City of Peace
Monday, June 26th, 2006La Paz, the capitol of Bolivia, sits in an enormous pot hole. The dolphin had gone through many holes and bumps throughout the trip, but this was the biggest yet. The city appears to be placed at the bottom of a huge crater, left by some deadly meteor thousands of years ago. In fact, the crater is a canyon through which a small river runs. Why would someone decide to build a city in a huge hole instead of on the never-ending, spacious plains around it, you ask? The answer is simple : The Spanish, in all their glory, found gold at the bottom of the canyon and created a city around the extraction process. La Paz never left its hole. Upon arrival in La Paz from the great plains, one can stand at the edge of the canyon and gaze down the steep cliffs to the sprawling city below. The effect is surreal – it seems that it would require a helicopter to move down into the metropolis. In fact, it almost did require a helicopter to get us and the dolphin back out. We had read about a Swiss resort hotel which had a special lot for campers; we assumed we would never find someplace large enough to house the dolphin in La Paz, so we headed for the southern rim of the hole where the hotel was located, miles below the edge. We picked up the only helpful Bolivian we were to find during our stay, and he guided us through the maze of the upper city. The roads were abysmal, ranging from barely paved to massive dusty potholes, remnants of the rainy season, to torn-up gravel pits to old cobblestone. When we reached the southern tip, we were directed onto a cobblestone street leading toward the rim.
The next day we departed in the dolphin for Ollyantaytambo, one of the loveliest towns in the Sacred Valley. We passed the edges of Cuzco and entered a long plain. As the afternoon sun ...