Los Parrales Resort And Convention Hotel Tarija

... effortlessly along the ridges above. Photos don't do justice to the size of these birds and their graceful flight. It lightened my heart to see condors in their natural environment. So much better than the ugly awkward creatures that you see cramped in cages at the zoos. At one stage I was huffing my way upwards when I heard the sound of rushing air. I turned to see one of the huge birds wings folded and diving. Just like the New Zealand Falcon only ...

... lazy and I´ve already forgotten what I did, I might just bow out and head to a new blog for Argentina (for which I´m sure, if you´ve actually gotten this far, you will be eternally grateful). L Ps Still can´t use the camera on the PCs I´m afraid. So no pix but I promise I´ll get them up asap!!

... trek pour les alentours de La Paz. Apres midi tranquille, cette ville est morte en semaine entre 13h et 17h mais alors le dimanche, il ne faut pas esperer croiser un truc d'ouvert. Le soir un enorme orage eclate, un vrai deluge s'abat sur la ville pendant toute la nuit. Nous avons bien fait de ne pas partir finalement.

... au pied donnant au vin l'appelation de Patero. On produit aussi dans la valle le Singavi, un alcool de raisin a 40 degres. La bodega vieille de 400 ans est vraiment jolie et est tres chaleureuse. On peut y manger le midi des plats simples avec de la musique. Le soir invites par Magda, nous nous rendons a un ballet organise par l'ecole de danse de ...

... un petit village ou la riviere a grossie et bloque la route. Tout le village pose des pierres, creuse dans la boue, pose des branchages pour l'adherence... Apres une heure le premier camion arrive a passer puis le second puis c'est notre tour : ca passe !! S'en suit deux heures dans un decor aride sur une piste puis apres avoir passe El Puente, nous remontons une montagne pour faire le meme genre de descente que precedemment mais cette fois ci dans un nuage sans visibilite... Apres 20h ...

... come in from outlying towns with their produce. There was tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, peas, beans, peaches, grapes, coca leaves, lettuce, chiles, and a hundred other fruits vegetables. The producers all parked in one street and sold their goods out of the back of their truck, car, motorbike to the innumerable vendors. These vendors would then take their goods into the market and re sell them. Some would ...

... We arrived in time to enjoy Tarija's celebrations of 'Carnival'. We will decribe this in a seperate entry. Our House We are living in a Hacienda about 12 kilometers from the main plaza. The Hacienda is set back from the road (a very bumpy half dirt half cobblestone street). In front is a small vineyard a the small winery along with 3-4 houses where the workers reside. Next door on one side is a large hacienda of a famous Bolivian family with ties to a ...

... if he can get on one of those...the poor guy has the worst luck! H and I meet up with Alejandro, one of JP´s friends, who´s from Tarija for drinks one night - he speaks very fast and its really hard to understand him. After an hour or so its very tiring and I can start to zone out a bit after continuosly trying to comprehend and then translate in my head. He takes me for ´breakfast´the following morning, H stays in bed hacking and coughing. She had a huge stash of drugs..its ...

... the best way to leave, the airport was still closed, bus routes not clear (as to which had been blockaded and closed), so I decided to bus to LaPaz, and then skip over to Puno, Peru. I went to the bus station, tickets were available for LaPaz, so, the next day, I was on my way. Sorry to leave this nice little town.

... and got a pretty good rate for 2 weeks at a time, and cash upfront. A little less than 5$ a night. I had bought a heating element for my coffee cup (I often had thoughts about a ROOM heating element), so I was able to cook up some coffee every morning. And the food from the vendors was so cheap, that there was no need to cook, unless I just couldn't look at another potato or rice again! or chicken, for that matter. But, I had my ...