Casa Blanca Samaipata

So....we got the death train from Quijarro (at the Brazil-Bolivian Border) to Santa Cruz, which was actually fine! It was bumpy, but the food was good, and we got to watch Lethal Weapon! When we got to Santa Cruz we basically had a few days resting, using the internet and chilling before heading to Samaipata.

The journey to Samaipata was extremely bumpy, winding up through the mountains, but when we got there it was ...

... das dies eine Art Inka Tempel gewesen sein soll!...wenn dies stimmt ist dies die erste Inka Stätte die die Spanier eingenommen haben und somit das ende des Inkaimperiums eingeläutet haben!...gekämpft wurde damals nicht denn die Inkas dachten die weissen Spanier auf ihren Pferden wären Götter.... Wir sind zu der Ruine mit dem Taxi gefahren und dann ca 3 Stunden zurück gelaufen....sehr sehr schöne Landschaft und einer superweiten Sicht ...

... or just not taking the drugs anymore. We decided to take a short one and a half hour flight from La Paz to Santa Cruz, rather than endure a twenty hour bus ride. Santa Cruz was brimming with anticipation over the referendum to be held on August 9. A quick update on Bolivian politics might be useful....Evo Morales is the first indigenous president of Bolivia. The primarily indigenous population in the highlands love him as he has introduced a new constitution and is ...

... Spanish book for awhile. As soon as possible, I headed out for a hike to El Fuerte, 10 km away. I thought "no problem", but with altitude (not too much, about 1800 m.) and hills to climb, it turned out to be more than I bargained for. About 1 km from the park entrance, a park employee gave me a lift the rest of the way. Well, there was no respite from the hill climbing INSIDE the park; oh, silly me! But, I did ...

... in de workshopruimte van het project/living van hun huis. Uiteindelijk is de andere coordinatrice nog teruggekeerd, zou alles goedkomen met de ene en hebben we nog een hele tijd kunnen babbelen. Hiermee is mijn strafste Santa Cruz-verhaal verteld. Ik ben er dan ook woensdag uit vertrokken richting Samaipata waar ik nu nog zit, een klein dorpje tussen de groene bergen waar zoveel te zien is dat we van de ene uitstap in de andere aan het rollen zijn ...

... we stop before noon at Samaipata and its ruin of El Fuerte, an archeological site that encompass buildings of three different cultures: Chanes, Incas and Spaniard. In the evening we put up at the house of...in Vallegrande, the place where in 1967 Guevara had been buried after his execution in the nearby village of La Higuera. Tomorrow morning we'll go just there!

... knocked off his feet, having been hit by the front of the car and rolled off the bonnet. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, and we were given a lift the local clinic to check for any damage. But in all the commotion the dog was lost.... As an antidote to all the action from the previous two days, we spent the next one relaxing in the local luxury hotel´s pool and grounds, overlooking the township below. The weather was fine ...

... it ( for a very good reason), checked out the crapola markets..... what a big fat waste of time and then checked our email and headed straight back to Samaipata. After seeing several people miss night buses over the previous few days we made sure we were down at the stop rather early!! We made it on and were in a for a very bumpy and rather smelly bus ride to Sucre. Apparently the place to pee is on the bus tires so not really so surprising the bus ...

... party...hippies hippies everywhere dancing up a storm..young one s old ones Gringo, Bolivian and European....everyone was there....the party was a hoot the musicans amazing talented...old Bolivians sitting watching...I am not sure they knew what was all going on but it was a fiesta after all and everyone was enjoying it...the DJ also came on and it was Hippies doing House in the mountains with a full moon hanging over head...it was a blast!!...i think I ...