Carnaval

Carnaval in Ururo is masks, costumes, bands and a whole lot of fun.

Dancers would pay over $150 just for a chance to dance.

And crowds of people, for two days (or more) of dancing, drinking and singing.


And inbetween the groups, there was foam and water fights.

If you weren´t dressed for battle, you could end up looking like Patrick here.

Illimani

Okay, not off to a good start. BTW, I'm on the other side pushing too.

We are getting closer, and the road is getting narrower.

Amanda and Mael, in the cloads.

Our guide brought his son, but not on the hikes.

We had some water to cross, but not too tough.

No, I'm not missing my teeth, I'm chewing coca.

A bit rocky, but easy hiking to get to the base camp.

Base camp of Illimani. The donkey handler was the first up, but he had the advantage of modern equipment and footwear.

The donkey was there to lend a hand for tired feet.

In the village below the mountain.

The drive back to La Paz was spectacular.

Illimani as seen from La Paz.

We spent last weekend camping at the base of Illimani, the peak overtowering La Paz. It looks close, but was a 4.5 hour drive to get to the village at its base. It's hard to imagine mountain peaks when we already live at nearly 13,000 feet above sea level, but this mountain is huge: it's over 21,000 feet. Just to get some bearings, Mount Robson is almost 13,000 feet.

We only climbed to about 15,000 feet, to the base camp. We didn't camp there due to the cloudy, rainy weather, so came back down to the village to sleep. But the hiking was great, and sharing this with friends sure was enjoyable too.

Iquique

Colonial town centre


Nice beach: clean, not too crowded, safe - we loved it!


It seemed like a lot of people liked to get a few rays after work.

We did a small tour from the ocean. A small seal colony and saw a bit of the harbour.

Plus a turn of the century warship.

The bus ride back was very scenic: tall hills of sandstone and a few dormant volcanos.

Iquique is a small city on the coast of Chile. We could have spent less time on the bus (18 hours - yuk), but this resort town is a bit nicer than the nearest. A bit pricer than Bolivia, but it was very nice to be pampered with a seaside hotel, great pool, beach, shopping and fantastic food. In the end, worth the trip. And, the bus trip was very scenic. We did have problems with the bus ride back and the drastic change in altitude.

Sucre

Sucre has a small, but very interesting dinosaur park with a huge display of tracks.


This was actually somebody's house - practically a palace!

Before La Paz, Sucre was the capital of Bolivia. Very clean, very nice city.

Some lunch time entertainment. He walked for 4 hours to reach the village for the Sunday market.

A nearby village, well know for their fabrics and market . Heather's mom, Nora, was overwhelmed by the poverty in the village, which is quite stark.

Kind of cloudy our first day, but it cleared up after.

Sucre is smaller and quieter than La Paz and well worth the stop. They have a city bylaw that all (except one old original church) historic colonial buildings must be white washed. A great city to wonder around and relax.