purmamarca, argentina

this was one of the places that reeeeaally made me wish i was with a geologist that would tell me how the heck did nature do its job. the cerro de los siete colores, spanish for the hill of the seven colors, is in purmamarca and is part of the quebrada de humahuaca.

purmamarca is another small town, we got there in the morning from tilcara to meet our friends that had left the night before. you can walk the whole center in no time as you feel like you have travelled in time through the small streets that, mostly, have one story buildings. form every street you can see the hills, no need to go hiking for hours  ;) beauty delivered directly into town for our convenience!

we did hike up to a small hill to get a better view of the hills, and also, because there was not much to do! ...so, after coming back down the slippery trail, we hit the main plaza to see the artisans market, get some coffee and beer. hot, chill, nice day.

after relaxing for a while around town, we decided to go to the salt flats, salinas grandes (which means big salt flats), creative. after one hour in the car, we got one hour in the flats, so... we just walked and took silly pictures. enough salt flats for my lifetime

silly friends plus lots of time make silly pictures.

tilcara, argentina

i arrived to tilcara in the morning, my friends had left the previous night and i just had a hostel name. it wasn´t hard to find them, but the hostel was not right in the center. the good thing is that tilcara is another small town and getting lost is not the worst thing. when i got to the hostel, my friends were getting ready to go out and hike to la garganta del diablo, the devil´s throat. it is a part in a canyon where the water falls, or at least that is what i though it was. the walk was about 1 1/2 hours or so, but the thing is, i didn´t change my jeans, and the sun was crazy this day! beautiful day, but crazy sun. so, i tried to ignore it and keep walking...

 

after we reached la garganta del diablo, we kept walking to go see a waterfall. the walk is along the river and you have to cross it several times. it is really shallow, and there are rocks that you can step on, but short-legged sandrita coulnd´t jump as well, and my hiking shoes got wet... great smell. backpacker smelling shoes. ;) (tmi?)

after walking for a bit, wet shoes and all, we reached the waterfall. so refreshing to stand closed to it and get sprinkled with some fresh water. because you know, the sun was crazy!

after that, we walked a bit more to see the canyon... no pictures here..

the tilcaras were the original habitants of the area, a pre-incan culture that were part of the omaguacas. after walking back, we visited the pucará ruins, where the tilcaras used to live. tiny houses, a cementery, a corral to keep the animals, and gorgeous views of the quebrada de humahuaca. .

at night we went to a peña for some dinner and folkloric music. the lyrics about the land and love for their town and for la quebrada were so beautiful!

humahuaca, argentina

oh, crossing the border, what an experience. 11-hour bus from sucre to villazon, get there at 5 am, really dark and horror stories of how the border was dangerous. i tried to ignore them, the stories, but it was hard. i actually asked the lady next to me to stop telling me how bad it could go, about how people take advantage of tourists. i just waited until the sun started coming out to make sure it was ´safe´. you know, just in case. 6:30ish a.m. i started walking, found a bus and someone to show me to the border. ...guess what, after crossing, i realized that he charged me too much for the bus i was going to take in argentina. it was true, but at least it wasn´t scary. :) 

i made some friends that crossed the border with me, and of course, i was the only one that had to pay a fee (called reciprocity fee, like in bolivia and chile) ...so, if you are traveling, check for stuff like this. appart from paying, it wasn´t scary, and i was happy about that. 

from la quiaca, the border town on the argentinian side of the border,  i took a bus to humahuaca, a small city at the beginning of the beautiful 150km long mountain valley, quebrada de humahuaca. the quebrada is a unesco world heritage site, and traveling through the towns along the valley totally shows why. the town feels very rural, like it got stuck in time, in a good way. 

at the municipality (is that a word?) or city hall, there is a small door under the clock that opens every day at noon sharp. from it, san francisco solano comes out to say hi to everyone that gets together at the plaza, or maybe it is to bless them (?), yes, i think so. he moves his arm up and down three times, the he goes back inside and the door closes. i think that the most entertaining part was seeing people running and taking turns to take pictures with it because the whole event is very quick. :)

the first afternoon was spent walking around a bit and laying in bed sick.. but the next day i felt so much better! i wondered around town, it is pretty small, and pretty pretty. actually, it is beautiful, surrounded by the mountains, desert feeling and once again, the amazing blue sky. i must say that after a really rough trip and previous day crossing the border, i was oh so glad to be there, in gorgeous humahuaca.

since i was feeling better, the owner of the hostel, don josé, showed me their version of the local market where i could get really good and inexpensive food.

right next to the plaza, there is a monument to the independence of argentina and to those who fought for it. humahuaca had been a battleground during the times of war for independence.

there is a place called la peña blanca, the white rock, that serves as a viewing point of the town, so i decided to walk there.

once i reached la peña blanca, i sat up there to relax and enjoy the view, when three guys came up and sat next to me. it didn´t take me long to find new travel partners. :) they decided to keep going up the hill and were so kind to invite me.

oh, the views, THE VIEWS. it was so much better to keep going up. it was also hard to breathe since i was still sick and we were still pretty high above sea level, but hey, i survived peru and bolivia, i could do this! ..and they were really nice and would go slow for the short-legged girl that was coughing. nice new friends.

crazy winds and awesome views.

as the sun kept coming down, the magic light started to appear, i can´t understand why the people at the tourist info office did not recommend doing this hike. seriously! if you go to humahuaca, just keep going up, you can´t get lost since you can always see the city from up there and not loose sense of direction.

after walking for a while, taking a million pictures, we went back to la peña blanca, and watched the sunset. oh, the sunset, THE SUNSET! ..and new friends.

back in town, we looked for some yerba mate, boiled some water, got some alfajores and sat down at the main plaza to just talk. perfect ingredients for good times. :)

humhuaca kind of had a sad ending, i got sick, again, yes, and spent another day sleeping... and being sick. but hey, i think my body needed the rest for all the fun that was about to come!

sucre y tarabuco, bolivia

not much battery charge. shame shame. believeme when i say, i have tons of mental pictures of sucre. beautiful quiet and delicious sucre. the constitutional capital of bolivia. they are so proud, of their university, their beautiful city and the fact that they were the capital of bolivia (...and some people want it back). 

sucre is one of the biggest cities in bolivia, but didn´t feel like that. it has beautiful colonial buildings and plazas, and eventhough it is a big city, it felt really calm. walking to the plaza, getting some ice cream, sitting on a bench, on a sunday and talk with your friends, it felt perfect. no pictures, but it was perfect.

we took a microbus to the nearby town of tarabuco to see their sunday market. the views along the way are beautiful, especially on bolivia´s blue skies.

it was a cheap microbus, i was sitting right next to the driver, with someone else on my right, on a made-up seat... for 1 1/2 hrs. but the views, they were beautiful, and i tried to focus on them as i tried to explain to the driver and my new friend where the heck puerto rico is.

we, of course, went to the market, and shared a table with 4 other people that looked like they were +80yrs old. how, HOW, do they live so long. vegetables? the altitude?

sucre was the last city i visited in bolivia, and it was time for me and my friends to split. sad time to say goodbye, but awesome people to travel with. :) i admit it, there was a little tear on my face when i got in the bus, but shhh, don´t tell them! :)

potosi, bolivia

short stay in potosi. not many pictures in potosi. i got really sick in potosi. :S

the day after we arrive we woke up and went to the plaza following some music sounds. there was people playing, singing and dancing. a lot of old people. we found out that it was a manifestation from ïndigenous¨communities around the city that were asking for more autonomy. it was a serious thing, but an enjoyable seriousness, or something like that. 

we walked around town, went to the market looking for local and cheap food. i was not feeling good, coughing all night and having stomach problems (probably because of the local cheap food, but whatever) and someone suggested to go see a lady at a small plaza that sold medicinal remedies. it was a little cart with a lot of bottles and the lady mixed random stuff (random for me) depending on what you said you felt. it looked like the only two real options were remedies for a cold or for your kidneys. i drank it... but maybe it is not a nice story to tell on this post ;) the other remedy, that i LOVE, is fresh squeezed orange juice. there are these little carts, in every town i went in bolivia, where sell juice. i have never had orange juice, i know, i DO live in this world, and i know this is the simplest thing. but everytime i spotted one of these little carts, i ran for it. :)

potosi is a mine town where they look for silver, zinc, tin and something else that i can´t remember. so, we took a tour to one of the mines, and it was... interesting. after i was there it felt a little bit wrong, although you bring stuff for the miners and sit down with them for a while to hang out during a break, but still, i felt like i was in their space. before going into the mine you buy presents for them, coca leaves for them to have energy and not get hungry, juice and this alcohol that is 96% that they mix with the juice. i just brought coca leaves. 

when you go inside the mine beliefs change, potosi is a very catholic town, but inside the mines, the miners believe in the tío and the pachamama. the tío is the devil, and inside the mine they have a statue of him about 200m from the entrance. they believe that the tío gives keeps them safe as long as they keep him happy. i didn´t take a picture, but the tío was covered in confetti and surrounded by alcohol bottles, it was the first friday of the month and they had a party in honor of the tío. pacha mama means mother nature in quechua, and they believe that she gives them the blessing to find more minerals. when they drink, they always pour the alcohol in the ground before drinking, one time for the tío and one for pacha mama.

this was inside the mine. it was scary at tome times. scary stuff.

uyuni, bolivia

i am so behind on this keeping-you-updated thing. but hey, that means i am busy, either having fun, or sick in bed for two days, or both. :) but i´m back!

after la paz, we took a 10 hr overnight bus to uyuni. a 10 hr bus ride that turned into 15 because the driver didn´t bring enough gas. seriously. they kept stopping to restart the engine, until it didn´t restart anymore. seriously, they didn´t have enough gas, and 30 minutes before getting to uyuni, it just stopped. we decided to get our backpack and start walking in the sun, but 10 minutes later a taxi drove by and picked us up. 

uyuni is a tiny town where people live (mostly) off of tourism or the salt industry. that uyuni salt flats are about 12,000 sq km and supposedly, it was formed out of prehistoric lakes. so, we took a 3 day trip to go see the salt flats and the national reserve (park) Eduardo Avaroa. 

the tour starts at the train cementery. there used to be a lot of trains coming and going between bolivia and chile, from uyuni and other mine towns nearby and it looks like they just left a lot of them there to die... the landscape, with the blue sky and desert-y feel, along with the rusty beasts is actually kind of beautiful. 

after that, we went to the salt flats and, like every tourist, took silly pictures... there were parts that were covered in water, and the reflection of the sky made it look like things were floating.

after the salt flats we went down to the national park over the next two days all the way down to the border with chile. it was amazing, the views, not the part where you are on a jeep for hours, but the views made it worth it. :) here are the pictures:

the rock valley:

i don´t remember the name of this lake: :S there was a lot of sulfur in the soil and water, so it smelled weird...

this was our group, claudia and rosmel were my travel partners in bolivia, the other three friends we met on the trip. :)

this is the green lake:

the rock in some part is very brittle and over the years, many rocks have been shaped by the wind into really cool looking shapes. this is the stone tree:

red lagoon:

we stayed in really ¨basic¨ places, basic as in, you have to pay for the shower separately, there are no windows in the room, you have to bring your own toilet paper and there are a million flies everywhere. you know, stuff like that.

the third day we woke up at 4 am to go see the geisers. it was a little bit too dark but still really impressive. it was so loud and there were really small holes on the ground were i could put my hand close and feel the warmth of the gases. (i know... not safe at all...)

after that, we went to the hot springs at the border of the lake to see the sunrise. let me tell you, it was instant happiness and magical. i totally forgot that i was so tired from waking up so early. magic sunrise.

on the way to the border we drove by the salvador dalí desert. they call it like that because apparently there are strangely shaped rocks that look like a dalí painting. however, we couln´t get closer to appreciate it better. :(

...and this is another lake that i forgot the name and i can´t find my notes. sorry! ;)

fun times, but the way back was 7 hours to go back to uyuni... oh, it was a bit exhausting.

isla de sol, bolivia

according to the inca legend, manco cápac, the son of inti (the sun) was born here in isla de sol (island of the sun) and mama ocllo was born in isla de luna (island of the moon). they set out and together, founded cusco, the center of the inca empire. that morning, it was raining, pretty bad, people, i even bought a poncho. a poncho. yes, i bought a poncho and 20 minutes later, the sun came out, beautiful day. we got on the boat at 13:30, and it was a 2 - 3 hr trip. we were sitting on top of the boat, and of course, the crowd cornered me (literally) with questions about puerto rico, you know, the usual. 

 isla de sol is relaxing paradise. we got to the beach... yes, the beach, on the lake, that one. yes, the one at 3800 m above sea level. the one with all the hippies camping on the beach. this beach is on the north of the island in yumani. locals live off agriculture, taking care of their cows and sheeps and llamas, and tourism. relaxing paradise. i didn´t carry my camera on the first day. we just walked around, cooked on the beach, made new friends and drank some cheap and sweet bolivian wine.

walking around i petted donkeys. i know it must be the silliest thing ever, but they are so soft! and sweet! and they look like they are about to cry! ...so it is like sad and sweet, and soft :) later, we met chico, a llama with his owner. i have no idea what was the gentleman´s name, but his love for chico was amazing! ...maybe sweeter than the donkeys, i can´t make up my mind. but i can say, there was affection, or love, between chico and the gentleman.

after it got dark, i went up to my room and about an hour later, we heard a guitar and people singing. music from puerto rico, and no puerto rican to be found. so, we all went down to the beach, it was an amazing latinamerican mix... music lasted until the rain came, chile leading the music, as colombia and i kept pushing for our music. fun fun fun times!  ...the hostel is closed? it´s ok, we jump the fence. ;)ç

the next day we decided to walk to the southern part of the island, with our backpacks (the heavy ones, yes) we heard it was about 3 hours, that turned into 5... in the sun, with the backpacks. but the views... oh the views were amazingly beautiful. it is evident why it was thought that this is where the sun had his son or where the inca civilization started, because this place is magical.

there are inca ruins and inca terraces for agriculture still around the island. we ended up catching a boat back to copacabana, and guess what? the ride, with the sunset, and the friends, and the breeze, and the sitting-after-walking-5-hours, was sooooo awesome!!!