La Paz, Bolivia

Hola! Buenos Dias!

Greetings from the highest capital city in the world! La Paz, Bolivia lies at 3650 meters (around 12,000 feet) above sea level. At this altitude the weather can be very cold and severe. In fact, the first night we were here a hail storm swept over the city, leaving the streets white and the street vendors scrambling to cover their goods. Summer in Bolivia (remember that the seasons are opposite here) is the wet season, while the winter is quite dry. As it is now late autumn, we are almost into the dry season but as you can see few storms still come through!

The city was founded and built in a large canyon in the mid sixteenth century. Nearly 3 miles wide, the canyon is now filled completely by the city. A large main street runs along the floor of the canyon and anywhere you go away from it is UP! Covering the sides of the canyon are thousands of houses, shops and narrow streets. The canyon walls are so steep it seems like the buildings could just fall right off! You can get a glimpse of these crowded hillsides behind these city buildings .

La Paz has dozens of colorful markets, selling just about anything you could think of. Most anything you might need, including food, clothes, toiletries, CD's, household goods and much else can be bought from street vendors. In fact, we buy just about all of our meals from street vendors--delicious! My favorite is the salteña, which is a pastry of beef or chicken wrapped and baked in a cornemal dough. Here you can see a woman selling fresh cheeses, or quesos, a Bolivian specialty!

Another thing Bolivia is famous for is its weavings. There are many different traditional styles which are made into wall hangings, clothing, bags, hats, gloves, even placemats and napkins--just about anything you could think of. Generally alpaca, llama, or sheep wools are used. Alpacas and llamas are very closely related--in fact they are also related to the guanaco. Do you remember the guanacos I talked about in Patagonia? Here is just a sampling of the different kinds of beautiful weavings we have seen here.

Something very interesting about the people here is their dress, especially the Bolivian women. Many of them still dress very traditionally, with large pleated skirts, woven sweaters, shawls (chales) and scarfs (bufandas). They often carry their things on their backs, in bundles wrapped with colorful woven tapestries. Because the Bolivian sun is very intense, especially at this altitude, wide brimmed hats like the one this woman is wearing are very common.

La Paz is such an interesting city, full of energy and excitement. It seems like every little street hides something unique and special!

Salt Flats of Bolivia

Hola de Bolivia!

Nathan and I have finally made it into the country of Bolivia, which is north of Argentina. We have now visited three countries, Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Can you find all of these on a map?

This entry, as you can see, is pretty long because we have seen many cool things. If it seems too long to read all at once don´t worry. Just read what you can and go back to it later. Remember that all of my entries will stay on the web so you can read and reread any of them at your own pace.

Our first adventure in Bolivia was a tour of the Salar de Uyuni. A salar, or salt flat, is a large deposit of salt on the surface of the earth. Salt flats occur all around the world and are formed after giant salt water lakes dry up. As the water evaporates, the salts and other minerals that were dissolved in the water are left behind. The lake that created the Salar de Uyuni evaporated around 1,000 years ago. There are several salt flats in southwestern Bolivia, but the Salar de Uyuni is the largest. In fact, it´s the largest salt flat in the world at 12,000 square kilometers and up to 80 meters thick! This is the truck that we rode in during our tour of the salt flat.

Have you ever wondered where the salt you eat to flavor your food comes from? Most likely it came from a salt flat! People in the nearby town of Colchani harvest the salt from the Salar de Uyuni by piling it into mounds like these to dry.

Once the sun has dried out the salt they take it back to their pueblo and process it for different uses. It can be made into table salt for eating or pressed into small blocks which are then carved into trinkets. They also cut the raw salt into large bricks and build houses with them. We slept in a "salt hotel" like this one on our tour.

After seeing the salt flat we drove for two more days through the amazing landscapes of the Altiplano, which means "high plain". This is a geographical feature that lies between two cordilleras, or mountain ranges, of the Andes. It is a very large, flat plateau lying between 12,000 and 15,000 feet in altitude. The environment is so dry that it is considered to be a desert. This picture was taken in the Desierto Siloni, or Siloni Desert, area of the Altiplano.

Throughout the Altiplano there are many volcanos as well. Because of the volcanic activity in the region one can find geysers. Geysers occur when the heat from magma below the earth´s surface causes water, also below the surface, to boil. Of course we know that boiling water creates steam. This steam needs to go somewhere and it often escapes through vents in the earth's surface. These vents of escaping steam are called geysers, and as you can see they make a really cool sight!
There are many lagunas, or lagoons, in the region we drove through as well. These lagunas are also heated by the magma underground, however they don´t get hot enough to boil. Because they are warm and full of minerals from ancient volcanic deposits they make great feeding grounds for birds. Flamencos, or flamingos, are the most exciting bird to spot. One can find three species of flamingoes in the lagunas. I am pretty sure this one here is the Flamenco Andino, or Andean Flamingo. A beautiful volcano is towering in the background.

I could go on and on about the wonderful things we saw on our tour of southwestern Bolivia, but I´m sure your eyes are hurting as much as mine from so much reading on the computer!

Until next time, Chaio!

Easter in Argentina

Hola! Como andan? This is another phrase, like "que tal", which means, "how´s it going?"

If you are well you could answer, "muy bien!" or "very well!" Another phrase that asks how you are doing is, "como estas?" So, if someone gave you any of these greetings, "que tal?", "como anda" or "como esta", and you are well, you can say "muy bien!" Of course you might not be doing well. Then you might say "mal" (bad) or even "muy mal" (very bad). However, let´s hope your answer is always "bien, muy bien!"

As you know, Easter is coming in just a few days! There are many ways that Argentinians celebrate this holiday and some are very similar to our traditions in the United States. Some are very different, though, so I´d like to share with you the traditions I have learned about.

In Spanish Easter is called Las Pascuas. Here in Argentina the celebrations for Las Pascuas can last for two weeks. The first week begins on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, and is called semana santa, or week of the saints. This is the same as what we call Holy Week. We were in the city of Jujuy in northern Argentina on Palm Sunday and on just about every street we saw people selling small baskets woven from palm fronds and branches from olive trees. People hang these baskets in their doorways and fill them with the olive branches or flowers.

Most people in Argentina are Roman Catholic and so on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday they attend mass at their churches. In Jujuy there are several very old (over 400 years!) and lovely cathedrals. Here are some churchgoers leaving Palm Sunday mass at Catedral San Francisco carrying their palm baskets. Can you see the people selling the baskets on the street outside?

We saw another interesting tradition here in Humahuaca, where we are now. Groups of young people from various pueblos, or small towns, in this region form marching bands and travel around to the other pueblos with their instruments. They march around the main plazas and play for the townspeople who come out to watch. Drums and pan flutes, which are a traditional instrument of the Andes Mountains, are played. Each banda, or band, carries a banner with the name of their group and the name of a saint they are representing. These groups travel for a few days, camping out at night in the countryside, visiting many pueblos along the way.

People celebrate the rebirth of Jesus Christ the whole week after Easter Sunday. They have parties, take vacations and, just like home, eat lots of sweets! A special bread called rosca is sold at all the panaderias, or bakeries, during the Easter holiday. It is a round loaf with a hole in the middle, like a large doughnut, and is decorated with dried fruits. Of course, chocolate is everywhere! Many stores have large window displays like this one filled with huge chocolate eggs and other kinds of candy.

Do you share any of these Easter traditions with the Argentinians? Do any of them seem very different to you? What is your favorite Easter tradition?

That´s all for now, so "chaio"! (This is pronounced chow, and is a way to say goodbye in Spanish