Disaster strikes

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  La Paz, Bolivia
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

I showed you pictures of Cusco in the last blog (the rest, lots of them and more pictures of Inca ruins are now in the hands of the thieves). Well we continued to enjoy Cusco for another few days capped by a barbeque at the campsite. The owner went out and bought a load of alpaca steaks and every couple made a salad. We started at about 1pm and the party kept going (right outside our tent) until the youngest members ( with superior holding power) went to bed. One day when we left early to go to an Inca ruin we found lots of people jogging on the road (3,400m!) and doing exercises in the middle of the road (in fact pedestrians all over Latin America are remarkably oblivious to motorized vehicles); lots of soccer games being played right in the middle of an Inca ruin. Cusco was quite a high-point and we were sad to leave; especially all the other travelers who were so generous with information on campsites and routes and places to visit. They are like a brotherhood, all of them with itineraries much more extensive than ours; all of them wondering how one could do what we wanted in only a year

La Paz and outskirts climbing the valley sides

! Well we left and then the wheels really fell off; I know I keep saying this but this time they did.

Does not matter how much you say you will not fall for a trick, you inevitably do. I think it is because I am basically a good person and very civilized so only expect the best in people. Yes we got done, and really badly: passports, camera with un-downloaded photos, piles of money, sheila's trip book and various other bits and pieces. It was late on our way to the Bolivia border and against our better judgment we had passed places to stay to get further ahead and were left with only Juliaca. The guide book described it as chaotic and full of counterfeiters and contrabandists! You would think we would have given it a miss. And when we did get there every hostal we went up to said they had no beds; I think they had beds but only for short term use. It was full of "rickshaws" and driving was almost impossible. We finally got directions to a hotel and while Sheila was inside (leaving a defenseless Chris who had locked all the doors) the dirty deed was done. I was sitting with the engine running when I heard banging at the back of the car and a head and body kept appearing - looked like a kid. Someone by the car kept saying senor and pointing to the back. I do not know why I thought it but I thought I had run over a kid's skate board. Anyway I got out and saw it was an adult scrabbling around the back door which I thought he was trying to open - I swore in good Anglo-Saxon terms and he went away and I got back into the car

Main plaza in la Paz

. It was only when we parked and were moving stuff to the room that Sheila noticed a rucksack missing! So quick, so simple and it makes you feel so stupid.

It really distressed Sheila as she had noticed a man running along the street seeming to be trying to keep up with us. Whatever, we have learned a very good lesson. So we immediately went to the police station feeling very vulnerable - and we had not felt unsafe anywhere else; and you hear all sorts of things about the police. Anyway we reach a rather shabby looking police station and as a tough looking man asked "que paso" Sheila burst into floods of tears - well what a splendid reaction: tremendous concern and straight into the Heffe's office "...Please be seated, its alright, there there, do not cry....". Faced by tears even the most hardened Latin melts! To make a police report you first have to go to the next-door bank office to pay money into the police account so that they can fill in a form! They asked all sorts of questions, but what could they do?

The "water-works" came in very handy the next day too when this driver drove through an intersection where unbeknown to him there was a furiously whistling "transito" who immediately pulled us over to show us in his little manual how serious was the offence we had just committed

Market

. He then suggested that we volunteer our fine! I suggested to Sheila that we start with 10 soles (about $3); he was most indignant and showed us a number that was about thirty times larger - probably a month's salary for a local Peruvian. This really set Sheila going saying sorry, sorry, that we had just been robbed and then on top of all this the tears. Another splendid reaction: could not get rid of us quick enough, a stern frowning face changed to a sheepish smile and a wave on our way. I know how he felt.

We got to the Bolivian border at about midday with our back-up British passports and a police report wondering what would happen. OK through Peruvian emigration who said we could leave without a stamp in our passports (we had used our Canadian passports up to then) and the female officer would not stamp the passports because they did not have an entry stamp - I know, go figure. Well they were very nice on the other side until they looked for a Peruvian exit stamp; they were unmoved by our very long explanations and the police report; I was waiting for the water-works but sadly Sheila cannot turn them on at will. So I sat by the car and Sheila went back across the border; the border being nothing more than a bit of rope across the road and people seem to go back and forth at will. Well she was gone for ages, long enough that I started to get really worried; I realized that water-works with a female official would be useless

More market

. Anyway she finally returned US$40 poorer: the female officer said there was absolutely nothing that could be done but maybe her boss might be able to help; well for $40 anything can be done, he even had the cheek to ask for a tip as he said the "charge" was for the Heffes! The Bolivians were keen to find out how much we had paid but fearing another round of bribes we blithely said "nothing". Entry and exit stamps in our passports for Peru and entry for Bolivia - we have it made. One last hiccup was some official in Bolivia suggesting that we had to pay a charge of 5 Bolivianos (for what?) and when Sheila showed him a 10 bol note he said that was fine; he kept my pen as well! It was one of those episodes and scenes that if you saw it in a movie you would think was too far-fetched.

The road up to and after the border (and before reaching La Paz) was an endless high plain (alto plano), windswept and bleak, although the sight of Lake Titicaca was quite breathtaking with snowcapped mountains along the far shore. We did not stop as we were not yet in the mood - and no camera, amazing how looking at something and enjoying the view is somehow coupled to snapping a picture. Sheila has only, now several days on, got over wanting to tear out the eyes and various other essential organs of those two thieves! One thing we noticed all along the road before and after the border were dozens of dogs on the edges of the road (quite a few of them dead)

The death road to Coroico

. As you passed they looked at you eagerly. It seems that people throw them food. When I say "dozens" I really mean hundreds and at the rate at which they are being run over they will need to bring in more recruits quite soon! The other thing we noticed was the colossal amount of adobe brick making that was taking place; it seemed to be the main activity, much more than farming. Maybe it is a dry season activity. But whatever the reason there seemed to be so many bricks being made they could replace all the existing houses. The other thing we noticed is that when a house is abandoned it is just left to fall down, and there are loads of these decaying buildings everywhere (somewhat similar to our First Nation's villages). Coupled with the habit of never completing a house (bare bricks and reinforcing rods sticking up out of the roof) it can ruin what is potentially a pretty village.

Well we finally reached the outskirts of La Paz which at 3,800m is the highest capital in the world. And at the edge it is over 4,000m where there is a new town El Alto, which is the fastest growing in SA. And fast growing of course means chaos, which in turn means the Pages are immediately lost! When we finally got to the edge of the city and looked down into this valley that hosts La Paz proper it took our breath away. It is like a science fiction scene with all these cliffs and canyons of bare earth with terrible erosion housing a huge city; looks like a bad-lands with a cityscape squeezed in between. And overlooking this surprising city brooding, snow-capped mountains. The road down to the city is a typical Latin American switchback and you continually worry about other drivers' brakes. But when you get down to the real city it suddenly changes into a very sophisticated place with a European air that could be anywhere - well not anywhere it still has cobbled streets, blaring horns, sprawling markets and Latin life. But a complete surprise to us. Mind you the driving was no surprise and trying to find a hotel in rush hour left me with frazzled nerves and very snippy. The first hotel that had rooms and parking was in Sheila's view much too expensive and that did not improve my mood. But eventually she persevered and we found a delightful little hotel with carpets on the floor, a large clean smelling bathroom and a lovely little bedroom. I was told that this was the lap of luxury and at $15/nite I should consider it an absolute treat not to be repeated!

We spent three nights and two days happily scouring the city for replacements for the items that were stolen and organizing our new Canadian passports. Talk about security: getting into the building housing the consulate you had to go through a metal detector, then an armed security guard collected you and delivered you to the consulate where we were relieved of our cell phone, and then did all our negotiations through bullet proof glass. But we did not feel insecure wandering the streets even at night just utterly breathless with the thin air.

It was very difficult to find any proper shops and we found out why when we went to the markets where they have everything: rows of key cutters to replace our keys; lots of little kiosks with what must have been contraband headphones and microphones (ridiculously low prices); a block for rucksacks - everything you needed altogether so lots of choice, much better selections for DIY than Home Depot! We had a great three course lunch in the market for 75c. But finding a luxury item like a digital camera was very difficult and all we could get in our price range was a little Olympus which does not have a view finder and my old eyes, in the bright light, cannot focus on the little screen so I just aim and hope. We will have better views of the city for you when we return to pick up our passports.

We left La Paz a few days ago and are on our way to the jungle but are resting at a little town halfway down called Coroico; the guide book calls it a Bolivian Eden and probably correctly. But to get there you have to travel the "Most Dangerous Road in the World"! Not sure who called it that but it is a little narrow (mostly single width) road that drops over 3,000m in 80km and averages 100 deaths a year (not sure how they know that either as I am sure Bolivians do not keep statistics). I had got myself in quite a tiz because I suffer from vertigo and you have to drive on the opposite side of the road so that you can bring your wheels as close to the edge as possible and try not to look down the precipitous cliffs. But they have spotters at all the tightest corners with big flags - big enough that you can easily drop in your "propina" as you pass by. Luckily it was not foggy and not wet and we found it less dangerous than some of the other roads we have driven but for the truck drivers that toil up it must be a nightmare.

So now we are ensconced in a lovely Hostal at 1,750m with our own very private and pretty campsite and hardly anyone around. And the bird sounds are the best, and loudest, we have ever experienced. So we will be here for at least another day before dropping the rest of the altitude to only just about 100m in the jungle. It seems incredible that for maybe 2,000km it only goes down another 100m to the Brazilian coast.

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