the Austrian company Dopplemayer; of whose ski area lift systems I've used throughout Europe & North America. The system began operation in 2014 with three lines, added two more in 2017 & 2018, and is now comprised of 10 lines, totaling 19 miles & 31 stations. Each cabin, which arrives/departs every 12 seconds, can accommodate 10 passengers. La Paz has a population of 900,000 and adjacent El Alto...

Oct 17, 2019 - La Paz - The Air is Thin Up Here !

Due to the proximity, and that neither of us has ever visited Bolivia, we flew from Cusco to La Paz. The airport is actually in El Alto (13,620' elevation), as La Paz is located in a canyon/valley (nowhere to put an airport into which I'd want to fly !), though at 11,900' elevation. Arriving at the airport we definitely felt the lack of oxygen, and descending down to La Paz did not result in much respite - the air is thin, and oxygen scarce ! Although only ~800' higher than Cusco the feeling of light-headedness felt more pervasive in La...

Sep 5, 2018 - Trinidad to La Paz

Today a lazy start. Breakfast at the Hotel and another mediocre breakfast. The bare minimum provided. Only one other guest at brekkie. We repack and reorganise our bags from the small black bag back into our suitcase. Lots of dirty clothes, so the laundry service in Santiago is going to be busy. At 11am we wander out for a coffee. The only coffee cafe we can find makes their coffee with Nescafe instant. Oh well! We get one BOL4 < A$1. On the way back we see a children's store and get 4 outfits, 2 for boys, 2 for girls - covering all...

Sep 4, 2018 - Pink River Dolphins

Today breakfast is at 8.30 overlooking the lagoon and then we all, (Miriam, Efrem, Hugo, Taya, Gabrielle, Phil and I pile into the car and head to the River Imbare. We also have on the roof rack of the car an esky with food and drink and the coati in its special cage, as today we are to release it into the wild. We reach the river in 10 minutes and load everything on board and Efrem carries a 40hp honda motor down this steep hill to the boat. Its very heavy but he manages. This port area has quite a few boats as this river leads to the...

Sep 3, 2018 - Chuchini Eco Lodge

Today breakfast at 8.30 again overlooking the lagoon. Today we are going to fish is the breeding ponds. We take our hand lines and try to catch something but despite the fact that there must be lots of fish in these ponds, nothing jumps on our line. Efrem is the only one who catches something and it looks like a catfish! We then have a walk through the jungle and Juli accompanies us to translate. Its a pleasant walk in the shade and we reach another lagoon. Here we try fishing for the second time today. I catch a pirhanna. Small but it has...

Sep 2, 2018 - Chuchini Eco Lodge

After arriving back from San Carlos at around 5.30 last night we found an urgent email from Mirriam at Chuchini saying they would have to pick us up at 4am!!!! because today Trinidad and all the streets are going to be blocked off. Not ideal but we have just checked into Hotel Colonial so we can't abandon that accommodation and spend an extra night at Chuchini. So its up at 3-45 (yeah!!!) and we throw some clothes on and meet Efrem downstairs for the 14 km drive to Chuchini. It doesn't take too long and on arrival he shows us straight to...

Sep 1, 2018 - San Carlos Ranch to Trinidad

Today we are up at 5am, eat breakfast, and are heading back to the the place where we saw the night monkey the other day and are hopeful that there will be more animals there this early in the morning. We leave today so it's our last chance. Unfortunately nothing much around so back to the ranch and we pack to leave. Marisella's husband has been at the ranch for the last day or so and he is leaving now too with Lucho and some of the ranch kids. We follow his car on a different route through the other ranches heading towards San Ramon. Not...

Aug 31, 2018 - San Carlos Ranch

At 5am we are woken by Nick and off we go down the bank back to the river. We sit there until 7am waiting and hoping to see either a tapir or a jaguar, but unfortunately nothing. Still plenty of bird life but no mammals. By the time we get back to the campsite, Lucho has dismantled the tents and packed everything (not that there was much) and we started the walk back through the jungle to meet the ranch hands that would bring the horses. We get to the edge of the jungle and no horses (you know in ‘Bolivian time’) so we continue walking. We...