Puno

Alas, my Thanksgiving vacation came to an end all too quickly and I headed back to Peru.  This time I opted to cross the altiplano (high Andean plateau) in a long distance bus, which was a lot more comfortable than the collectivos  from the initial trip.  From the bus windows I saw some beautiful scenery and was able to capture some of it:

I even saw snow in the Titicaca National Reserve, but I didn't photograph it, since I'm sure I'll be seeing enough on my trip back to the US.

Leaving Bolivia and returning to Peru was also much simpler than the initial trip-no crazed running back and forth from office to office this time.  Since I had an extra day before I needed to return to the plant, I decided to stay in Puno to see why everyone raves about the place.  Unfortunately, I think I will have to find that out at another time, since the weather on this trip did nothing to endear me to the place.  Officially the rainy season (clima lluvioso), I got both a cold and a sunburn in the 30ish hours I spent there.  (Of course, part of that might be because I got lost and spent an hour walking around in the rain, looking for my hotel, but that's a story for another time!)

I did manage to see Lake Titicaca:

I also managed to stumble on a festival (which seems to happen commonly in Puno) and got to see some traditional dancing:

But, as the weather got rainier, I headed to the Plaza de Armas (Main Square) to see the Catedral de Puno (cathedral) and check out the Museo Carlos Dreyer (museum):

Catedral de Puno

The most interesting part of the Carlos Dreyer Museum was their exhibit on funerary items

It includes this full-scale replica of a chullpa, or funerary tower...

...and 3 mummies...

...with a reconstruction of what they might have looked like

All in all, I would like to return to Puno, when the weather is nicer, to take a tour of the islands that occupy Lake Titicaca.  

Bolivia!

As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to visit a friend in Bolivia for Thanksgiving.  I was a little nervous about travelling all on my own, especially since my Spanish is still quite basico and my travel route would include several points of negotiations.  Of course, the easiest way would be fly directly from Lima to La Paz, but unfortunately the price, which seemed to be more apropos to flying across all of South America instead of to the capital of the neighboring country, prevented that from being a viable option. Instead, I opted to fly to Juliaca, then take a bus that would cross the border and end up in La Paz.  In addition to feeling nervous about being able to communicate, I was also worried because I had very little leeway in my travel time in order to make to my friend's house before dinner.

Luckily, I worried for nothing.  The communication went as smoothly as it could have, despite the fact that, instead of a bus that would take me directly to La Paz, I ended up taking a series of taxis and collectivos (shared taxis, where you wait until the car fills up).  [Shh...don't tell my students, they'll say it's unsafe!]  The only snag was at the border crossing into Bolivia.  Not only do they charge Americans for a visa (unlike most of the other countries in South America) as a reciprocity fee, but they also seem to enjoy making them run back and forth between various service windows to complete the process.  But, this was merely annoying, I eventually jumped through enough hoops and was allowed to continue my journey.  I even made it on time for dinner!

I spent the majority of time in La Paz catching up with my friend and getting to know his fiancee, but we did manage to go out and see a bit of the city:

One landmark of La Paz-La Muela del Diablo (the Devil's Molar)
Maybe some day I'll be crazy enough to try hiking it!

In addition to being at a higher altitude than Lima, La Paz also has a different feel from being situated in a valley, rather than sprawling along a coast.  But crazy traffic remains a problem for both cities.  In an attempt to alleviate some traffic congestion, La Paz has recently installed 3 teleférico (cable car) lines.

They took me to test out the yellow line

Julia & Ralph

View from the station

They also took me to El Mercado de las Brujas, or Witches' Market and explained that once a year there is a ceremony where you buy symbols for things that you want to happen to you (new car, baby, house, husband, etc.) and place them in a basket as an offering.

Though La Paz shares a lot of cultural similarities with the mountain region of Peru,
I love the bowler hats that the women in La Paz wear!