Peace Baby!

La Paz, Copacabana, and Puno - August 2011

31.07.2011 - 10.08.2011 20 °C

It all about Peace when you get to La Paz...

Well, at least that is where I learned what "Paz" means...

And even though Bolivia still represents the ocean through one of the stars on its flag and makes a point of raising the lack of it as a political issue each year, things are pretty cool and peaceful in this part of the world.

I do like the Bolivians...a very nice and polite group of people all in all...even when they do try to take you for a ride.

Although La Paz is not the capital of Bolivia, it plays a key function in much of the direction of the nation and appears to be the economic centre.

The place is a jungle...of the concrete kind...

It sits in a basin on a plateau in the middle of nowhere really....a strange place for the Spanish to pick.

House are balance precariously on the edges of cliffs and on the odd occasion, one slides down....

I've been incredibly impressed with the workmanship of the houses in Bolivia. Bolivians are great builders and no matter how rich or poor, have a solid roof over their heads. It certainly provides a nice example for some of the richer yet more economically divided nations of South America to look up to.

The rubbish management on the other hand is non existent. Throughout my time in Bolivia and in some of the most beautiful places, the landscape is scattered with debris. On the buses people just open the wndow and throw away what ever they're finished with. I hope this changes sooner rather than later...it's an educational issue.

Considering the altitude hit me hard on arrival…I really needed a few days to simply chill out. This was also my opportunity to catch up with my friend and Spanish teacher, Jenny!

Little did I realize when I flew into La Paz that a huge celebration was in progress in the city. It turns out that it was one of the bigger celebrations of the year and had something to do with the Universities, so students and teachers danced the day and night away.

True to form the Taxi driver tried to ask for twice the going taxi rate but promptly accepted my offer of the real price. As karma would have it, as soon as I got in, his engine died...that'll teach him. So I jumped in another taxi and headed off into the city only for us to get stuck in a thick traffic jam.

This is when I learned about the celebration, and more so, the rather irritated taxi driver shrugged and told me to get out. I politely refused, reminding him, he needed to take me to my hotel and find a way to get there after all he was well aware this celebration was going on prior to taking me. After a long, typical, and circular discussion, and him pretty much blackmailing me to hand out a bit more cash, and me refusing further attempts for him to have me walk "the last block or two", we arrived...

An eventful start but all turned out well.

And then the altitude hit me....whoa!...I hadn't realised the affect up until then..but I was on the 4th floor and was even struggling at reception. I was very pleased I didn't get out of that taxi and walk. Especially considering I didn't know the place, I had no energy, the city was packed and is notorious for muggings. It seems the 10 days in the jungle and then the quick flight back to La Paz was too much for me. he airport lies at about 4100m, the centre of town at about 3600m, and the more affluent live at about 3000m. I hadn't noticed anything in Potosi because I'd driven from San Pedro and acclimatized slowly....a lesson learned.

I had a chronic headache the first few days, and struggled to breathe every time I went up a hill or steps..but it eased. It's hard to describe just how exhausting it is when you're not used to the altitude...You can really only just walk very slowly, drink loads of water, chew on Coca leaves and take tablets if it helps.

Despite all the advice not to eat meat (because it's slow to digest), I couldn't help myself but to scoff down a steak, on the first night and alapaca the next...ouch!..my poor tummy..I felt like it was bursting for a couple of days there...but I got over that too.

I got my act together and met up with Jenny...so excited. We met at the local Church, San Fransisco and meandered on back to her place before heading out to dinner that night.

Each day and night I spent time with her and I even spent day refreshing my Spanish with her...so good. Ahh..she's still so patient.

Of course I'm talking much more, but my grammar isn’t being used much at all...present tense and saying "futuro" or "pasade" is sooo much easier!....So she slapped me back into action and since then I've actually started using the various past and futures tenses...thank you Jenny!

We enjoyed watching life pass by in the city. I found the large number of shoe cleaners fascinating. Shoe cleaning is a major profession throughout Bolivia, with everyone from young (<10 y.o) to the old offering the service. Often the faces are covered to hide their identity.

Bolivians love popped or puffed anything, whether it be corn, wheat, pasta or pretty much any other grain you can find...specially quinoa. They eat it dry too. At breakfast you'll usually be given a bowl of sweetened puffed something...but no milk. It's expensive, so it's eaten by the handful...dry.

Bolivians have a bottom obsession too. For weeks I'd been passing by stores with mannequins displays "what shape you'll get if you buy a pair of these"...very amusing.

And they're big on naughty calendars...you find them in pretty much every store you walk into and usually with the Virgin Mary next to them and an old lady selling her wears....I felt I was back in Melbourne in the 90's at the docks...or the office for that matter...

The city has a lovely historical centre with beautiful spanish colonial architecture and there are a handful of lovely museums to visit.
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I learned about the heritage of the traditional Bolivian dress that I'd been admiring for a month. The indigenous were forced to where Spanish dress of the period. And if you look closely you’ll see that the current dress is a knee length version of colonial clothing…it seems a little ironic admiring the so called traditional Aymara and Quechua dresses only to discover it’s a buggerized version of Spanish clothing.

At Plaza Murillo the pigeons are hit amongst the locals with loads of opportunity to feed them....don't go if you're scared of birds in an Alfred Hitchcock kind of way!

Pachamama is the mother earth and as it turned out, August is the month of Pachamama and it is vital to make offering to her, to ensure good fortune in the coming year.

Each day I passed by the witches market and watched the locals bartering for the best deal on offerings that match what it was that they wanted to wish for this coming year.

It was a bit confronting to see the dead and dried llamas but I learned that the llama is sacred because it is viewed as a provider. A provider of food, and warmth through clothing...so it is commonly accepted that giving a llama back to pachamama is imperative.

The local buses are of the fun colourful type

Or you even get to jump into a mini van and pay a couple of Bolivianos for it to take you squeezed in with a bunch of others to whereever it's heading....

Just make sure you pick the right van...and how do you know?...well...you have to listen out!

So glad I had Jenny guiding me!

Just near La Paz, is a town called Tiwanaku..,it is also where the ancient civilisation of Tiwanaku was based. After El Fuerte, this was to me my next big lesson in the andean cultures of South America.

Despite everything I'd ever heard and thought, it turns out that looooong before the Incans arrived on the scene, the Tiwanaku population lived as a grand dynasty. The Tiwanakus existed about 1500BC and 1200AC! Almost 3000 years...The Incans on the other hand, lived through a relatively short period from 1400AC to 1600AC. Perhaps we hear more about the Incans because the Spanish encountered them and documented much of these meetings. The Incans had a smooth transition in meeting and living with the Tiwanakus and subsequetly learned much from them.

For months now I had been seeing the colourful Andean Flag. remember?

Well it turns out that this is based on the Chakana and the Ancient belief of pairs and 3 levels of being.

Alax Pacha - God, the condor, heavens

Aca Pacha - humans, the puma, earth

Manqa Pacha - mother earth (pachamama), serpent, hell

Then within these levels are the pairs...
For example:
Man and Woman
Sun and the Moon

The Tiwanakus believed in equilibrium being maintained and that each is side of the pair is necessary and required to maintain the balance.

So you'll often finds pairs of ceremonial ceramic pots for example.

The serpent moves between the levels joining them.

The Tiwanaku dynasty is broken into three periods:
1) Villiage or formation period (1500BC to 0)
2) Urban or classic period (100 AD - 700AD)
3) Imperial or Expansive period (700AD - 1200AD)

The finest artworks are found in the final period. Metallurgy is developed with the discovery of Copper and tin.

The Tiwanaku dynasty had a sudden colapse and it is thought that this is likely due to extreme climatic changes causing a 90 year drought. Only a handleful of people survived and it is thought that these formed the basis of the Aymara, Mollo and Incan cultures.

For me it was fascinating to learn that the grandeur of the Incan culture actually was formed from such a strong base.

In the Tiwanakun ceramics much symbolism can be seen. Often the Llama, the Puma, Condor, serpent and fish are used in some form or other in the art work. Even human face depictions are often combined with aspects of one or more of the animals.

The ancient city of Tiwanaku is fascinating.
No body knows where the stones came from. The city is kilometers away from any source. It is thought, that canals were built from Lake Titikaka that allowed the rocks to be floated in to the city...but who knows.

The main Pyramid Akapana had 7 levels and was crowned with the andean cross.

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It is bordered by other sites:

Kalasasaya
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The sunken temple
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The Monolith of the Pachamama was taken into La Paz city years ago and stood on the main avenue...covered in pigeon poo and smog....but it was restored as best could be and returned to it's rightful home in Tiwanaku. It's magnificent...but no photos allowed.

In the distance the modern town of Tiwanaku can be seen with it's Iglesia dominating the skyline. Apparently the Church as for many in La Paz, were constructed using the stones from the old city. The Spanish even used two monoliths as columns to place Christian religious saints on top off....not nice...

The Spanish blew up much of the site and even tried to exorcise one of the monoliths that stands today.

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See the cross on its right shoulder.

The place is considered mystical. Stones line the main entrance to the pyramid and they're magnetic. You can see this by placing a compass next to one of the corners...So I closed my eyes and felt the energy...it was interesting ..I certainly felt myself being pulled...give it a go...part of feeling he the peace, baby!

But because so much was damaged, not everything is standing in its rightful place. The knowledge of why certain objects were placed where they were supposed to be has been long lost.

The Gateway to the sun is a fine example of this. It was found on it's side way off from the temples it should have been near. So today it has been resurrected in a corner for itself.

Different thoughts exist as to its significance, but it seems to be commonly accepted that the symbols on it represent the annual calendar.

The miniature sun god symbols in the zigzag at the bottom appear to represent the months of the year.

On either side of the Sun God, Viracocha, there are 15 symbols on either side of a crouching sun men that are looking at god and the condor and these represent the days of the month.

Then, around the crown of Viracocha are 24 lines (pumas) representing the hours of the day.

Viracocha is holding two sceptres...this is typical for a god.

The Gateway would have been covered in gold originally and it is thought that Viracocha had a long pointy nose...to use as a sun dial...but we'll never really know

Other monoliths showed the extent of the Tiwanakun empire with it's people making pilgrimages to this site even from the ocean...Crabs can be seen on the belts of ones of the monoliths.

The monoliths usually hold one sceptre and one cup...with this you can see that they are not gods.

The construction used by the Tiwanakus is spectacular, especially when you consider that other cultures, like the Incans, took this knowledge to construct masterpieces of their own.

Megaphone
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Stone masonry
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They even pinned the stones together, using copper...this technique is used in our societies today to pin slabs of concrete together...often failed driveways, or footpaths are due to the necessary pinning not being conducted or carried out well! It's fascinating how some fabulous Engineering feats instigated a 1000 years before christ have been lost.

Architect made minitures first to ensure the buildings were made to plan.

The site was constructed with the universe in mind...always ensuring the sun struck a certain place at the right time of year.
The Tiwanakus were great astronomers.

And after the stone masonry was complete, select areas were chosen to be gold plated...of course this was all taken and boiled down by the spanish...

See the nail marks when the gold plate had previously been placed.

Drainage

The whole site has an extensive underground drainage system.

Infact, the Tiwanakus conquered the weather and created an agricultural centre, whereby water was diverted from Lake Titikaka (which is about 12 kilometers away) and they developed Islands of crops that survived the cold due to a natural glass house being formed by the mist that blanketed the crops each night.

So much is still being excavated and local archeologist dig away each day

My day at Tiwanaku was really informative and I couldn't help but be keen to learn more once I got to Peru...but that's off in the future.

So, Jenny and I sadly parted ways, but excited about keeping in touch and meeting up in Australia or somewhere else in the world in future.
Of course I got to meet her gorgeous French boyfriend and we enjoyed a last meal of Japanese together at a great little spot north if the town.
For the record, he's a novio and not a pololo as far as I'm concerned.

Missing you heaps already Jenny!

I headed off early on the tourist bus to Copacabana. I’d been told that the celebrations for independence day would be nicer there than in La Paz, so I drove out of a city preparing itself for the big day, and arrived all excited in Copacabana to days of celebrations...woohooo!

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ooohh Lake Titikaka

Did you know that Lake Titikaka is considered to be in the shape of a Puma chasing a Rabbit..go have a look at a map. "Titi" means Puma and "kaka" means transparent or ghost...and others say rock...you pick.

It seems that the 6th August is also the Virgin de Copacabana day. So people and cars were getting blessed all over the place.

I made an effort to climb the Mountain Cerro Calvario right next to the town because I heard of offerings being made over the next 48hours or so. Wonderful. Spectacular view too. I've been blessed with good weather throughout my trip.

The queues went on for kilometers and it was real mix of Christianity and Shamans performing ceremonial rights for the wealth and wellbeing of the individuals searching for it.

I was one of the only tourists up there as well. I was consistently warned about thieving and the dangers in town...particularly when there is a big crowd but I had no issues whilst i was there. Of course I was sensible but I wasn’t going to let those stories spoil my fun. Besides..the locals were so thrilled to see me up there and down at the cathedral that I kept getting approached to stand in their family photos! Kind of amusing being on the other side of the question. It was great fun, making acquaintances all along the way and chatting to everyone about what was going on. Such nice people.
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Interestingly, many of the locals don't own cameras, so there is a booming business for photographers with instant cameras to catch the moment!

One of the Shamanas sprayed me down with beer at the end! It was funny and I suspect a bit of pay back or filming a bit of the ceremony...but hey..I was fine and chuckled too. When they offered me a sip, I took it.

In town, I was enthralled to see Mystics reading silver all over the place..so I had mine read. I didn’t understand a whole lot due to the huge gob of coca leaves that the guy had in his cheek and I think he spoke more quechua than Spanish...but I understood..."good xxxx good yyyy good zzzzz"...ahuh?!..."good holiday, good fortune...and good love coming my way"...hey…you have to believe all of that don't you!

Crackers were being set off throughout the day and night, priests walked around blessing the beautfully decorated cars.
People painted the cross stations with wax pictures of what they wished to received that year, wether it be a house, car, love, or a baby...the whole thing was really enchanting.

And gifts were left for the Virgin de Copacabana or buried in the ground somewhere that was important for the family anddonated to Pachamama!

Simply the buzz and colour in town was great.

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But the rubbish disposal left something to be desired...

The second day I headed of to Isla del Sol...Island of the Sun. And sunny it was!
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This is considered to be a sacred Island with many ceremonies still being held there these days. The sacred rock on the Island is considered to be the birth place of the Incan empire and the Tiwanakus believe that the sun god sent his son, Thunupa to earth to help humans remember the sun gods teachings.
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Just near the rock is a sacrificial table, where virgins who were brought to the Labyrinth close and who were groomed for years, were sacrifice and presented to the gods on this table.

The Labyrinth itself is great fun. I ducked in and around different hallways, popping in and out of different rooms. Good fun. The hallways are very low and it's thought this is so that you send your time bowing to the gods.

Now, one very interesting fact I learned and had infact known but forgotten, is that Jacques Cousteau came to Lake Titikaka in the 90's and found the lost sunken city…recovering many treasures. Apparently much more is to be discovered in the lake. These days, dives can be arranged, but there aren’t dive shops around so, you have to plan and organize the trip well...something to note for another time, Naomi!

And after a lovely 2-3 hour walk across the Island,

You drop down to Yumani where the sacred fountain of eternal youth and beauty can be found! I drunk up the water by the handful..MmmMmm....although the lady next to me had buckets...

(note her traditional dress...)

So, from here I happily headed off over the border to Puno.

My first steps in Peru were literally to walk across the border from the Bolivian checkout point and down to the Peruvian Immigration....
So weird...people were wandering all over the place. Our luggage was on the bus and had to go over separately. Nobody really knew where they were being picked up again but you had to take note of your bus and wait around for 45minutes or so looking out for it.

It was evident how effluent Peru is, just by the state of its immigration office. Everything, starts to get a bit nicer from here on in...although they appear to have the same rubbish disposal issues...

So eventually we headed into Puno
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And I landed at one of the dodgiest hotels I've been too in my whole trip. Many people there were disgruntled and I was just pleased I was only there the one night.

I spent the next morning on the obligatory tour of the Uro Islands...it was nice...kind of quaint ad everythnig ran like clockwork...Extremelly touristy though. I learned that the town started when the Aymara escaped the spanish and somehow managed to live the passed 500 years out there..originally in boats but eventually they learned how to live amongst the reeds and form the traditional life that still holds today.

I also saw the Lake being pumped with air to clean it...nice

Especially considering the rubbish issues...turning into a bit of a rubbish fiend, aren't I? Have I made my point clear!?!?

But even for a relatively non sorter like myself, this was confronting.

Of course amongst the traditional homes more of the islanders are living in modern homes.

Someof the islads are now made of wood because they were sinking.

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The reed Island have about a meeter deep of reeds placed on top of the bound root system. Very interesting. They're constantly being maintained.

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Anyone for some reed?
It tastes kind of plain but refreshing

Or maybe some trout?

Of course, I turned a blind eye to where this food came from figuring any contamination would toughen me up!

Interesting to note as well, is that the trout and the King fish found in the lake is not indigenous to the area but was introduce by the Spanish.

I was fascinated to see one of the local communities line up for hand outs. I don't know what this is all about, but you regularly see this sort of queuing in the larger cities of Bolivia.

That afternoon I found a little local market where I could buy some Tulma for myself..Tulma...? Remember the beautiful beaded hair decoration that the locals wear. I’d been admiring them for ages..Of course, I'll probably never wear mine but I was really keen to get the beaded ones rather than the big pompoms. The lady was so chuffed that I bought them that she showed me how to use them and let me take a photo. I don;t think many tourists venture down that road,,because she didn't even attempt to inflate the price. 10Bolivianos for a pair!