The Bolivian Outback

We spent 4 days exploring Bolivia's southwestern corner which revealed a harsh, diverse landscape ranging from the blinding white salt flat area called Salar de Uyuni to a geothermal hotbed. We were lucky to meet up with another family on a travel sabattical, a French family from Reunion, a small island off the coast of Madagascar. We hit it off instantly with Laurent, Evelyn, their son Cleo (11) and daughter Nina (6); they are travelling the world for 10 months. Together we hired a guide and 2 Toyota Landcruisers (with drivers) and we spent 4 days exploring eerie landscapes and cool cultures. Our guide spoke English and she was excellent; an expert in geography, the culture of the people and in Bolivian politics and history. Our drivers were excellent too (and it came in real handy that they were also mechanics since we had a couple of small breakdowns along the way).

This is Dakar territory. You know, the wild cross country road race for motorcycles, quads and other off road vehicles. There was the occasional road, but mostly it was just driving over vast lands in valleys between volcanoes and mountain rock ranges. The closest thing I have ever experienced to this was the outback in Australia.

Natural beauty, rugged, rough around the edges, and slightly nerve-racking, we have found Bolivia to be one of the most complex countries we have visited so far. The cultural, historical and spiritual richness of Bolivia is probably due to the fact that this is the country with the highest percentage of indigenous people in all of Latin America. In Bolivia we were constantly in awe of how little communities were sustainable. Tiny red earthen homes, many deserted without roofs or windows and other than a scattering of small stone buildings not much else in the form of community infrastructure that we could see.

Superstition and folklore are important in these parts. One community we visited had people with an air of pride about them and seemingly no appetite for change or progress; it was a community that I would have expected 200 years ago. We were told that the people truly believe that they are direct descendants of the Condor god and that they are 'chosen people'. We would have loved to take pictures of these people and this community but that was not appropriate since the people believe that pictures remove part of their soul -- and that applies to their livestock as well.

Not much grows in this terrain, massive hills of multiple coloured rock, shrub brushes, volcanoes, and cacti with an occasional green patch of quinoa garden that would need careful attending and watering by patient farmers. Did not see many vegetables growing, but everyone - and that means everyone - chews coca leaves. 1.2 million kilos of coca leaf are consumed monthly in Bolivia; to the people of the Andes, this ancient medicinal plant has no relationship to cocaine and is a cure-all for everything from altitude sickness, to indigestion, headaches, diabetes and menopause.

Livestock, mostly llama and alpaca, roamed along with goats, sheep, the occasional pig and wild herds of vicunas (endangered cousins of llamas). Didn't seem that there would be much to eat for them either but we were told that they dig up shrub brushes and eat the roots.

And then there were flamingos. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Who knew that there were flamingos in South America?

A very popular thing to visit in this region are the salt flats. Bolivia's salt flats are the largest in the world. This is where natural shampoos and soaps were discovered. The salt flats were Levi's #1 priority for our South American trip. He researched the salt flats before we left home and he looked at tons of pictures. He begged us to stay in a salt hotel, something I never heard of before and didn't even know if it was possible. Ironically, the day we arranged the trip Levi came down with a nasty fever. He missed out on some big portions of this excursion lying in the back of the vehicle and looking pretty sad. Poor kid.

As part of the trip, we did actually stay in a salt hotel, a building completely made of salt blocks, furniture and all. Unfortunately the altitude of close to 5000 m and the dryness left us all with the most miserable sleep with dry cracked noses and the feeling that you just couldn't breathe. Although we were not very comfortable, we mostly appreciated that it was a unique and interesting experience. Levi on the other hand was totally deflated. Rotten timing.

Although the pictures are particularly fun to take in the rainy season when there is a perfect reflection from the sky, we still had lots of laughs taking some of these pictures with distorted perspectives.

Between volcanoes were geothermal spots that bubbled and sputtered and captured Levi's attention enough to get him out of the back of the Toyota.

And then in the middle of nowhere was this cactus island called Inhuasi where we saw a typical sacrificial llama table from the local indigenous people. Apparently there is still a gathering to sacrifice a llama on this table every year on August 1st at midnight. The cacti were massive and must have been very old since they only grow 1 cm per year. We are enjoying some of the fruit that can be picked off the cacti although it requires an expert to cut it up.

Another favourite landscape from this jaunt was coming across this Bolivian Railway Graveyard. I loved this! The story is that Bolivia, rich with minerals, wanted to become more efficient than they were with llamas hauling rock across the desert to Chile. In 1888 they built the railway and it was in full use until the markets crashed in 1894. At that point the railway became too expensive to operate so it shut down. Apparently Chile offered to buy all the locomotives and rail cars but in a controversial move, Bolivia's proud President said that he would rather have the engines and rail cars rot on Bolivian soil than see Chile with them. These interesting relics have been sitting in the middle of nowhere dotting the Bolivian landscape since 1896. 

As I took these photos I was smiling from ear to ear thinking, "my friend Shawn Smith is going to love these."

We said farewell to our French friends from Reunion as we made our way to Peru and they began their adventure in Chile.

Potosi, Bolivia's Underworld

Potosi is located in the southwest quadrant of Bolivia. Potosi's story is wholly tied to its silver. During the boom years, when the metal must have seemed inexhaustible, it became the largest and wealthiest city in the Americas. The city was founded in 1545 as soon as the ore was discovered, and pretty soon the silver extracted here was bankrolling the Spanish empire. Once the silver more or less dried up, the city went into decline and its citizens slipped into poverty.

The ore is still being extracted, and there are still over 200 hundred mines in operation in Potosi. The only industry in the city is mining.

The City of Potosi has embraced their mining history and have created opportunities for many tours to visit the operating mines.

We had an excellent guide who spoke perfect English and who knew the mines inside and out. His own father died when he was young so he started working in the mines himself to support his mother and younger siblings when he was only 13. Our first stop on the way to the mines was to go to the miner's market where we bought gifts for the miners: coca leaves, coals of peach and salt to place inside the cheek to enhance the coca leaves, soda pop, and small bottles of 96% proof cane sugar alcohol. After our shopping we went to get our mining clothes on: rubber boots, overalls, dust masks, helmets and headlamps.

Levi examining plastic explosives; a gift option for the miners.

Each mine is owned by people or cooperatives. There are no big companis and there is no government intervention or oversight. The mine we visited had 47 co-ops that were owned and operated by different individual people. Silver, tin, zinc and lead were being mined.

With a couple of fellows from Spain and our guide, we trundled through muddy puddles while bent over so as not to hit our heads (only Levi could walk upright). The miners inside were happy to show us what they were doing and we watched them load up rubber buckets made of old tires and hoist them up shafts. They would grin when we would give them our gifts. There was also a small rail line in the mine which basically moved wheelbarrows of rock back and forth.

Chatting with a miner.

Although the mining process was interesting, nothing was as eye opening as the traditions and superstition systems in place. Most of South America is Catholic but the indiginous religious symbols and beliefs were clearly evident underground. As Greg said, "it is Catholic above ground and ancient deity below." (Although there is also some crossover as we have heard that even the Catholic priests here might pour a little wine on the ground for Pachamama prior to pouring it in the goblet for communion.) We came to learn all about Pachamama and Tio. Pachamama (Mother Earth) protects the miners and enables good production so they give sacrifices to her including llamas (there was llama blood at the front of the mine entrance). Tio (the devil or the ruler of the underground) is the owner of the silver and so the miners gave alcohol, coca and cigarettes to him, a full statue within the mine with offerings and gifts all around him. With traditional Andean deities, people believe that there is both good and bad in every god. A real eye opener for us.

Lighting a smoke for Tio.

From a Human Resources perspective, the tour was fascinating. The working conditions, compensation systems, labour standards were completely unlike anything I have seen. The conditions were more abysmal. There is no better way to appreciate the jobs in Canada than to see how other people need to make a living. So, I can confidently say that although it was one of our more memorable experiences, everyone with the exception of Levi (who totally loved it), will likely never feel any desire to enter a mine shaft again.

Northern Argentina

It is a strange combination of an intense sun and a cool breeze. We all felt the altitude change and with it, a dramatic change in scenery.

We rented a car for a week to explore Northern Argentina. I can't tell
if it was the scenery or the driving itself that will be more memorable. One day it took us 9 hours to drive 300 kilometres. Our car was good on gas but we went through an amazing amount of Gravol and
motion sickness ginger capsules and that was with most of us also
wearing motion sickness bracelets. Greg did a great job of navigating
and manoeuvring and we were able to explore and reach special places
we would not normally be able to get to on busses or with local
transport.

Before leaving the car rental shop in Salta, Argentina, our agent
showed us a map of all the roads we could go on and then the roads we
were not to take the car. Several times I would double check the map,
sure we were on a forbidden road but it was never the case. Not sure
what the non-recommended routes would be like considering that the
'good' roads were unpaved and often as wide as the walking/bike trails
back home.

The best way to describe the terrain is to refer to 'Radiator Springs'
from the Pixar movie 'Cars'. Several times Greg would slip into his
'Mater' impersonation just for added effect.

The other drivers were good, it was the steep climbs, descents and
hairpin turns that were unfamiliar to this Alberta family. Hard to
gauge our time when we plan for 300 kilometres to take 3 hours.



Climbing higher and higher, we experienced the effects of altitude on
our bodies and noticed a big change in the ambient temperature. At
times we were higher than the clouds and at about 5000 meters above
sea level.

We were able to go on some great hiking adventures through rocky
hillsides and cacti throughout Northern Argentina. Our favourite hike
led us up a gorge and to a little paradise swimming hole that was only
3 hours in. It wasn't just the scenery that was breathtaking, that
water was bone chilling cold too. I loved watching my kids scramble
and manage the obstacles with so much more ease than I.

  

Another of our favourite hikes took us to an ancient ruin called Quilmes. The sun was so hot, it must have been about 35 degrees out. This was a very memorable jaunt for Levi and so he dedicated a blog entry to this hike alone.







We covered a lot of territory in Northern Argentina and saw some
beautiful mountainous rocky landscapes. It was great for Greg and I to
reflect on our sights over spectacular $4/bottle Argentinian wines in
our evenings. Neither of the girls are showing any interest in trying
the wines, although it certainly makes Colby frustrated when waitors
put a wine glass in front of Quinn and they automatically pour Colby
and Levi juice (Colby turns 18 in February).

Paraguay: Volunteering at Para La Tierra

We landed another amazing opportunity and adventure. Not even totally sure how it happened and how all our connections worked out, but they did.

The girls were in charge of charting our course for Paraguay, they picked the destinations, the route, and did all the coordinating. 

We entered Paraguay from Iguazu, Argentina into Cuidad del Este (which was a horrible place as many border towns can be) and then their route took us North. They wanted to go to this Reserve that had a reputation for a beautiful lake and pristine wildlife and some sort of research centre called Para La Tierra. So we were on this little local bus out of a tiny town and got dropped off quite literally in the middle of nowhere. If it was not for the scenery on the bumpy and dusty bus ride, I would have probably been a little more concerned. It was one of my favourite drives so far. Tiny little adobe brick and cement homes along the road, red earth, scrawny livestock roaming everywhere. Every home had a drinking well outside the front door and then to throw a curve in the asthetic, most had satellite dishes.

A young fellow with a wagon on the back of his moto-trike met us at the dirt road intersection where our bus dropped us off and took us to a place called Reserva Laguna Blanca.  (This was Joe, an American who has lived in Paraguay since he did his field research on the endangered Nightjar (bird) when he was 22; now, a couple of years later, Joe is the Research Intern Supervisor and is tirelessly working to secure the Reserve from being sold with the young and ambitious founder Karina.)

It ended up being a ridiculously great experience for our whole family. Good job Colby and Quinn!

Laguna Blanca is one of the most biodiverse areas in Paraguay due to its unique location at the frontier of two distinct ecological regions. The research project house sits by the side of Laguna Blanca, an artesian lake, with endangered Cerrado Desert to the north and humid Atlantic Forest to the south. This combination of habitats and the fact that many of the species are endemic to the area make the area a perfect place for researchers. The Reserve harbors a noteworthy diversity of plants and wildlife, including a number of rare, threatened, or endangered species. In Paraguay, the Cerrado suffers continuous destruction as a result of expanding agricultural activities, such as cattle ranching and soya production -- so the Reserve is of great importance.

So we landed amongst all of these (surprisingly beautiful and) young biology, zoology, primatology and conservation graduates (another rare species) who were doing field research projects and we were able to tag along. 

See what we mean! 

We learned how to:

• study the resident tribe of capuchin monkeys; unfortunately we were not able to see any of the monkeys on our early morning scouting walks but we did learn about the locating and the collection of data on their day-to-day movements and behaviour and we loved watching the camera footage that captured the monkeys with the bananas that were left out for them one evening (with Becka, a totally cool gal from Scotland with a Masters degree in Primatology and with a goal to habituate the monkeys to humans (and would love nothing more than a GPS collar or 3)
  
  
  
  
  
• organize and prepare specimens at the little museum beside the research project house (with Olga, a walking encyclopedia from Russia who knows absolutely everything about insects, reptiles, birds -- you name it, she knew it and was a heck of an artist too). We loved all the butterflies and moths at the night moth light where Olga identified all kinds of interesting species. The bugs were quite incredible actually, not mosquitoes, but big beetles (that would dive bomb us) and millions of butterflies and billions of things much uglier than butterflies. Olga also took us out at night to find find scorpions in the jungle -- a totally amazing experience, especially when we realized just how many scorpions there were under the trees and in the sand. They were everywhere and we found them easily with a black light which made them turn flourescent green right before our eyes. [Please note that scorpions are not fatal as the fairy tales led us to believe.] 
  
• set opossum traps to track the little critters in the bush (with Holly, absolutely lovely girl from Scotland who patiently showed us how to bait the traps and then how to carefully identify the opossums from her clever fur shaving system, weigh them, measure their tails, track the females, and then release them).
  
• dig pit-fall traps for lizards and snakes (with India, a very cool Brit who was as coordinated with her machete as she was on the dance floor)
• combine research and reserve work with community outreach and education (with Vivian, a doll from Switzerland who knew 5 languages and who coordinated Para La Tierra's first school group education field trip while we were there; Greg became an event official photographer to document the great day).
  
  
  
  
  
• go night fishing for piranhas (with Jorge, a local fellow with a gentle and confident disposition who knows the reserve inside and out and who works at Para La Tierra. Unfortunately we didn't catch any piranhas but it was great fun attaching raw chicken to our fish hooks in the reeds of the laguna and it was awesome watching the stars of the Southern hemisphere in the black of night from the quiet boat.
  

We would be out in the bush around 6:00 am so that we could be back early in the day to avoid the heat and hit the great little sandy beach. It was between 35-38 degrees everyday -- too hot really, but I'll take it over the snow and cold for now!  We have only had 1.5 days of rain so far on the whole trip! During our down-time we would watch the interns prepare their next day activities (like Abigail, who spent hours counting and re-counting her sunflower seeds to track grazing behaviour of small mammals).

One night the research interns even took us to this local Paraguay dance party. This was a celebration of the community building of 3 chicken coops that Para La Tierra had coordinated so the local women could earn more money independently. This event was particularly important because it was organized by Griselda who did all the cooking and cleaning at the research project house. It was a pretty funny experience complete with chickens walking around on the red dirt dance floor and local teenagers grinding to the Latino dance music as close to the speakers as possible. Greg, Levi, Quinn and I turned in at midnight but Colby stayed out with the interns until after 2 am. Colby now wants to be a biology major (-- she would be such a poor fit for that but it does tell me what a great experience we had and what an impression it made on her). We were the only people at the Reserve until two young pharmacists from Iceland came for our last 2 days.

We were with the interns at Para La Tierra for 5 days and because we were 'volunteers' we only paid $137 per day and that included all our food and lodging. We couldn't buy this education and experience for our kids if we tried. .