On-the-Road Tales

Marcelo and Donovan are two of my greatest friends and we have had many good times in the 14 years since we met in the Arizona country side as 18 yr old freshman at ERAU. Sitting here catching up with them in Donovans airplane or in Marcelos new clothing store, sometimes I just can not believe how far we have all come! While I love travel and new experiences, it is a nice break to just catch up with old friends and relax to a home cooked meal.

This is Carnival here in Brasil, biggest holiday of the year. They celebrate in the street with a myriad of colors and costumes the day before the start of Lent. We watched the Rio madness on TV just like back in NY, watching the Macys Thanksgiving Day parade though they have much better weather here.

We headed to a small town about 1.5 hours away to enjoy a local flavor fiesta. No tourists here but the town was packed. Every hours or so there is a band with afloat that comes through the streets playing a simple chorus. Everyone jumps behind the float and follows along, chanting, swaying, sambaing, throwing confetti and generally having a good time in the melee. The day was brutally hot, over 100 so the only relief was to duck into the shade between floats.

I offered to make dinner this night and learned and important lesson – never offer to cook when you only know one recipe and are not certain the country has the ingredients available. Marcelo informed me once at the store, that lemons here are not really lemons but they have 10 varieities of lime. The feta, in the speciaility cheese section was not exactly feta but all turned out well. I need to learn another dish or two for the next time in case!

After breakfast we headed to Cacapava. A small town 30 minutes north where Donovan and Cecilia recently bought a house in a fly-in community. Donovan just received his instructors rating for gliders and today was his first day instructor. He had just trailered one of the gliders from a competition so he unloaded it from the 15 foot trailer and put it together. Pretty wild stuff. Couple of snaps and bolts and you are ready for the wold blue yonder. Soaring is an amzing sport, there is a wee bit of yarn taped to the canopy which is basically your most important instrument. You hope the airplane towing you lifts off without difficulty and really hope you never need the parachute strapped to your back just in case. Anyway, I watched them take off from the grass strip and go hunt down thermals.

Cecilia and I headed to the house. Wow. The den has one big glass panel window looking out on the rolling green countryside. They have done a lot of renovations and made it a beautiful home with an airy feel, wood staircases, marble baths, a granite kitchena nd of course a runway conventiently located in the front yard. There was constant glider and sport aircraft traffic, an amazing sunset and a sky full of stars. This is pretty close to some sort of paradise.

The next morning Donovan and I went flying in his little red taildragger. It was great, noone to talk to on the radio, no adiz, no traffic. This is what flying is all about. We were having a barbeque or churrasco in the afternoon so the house started filling with friends. Another of my best friends from college arrived, Marcelo with his wife Carolina and daughter Maria Luiza and his sister Daniela who I had not seen in 10 years. We had a great time and even had an EMB190 flyby which I missed! Good times were had by all and we headed back to SJ after the festivities.

At 0400, traffic in La Paz is not too much of a problem so getting to the airport was easy. I jumped on the queue and soon learned why as the place quickly turned in a maze of lines. Organized, just very slow counter staff dealing with yellow fever and visa requirements for flying abroad. Took some photos of the airlines I am all to familiar with in my work. I boarded my Aerosur 727-200 and watched dawn break on the snowy Cordilleas range surrounding one, if not the, highest commercial airport in the world, El Alto. I watched the drug sniffer dogs excitedly bounce around waiting for the next load of luggage to tackle. You would not pull anything over on these pups! As each bag was sniffed, luggage handlers would grab bags 2 at a time and dart across the tarmac to try and get a plane out on time. Not exactly efficent use of energy at that 3800 meters! On the take off I felt I could reach out and touch the glacial lakes and snowy peaks, oh wait taking off from that altitude – I probably could.

We landed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to change planes. I thought it was a bit strange that the crew were american until I saw a placard and realized it was an Ryan Intl 757 so probably a lease to Aero Sur. This was the first flight in recent memory I got an emergency row exit. I enjoyed the legroom for all of about 45 minutes when a young norwegian girl I had seen in the airport promptly collapsed in front of me with her pillow in fury of tears and fits of shivering. The flight attendent comes up and looks at my asking what is wrong. Me, the cynic, assume it is a fight with the boyfriend or something until we start asking if she is sick. Suddenly we are calling for a medic on board. There was an Aussie nurse which came to help. Because she was concerned with the patient and noone else seemed to be taking much command, I, holding the oxygen bottle starting interviewing the boyfriend, trying to get info asked the FAs for thermometers, first aid kits etc. One of the FAs is asking if we need an emergency landing – I am thinking huh, we are an hour from Santa Cruz nowhere, headed to Sao Paulo Brasil somehwere over the jungle. Brasilia is the only hope and god only knows where that is from here…uh nope – do not think that is such a good idea! The girl started responding to oxygen and calming. Turns out she had been sick for several days with gastro, no food, probably dehydrated and just took a turn for the worse at 37000 feet. The medics were waiting on the ground in Sao Paulo. I had to chuckle with everyone asking me if I was a doctor – if they only knew I passed out at the sight of a needle but I was more concerned with getting on the ground using a decent runway. Note to self – do not get sick on an aircraft bc there is not a hell of a lot on baord to help you feel better. All part of the experience!

Landed, got through immigration after the flight from Angola – one of only 4 portuguese countries left in the world and my good friend Donovan from college was waiting for me. He works for Embraer in Sao Jose dos Campos, about 1.5 hours east of SP. I finally after 7 years of hearing about his wonderful wife Cecilia got to meet her and she is lovely! She is from Chile originally and has some engliosh so we agreed to sepak spanish half the day to keep mine up and english the other half so she could practice. Best of both. We went for dinner in town and it was great to relax with friends and not worry about locking my stuff to a bedpost for once!

My daytrip to the mountains did not work out. Appaerantly there were not enough people interested since they were all instead participating in the mountain biking down the road of death adventure. I considered this option briefly, for about 1.2 seconds before deciding that would not be a prudent side trip during rainy season. In trying to convince me, they issues some photos from recent trips. The road is 3 feet wide, with a sheer cliff on the side, shared by trucks and buses oh and its two way. My guide book mentioned being weary of rides offered during rainy season since the road can kind of get washed away with the rain and that a women recently died when her brakes snapped and during a couple hundred meter descent, that is not a thing to overcome. Oh the guide said but they offer free beer too!! Yeah, no. Being in the transportation safety profession, I felt I had to turn down this opportunity (ie I would be riding the brakes the whole way down so there really would be no point)

So I spent the day people watching. The women here are dressed differently then people in the country, still traditional but with a modern twist. They wear colorful, patterned skirts of synthetic fabric and lovely silken lace and fringed shawls clasped with a brooch with dark bowler hats. They still use the bright woven textiles clothes on their back to carry their goods or their baby. I try to avoid passing them in the crowded streets because I do not want to accidentally whack a kid thinking it is potatoes!

My hotel is on party central street. No, not bars and wild hoolies but stands and kiosks full of colorful decorations, streamers and costumes. These women have bags half the size of me, at least 3 feet tall full of confetti! Every color one could imagine hot pink, baby pink, fushia pink, each morning I go out there are more people fighting for sidewalk space. This morning, it was to the point, I had to walk in the street bc there is no room on the sidewalk. I think it is in preparation for upcoming carnival. They have different sizes and shapes of beans painted gold and silver and weigh them out by the pound for customers. Also, tiny brightly colored balls in 10 different hues. I am not sure what they are for, to throw in the streets? I really have no use for them but i think I am going to have to buy a pound or so of the suckers just to play with – they are so cool looking.

Went to the mirador overlook and finally saw the towering snowy mountain in the all the post cards. It is 5ooo plus meters and lovely. Otherwise, wrapping up my last day in Bolivia. I went to confirm my flight and was told, oh yeah is is taking off 1.5 hours early but hey it is still arriving the same time to Sao Paulo. Ok that is strange but glad I called. Now if the 727 is in agood shape I will be happy. Little nervouse what I might find at the aeropuerto tomorrow. Taking off form this altitude can be a bit of a challenge for a good pilot. Anyway, since I have a 0430 departure form the hotel, must go pack up the kit. Adios Bolivia!

Decided to explore downtown today. Went to the Coca Museo yup, museaum dedicated to the coca leaf. It was very cool. It really gave a wonderful history of the leaf and some startling facts. The spanish tried to outlaw the leaf among the indian slaves bc the church insisted it was interferring with them converting the people, they did until the spanish realized the indigeinous people were much more productive with it sine chewing the leaves wards off the effects of cold and fatigue. SO instead they mandated it but controlled the distribution so the indians were further indebted to the Spanish. Crazy. Freud was the first user of the drug in its form as cocaine, that explains something. & currently, whille the US makes up only 5% of the worlds population, it consumes 50% of the worlds cocaine. Wow. That is why they are paying Bolivia to eradicate it.

Stopped in the contemporary art museum, the mansion it is housed in was designed by Eiffel, as the tower man. Cruised by Plaza Murillo where the palace and cathedral are. There were some soldiers in Red uniforms. Bolivia lost its access tot he sea in the war of the pacific over 100 yrs ago. There are placards posted about which rougly translated say – it is our god given right to have sea access, give it back to us. Hence they still have a navy stationed on Lake Titicaca so make sure Peru does not get any ideas about snatching any more water. These guys in red have something to do with that because it looks they are guarding a vessel of sorts.

It does not take long walking around La Paz to determine being situated in a bowl creates some air quality problems. The non-emission friendly cars, trucks and buses spew nasty fumes at every choked intersection. Hence, it feels like you are sukcing on a tailpipe all the time. While individual born at this altitude, I have read, have larger lung capacity and greater ability to absorb oxygen, that does not apply to us, sea level types. So dodging and weaving vehicles to corss a road usually result in a needed rest on the other side to gasp some cleaner, albeit, thin air.

As dusk fell I headed back uphill towards my hostal. Some of these roads are so steep they should offer crampons to make the ascent! As I am hiking I stop near a stall to get my whereabouts and realize from the contents displayed next to me, I have ventured into the Witches Market. Yep, not sure what the hell the stuff they are is or what it is for but it incredibly colorful and interesting looking. I would guess it is a shopping market for those involved more in natural healing than spells and wicca but what do I know. There are figurines, and candy type things of every pastel color and dried herbs and of course the staple product, dried llama fetuses. Where does one get so many dried llama fetuses? Are there that many pregnant llama among those killed for skins and meat? What does one do with this creation? These are probably thing I will never know the answer to but I decide to scurry out of there. Mom told me to stay away from the market in case they cast a spell on me so I follow her advice! 60 seconds standing in a dark alleyway next to little women with dark eyes and dead animal overhead is cultural experience enough for me!

Sidetripped to Tiwanaku, a pre-Inca city that was center to an immense society lasting from 1500BC to 1200AD. They continued to conquer other cities until they occupied parts of Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Their territorial gains were evidenced in their art and ceramics as they added monkeys (when taking over peoples of the jjungle)and sea horses (people near the sea). They built huge monoliths 7 meters in height and many tons from stones which came from Lake Titicaca and they believe were tranported by reed boats. This city was the ceremonial centre of a highly advanced society with irrigation canal and medical knowledge. They built a flat topped pyramid, in honor of the world above, a middle temple to represent the earth, and a subterranean one to represent to world below, water etc. The spanish discovered the above ground temples in the 1500s and destroyed most to it in a hunt for gold and silver which they did not find. Also destroying references to the sun since it was contrary to the churchs doctrine. Fortunetly they did not find the underground temples so they remained in good shape and are still being excavated

Their monoliths and figures have etching representing the numbers of days of the year, weeks, hours and the doors are exactly aligned to correspond with particular solar and lunar events. Remarkable. While we were exploring, a nasty cold driving hail and thunder shower ensued and we were able to see in action, the intelligent drainage shoots and channels which still function today.

Throughly drenched, we went to a nearby town for lunch. My tourmates were argentine, brasilian and dutch. I attempted amix of portugueses and spanish and it worked well enough to communicate with my new brasilian friends. We headed back to La Paz and I retreated to my room for some mudfree clothes. One fortunate things about travelling in super uv protected, thousand pockets, zip off into shorts travel clothing is they are quick dry so you are not wet long but they still gather mud…

Ventured back out in the evening for a bite and ran into my border crossing bus friends, an american and a dutchman. We chatted and german giel who had met the dutchman in peru accidentally reunited and she had 2 canadians tagging along. So we made one happy intl group and headed further downtown to check out some live music at Mongos. I started chatting with the Canadian and lo and behold she was a R44 helo pilot up in the canadian bush! yeah, got to talk shop for a few hours and discuss why safety reporting systems really are not effective if you require 4 days worth of paperwork. Very excited about this and told her if I ever get back to my female pilot research, I was coming up to interview haha. I headed back in a cab with the two guys in the hostal nearest me. I told them I would walk from their dropoff to my place and they insisted on dropping me off instead. As we exited the cab, the guy told me one of the people in his hostel, maybe 4 blocks from me was mugged at knifepoint this week by 4 guys and they cut the straps and ripped the pack from him. He said there were other people on the street and noone stepped in, not that I blame them. He got up and ran after them, bad move. But it put me back on alert and I was glad they were considerate enough to risk walking home so I got dropped off doorside, Thanks guys!

Checked out of the hotel at latest possible 1000 time since the only but to La Paz I was told departed at 1330 so I had some time to kill. Stowed my mochila and headed into the street where a man was shouting Sale La Paz, Sale La Paz. I flew back into place grabbed the backpack and gestured wildly that I wanted on that bus. He kept saying another at 1130 but no, there were still seats left, no time like the present. He opened the luggage hatch and told me to run around the otherside and board. As the bus obviously running late at 1010 started rolling I heard someon shouted ERRINNNNN down the calle. Que? It was the couple from Lonfg Island I was going to school with. Would have loved to catch up but hey all my life was rolling away in the belly of the bus so I waved and jumped on board.

The scenary between copa and La Paz was incredible once again. Fanatastic, views of Lake Titacaca from up high. The colors would change from emerald green in a narrow cove to carribean blue in the wide open. The lake has an odd quality of reflecting the sky and clouds even though it is not completely still, it is mirage like. At one point, the road descnded and everyone got off. Huh. Guess I should have read the guide book a little closer because I had no idea why the driver was gesturing me towards a ticket booth until he started rolling the bus on a rickety barge and cruising across the strait. So I bought a ticket, jumped on a boat with the rest of the bus pax and we rivaled the bus in a race across the water. At the other side, we jumped back on baord and continued on our way.

Only 5% of the road on Bolivia are paved. I am guessing the road we were on was considered on of them but that is a matter of opinion. At one point in its life, large roacks had been laid as a base but it had not been tarred since “Adam was a boy” (as my mother would say). The pathetic blacktop was worn and cracked ,broken unevenly at the edges and there were rather deep potholes. The driver overcame these obstacles by driving on the wrong side of the road for most of the trip to avoid the holes but was considerate enough to beep and warn traffic when going around blind curves. Yeah. Again a 3 hour ride for $2, one has no basis to complain.

Along the road, communities worked digging drainage ditches, presumably a public works projects to provide community work and improve the road. It is a strange sight to see women in layered petticoats and skirts wielding a pickax to dig trenches. While I am all for job equality, I am afraid these women did not rally on the forefront of breaking traditional job roles in Bolivia but rather are forced to participate in manual, backbreaking labor in order to bring some, whatever small, bit of food back to their families in the evening.

Entering La Paz, the pavement disappeared altogether and a dusty, one lane road becamea leap frog for buses and trucks to compete of who would go. I am hoping that was roadworks and not a permanent situation. The city sits in a depression of the mountains. From the highway at 4100 meters, we wound and descended into the bowels of the massive city. Houses and building as far as one could see form bottom to top of cliffs. It seems even bigger than NYC would be if you stuck it in a similar bowl. We were dropped in the middle of nowhere and I walked up to the tourist police to request a cab. His presence was a pleasant surprise until the women next to me stated that 2 english tourists were killed last month taking a non radio cab from the bus station so they stationed patrols. Alrightie then, I asked where the people next to me were going and informed them their hotel sounded as good as any and I would be cabbing along with them!

Copacabana is a little lakeside water resort. Lots of hippiues in the street selling jewelry, though I think they are Argentines. The waterfront had kayaking, sail and paddle boats and lots of fresh trucha, or trout. Enjoyed a nice set menu for 17 BS or 2.50 of warm bread, huge plate of spaghetti with pesto and a glass of red wine. Yep, you could survive a long time here on very little money.

I headed out to Isla del sol. If I had any reservations about the boat the other day, they disappeared when I saw this contraption as I was hopping across missing planks on the gangway. A bunch of plywood nailed together, sort of, with cafeteria chairs nailed to the floor, well where they had not broken off and were threatening to poke a hole in the side. Yeah. What do you expect for a 4hr roundtrip $3 boat ride. We arrived at the north side of the island where a bunch of argentina hippies again were camped on the beach, with a pig roaming.

The Incas believe this island was the birthplace of their civilization. That the moon and stars and sol were born from the lake. It is the most reverent of their sites and contains a sacred rock which they believe has energy. Off from the rock, there are three tiny rock isles in the water that form a triangle. Jacques Costeau dove in the centre of these looking for the lost city of Atlantis. He found, about 15 meters down, offering of golds and vessels. There was an interesting little musuem of the excavations though I must read more in it in English.

The walk to the sacred rock and sacrificial table was stunning. The entire island at one point was terraced with agriculture and this part still was. There was amazing volcanic rock that melted like sands and layered rock. Clear blue water and green tinted beaches, houses adorned with colorful flowers. Amazing. I walked back to the boat with a German who was studying in Peru for 5 months and I had bumped into continously for the last 5 days days between Peru and here. Popular route.

We took the boat tot he south part of the Island and walked up 206 steps of original Inca construction with a supposed fountain of youth at the top. I wondered and came down some wrong path which turned out to be the local islander byway form port to house. Hence I had to suck tot he side of the stoneway as people rushed to meet the private supply boats with herds of donkeys to carry the goods back up, or donkeys laden with sacks to go off the island. Nothing like the stampeding sound of donkeys on your tail. Uncomfortable but uneventful journey back to the mainland. Up another couple hundred feet to La Paz manana….

The more I think about the customs on the islands I visited, I am amazed. These people were never idle, even while walking a bull down the road, they would be spinning wool or knitting a cap to sell. Our guide explained the meaning of items of clothing they wore which all told a story. For instance, the colors or design of the cap would tell if someone was married or single. How they wore it signified if they were interested in someone, engaged, or having trouble in their marriage! Just after marrying, each spouse embroiders a belt saying what they wish for in the marriage. No pressure there, your promises are in colored thread around your waist! Must make dating on the island easy but you would think with only 4000, everyone know everyones business anyway.

Anyway, last night it poured in Puno again so the streets turning into rivers was not such an isolated incident. There is a big festival going on so all the marching bands from around Peru were playing in the streets. On the bus ride from Cusco, we saw them in dirt patches practicing and now here they were playing with huge metal tubas in the pouring rain. When I went to bed at 2300 I could here the tunes amidst the fireworks, when I arose at 0600 they were still playing! I grabbed a cab to the bus stantion and the driver told me it is customary for them to play all through the night and the festivities were not officially until Sunday.

My seatmate on the bus was from Oregon. I have only met 2 Americans travelling and they have both been wildland firefighters who work the season and then have 6 months off. Sounds like a great job though they only can save good money when there are big, intenses fires so whie the monetary reward is good, you risk you life in the blaze.

We had to get off at the Peru-Bolivia border. We walked in and dropped off our Peru tax slip and walked across to Bolivia to fill out another form and get a stamp. Not so tough. 8km and a 1hour time change later, we disembarked in Copacabana, Bolivia. There was a hotel at the bus stop and while I could have went hunting for a better deal, 5$ for a room with a private bath AND breakfast, I settled.

Priority number one was laundry. I had not been still long enough in one place to get it back dry and my 2.5 outfits reaked of moldy hotel room, machu picchu mud and amantani straw mats. I was incredibly more excited than I should have been when I found a woman who could have my clothes back to me tonight which mean she was not washing them in the river. yippee. you tend to take laundry for granted. I headed to the cathedral where they do blessing of the cars in the mornings. All these cars, buses, large petrol lorries were tricked out with flowers, streamers etc. to receive their blessings.

During mass, just after the homily, there was a wedding. Yep, that5 was a first, wedding rite in the middle of mass, low key way to do it though. Busy day, early night…

Arose to some fresh mint tea and parted ways with the family. Another rough boat ride and I soon discovered good seamanship does not extend to docking experience. As we were getting ready to disembark, there was a horrific crash. Apparently, the next boat coming which is supposed to dock itself to ours, did not do so gracefully. Our railing went through one of its windows and there was glass everywhere. Guess there was less nautical traffic in Preinca days. We headed up the island for an easy jaunt to the town center. 45 minutes of 45 degree ascents later…we got to the square. We took some photos. ate lunch and then headed 504 steps down the other side to where our boat was now docked. I was glad our guide did not make us come up those steps! Waiting to board there were 6 boats tied together and the one nearest the dock was pulling out. THe attendent untied the boat from the dock but failed to unite it form the boat next dorr. Soon, the boat, at full throttle was setting out dragging 5 other boats with it ! It was kind of hysterical but mostly because I was not sitting on one of them. Haha.
Uneventful trip back and back in Puno with still no success in finding a quick laundry facility. Headed to Bolivia manana and my internet hour is up so…