Ruins, waterfalls and the cutest spaniel
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2007
1
69
91
Trip End
Jun 25, 2008
Samaipata,
Bolivia
Friday, April 4, 2008
On the plus side, the view heading out past the dinosaur park was fantastic, so I had a beautiful view with my head out the window.
Oddly, there were stray dogs seated on the side of the road every 200 metres.
Quirky church surrounds
In my hazy state, I thought of them as my support crew, cheering me on through my journey of hell.Luckily my stomach settled down by nightfall, and we both got some sleep, well, when the babies seated in front and behind of us weren't howling... what a bus ride.
At 6am we arrived at our destination, tiny Samaipata. A lovely English guy answered the hostel door and it was with relief that I crawled under the sheets, which were crisp and not threadbare, a novelty in Bolivia.
I decided to have a very quiet day and relax in the lovely Andorina Hostal after a breakfast of fresh fruit, bread and jam and coffee (which stayed down), but Mark went to the local museum with information on the nearby ruins.
The hostel had a really nice relaxed feel to it with great photos on the walls taken by the Dutch owner.The other highlight of the hostel was the gorgeous tan-coloured Spaniel who had the longest ears I had ever seen on a dog. He was a full-spirited delight.
Going for a gentle stroll later, we were impressed with the lush plaza. We felt as we did in Sucre, that we must be back in Central America for the care taken. Perhaps it stands to reason that poor countries need attractive public areas for residents to escape to from their dingy homes.
I also really liked the church on the plaza, simple and attractive, not to mention the cool parrot pay-phone - a random sight
Cute spaniel with long ears
.I have to say that the Spanish conquistadors were neither imaginative nor often accurate in the names they gave places in Latin America. Lack of imagination means nearly every town with a hot spring is called aguas calientes, literally hot waters. The two sites we visited near Samaipata were inaccurately named: the huge carved rock that was the home of pre-Inca people, called 'El Fuerte' (the fort) and an area with red mud waterfalls, called 'the cuevos' (meaning caves). The Spanish did use the ruin site briefly as a fort and apparently there are caves in the area of the waterfalls, but the names still miss the point.
Stupid name or not, it was a pretty 8km walk to the ruins the next day, 3km along the main road and 5km up a windy dirt road. The hills around were half earth, half rock, like the ruin, which looks like a large engraved turtle shell resting on the mound of earth, 200 metres by 60 metres. It has deep water channels carved into the back and round puma motifs. Along its sides were many carved out hollows, where they think they displayed offerings.
The site was later occupied by the Incas, who adapted it to their style, so it is hard to untangle the original from the later designs but it was still impressive.
The next day we caught a bus 18km out of the village to the 'cuevos' area. It was a magical spot with bright red earth and lots of brightly coloured butterflies - turquoise, orange, yellow and red.
The El Fuerte ruins
There were citrus trees growing in the picnic area so I picked what I thought was an orange to supplement our lunch. Only it was a lemon, despite it being a deep orange colour. Just to confuse matters further, most of the oranges and mandarins in Central and South America are greeny yellow, so it is all backwards.
The waterfalls are meant to be a lovely swimming spot but the water was so low, the cascading water was reflected in puddles. We enjoyed wading in the soft-feeling river water up to the third falls and, while we admired the falls, two friends arrived, one with pale skin and one with very black skin. The contrast was amazing, they could be poster girls for world harmony.
We then climbed up the steep cliff behind the third falls to better appreciate the strange hills: steep and green but with brick-red earth. erosion gashes.
