Bolivia travel stories
One of my favorite things about living in South America was the ease at which I could travel around the continent. One of the more appealing attractions to the adventurous side of me was the Death Road in Bolivia. I had already booked my tickets for La Paz when two...
The harbor waters are still. Beyond the sheltered inlet a stiff wind whips the lake into whitecaps. My stomach doesn't much like these choppy waters. Lake Titicaca This body of water sits just over two miles above sea level and encompasses 3200 square miles, making it...
Friends often call me a NASA-TV nerd. I watch transfixed by late night filler video of an earth rotating below the orbiting International Space Station, and in the same way I' m fascinated at how Google Earth maps depict the earth from space. I've found it to be my...
My Birthday in Copacabana Bolivia Copacabana Bolivia at High Altitude When I mention that I had spent my 25th birthday in Copacabana, everyone thought I had perhaps joined the beautiful bikini clad women full of feathers Samba-ing the night away. Little did...
Bolivia and the Salt Flats Something Different in Bolivia Gazing out at the ethereal landscape, I feel like I am on a different planet. What appears to be sand, or maybe even snow, continues endlessly on. The waves of heat create eerie shapes on the horizon, and the...
The wind is whipping at my face. My nose has frozen; I can't feel my toes. The crunch of crampons on the snow is the only sound above the howling wind; the suffocating darkness around me is broken only by the tiny glimmering lights of the group up ahead and the...
On my last day in South America, I wake up to the calm sound of rain falling atop the metal roof. Two days before I was tanning on a cushioned lounge chair along the water of Mancora Beach, Peru my mind dizzied, almost drunk, on sun and relaxation. But now I am in...
On a lonely Bolivian intersection, the streets as wide and empty as an abandoned landing strip, we collided like two freight trains in the night. Midnight, and nobody here knew each other. Two dozen people in total, no one even thought of stopping when the groups...
Imagine a flat solid sea that reflects the mountains that frame it. Islands in that sea stand small but tall, with thousand year-old cacti raising their bristly arms towards the sky. Waves would wash over the island banks if only the ripples were not already frozen in...
"Sarit!" my husband turned to me all excited, "Wanna go up to 4700m in a van and then ride a bicycle downhill 64km on the most dangerous road in the world?" "Ahem... No! Do I look like I have a death wish?" It was an honest response. I haven't been on a bike since the...
Lake Titicaca was known to the Incas as a sacred lake. Over the last few days, I have been able to visit islands on both the Bolivian and Peruvian sides, and walking the stoney paths, looking out to the ruins, marveling over the breathtaking views, it is easy to...
