sábado, 30 de julio de 2011



 in the beginning there was nothing....


and then, there was Chancho... 

... He enjoyed his world. His world alone.
He enjoyed roaming around freely and carelessly, with nothing in sight.

 But then, mechanical vehicles appeared.

and he wouldnt like it.

"This is my land" he would say, "get away from here" and he would chase them off...
and off... and off...
 "Go away", he´d yelled  

"Go away, I said", he would repeat

he would repeat...

and repeat, but no reply...

so he decided to try to enjoy it....

...the end.....

Blancura






and once again I find myself sorrounded by white. 360 degrees and all I can see is white.
yes, it is cold.
but no, its not snow.
The white today comes from salt. Milliards of thousands of kgs of salt sorround me, for kms and kms on, as far as my eye can see.


This beauty coming from a dried up lake at 4000mts above sea level. A dried up lake that makes for a waterfall of fantasies....



jueves, 28 de julio de 2011

La otra capital


y el viento nos trae a Sucre, la (otra) capital de Bolivia.

Una capital blanca. Blanca en más que sus casas y monumentos, más que en sus calles y avenidas.
Blanca en la tranquilidad que se respira al caminar por una calle.... Blanca en la cordialidad de la gente que se detiene al verlo a uno perdido... Blanca en la certeza en si misma de las cocineras que te dan a "degustar" sus platillos antes de comprarlos... Blanca en las sonrisas de la gente que se sienta contigo en la misma mesa a conversar y enseñarte un poquito de lo suyo... Blanca en los sonidos de los pasos de unos cientos de jóvenes que se juntan a las 8 de la noche de un miércoles para practicar sus danzas típicas en un parque del centro....






Gracias Sucre por enseñarnos una otra cara de Bolivia....

martes, 26 de julio de 2011

el camino de la muerte



and leaving La Paz, a mere two hours drive from that La Paz chaos, on the road leading to the Bolivian rainforest, lays a road that many have called "The death road" but I would rather call it "The beautifull landscape" road



built by the Paraguayans prisioners of war of La Guerra del Chaco, this serpentine road takes us from about 4000mts above sea level to right above 1500mts a.s.l. And it's all downhill! :D
deeper and depper into the rainforest we go, going from brownish peaks to green valleys ....
what we found tough was that the most dangerous part of the road was to keep our eyes on the road with so much beauty all around us :))))


hope the pics could be more and better, but when you go downhill, you dont want to stop to take a pic -much less when the road is all gravel ;)


domingo, 24 de julio de 2011

Paceños


Chaotic, crowded, frantic, messy ... and plain bizarre.

Before coming I had heard La Paz sat on a valley, but as I come close (and down) into the city, the valley looks more like a bowl to me, a giant stone bowl made out of mountains and within it little sprinkles of houses with some even pouring out of the bowl as the houses go from the valley into the sides of the mountain to later creep into the peaks...

and, as if this wasnt strange enough, in this mixture of small sprinkles, right in the middle of the bowl, some huge spoons raise up: a whole neighbourhood of skyscrappers breaks into the sky contrasting with the whole 3-floors up city average...

Inside the city, the mess doesn't stop. Chaos goes on as 1000´s of people and cars cross the main arteries of the city, as little zebras try to put some order ;)


but amidst all these, people still keep their town spirit. A "good morning" and a "Welcome to my country, hope you like it" warmed me at every stand I stepped in.....

y del mercado con su api y pastel mmmm  ni hablar.....


jueves, 21 de julio de 2011

Isla del Sol



I´ll omit the speech about the peace of the lake and the beautiful views from the island. Instead, I´ll touch on a religious belief, one that we happened to see once there. San Ignacio´s day. The day when the band starts playing at 2000 and doesnt stop till 0700 the following morning with the townsfolk dancing alongside.
"They are drunkards" my friend would tell me but it takes more than alcohol to dance all night at -5C, right?

lunes, 18 de julio de 2011

Paucar III


with the Virgen Camuchita safe and sound now at home, the goodbye party begins: collas, negros, wacas, panaderos, maqtas (aaa the maqtas) all running and joking around, showing their love and devotion on a 4 hr display






but in the midst of the celebration, a drunken colla makes a pass at a Chuncho lady and the fight begins: chuncho against colla, colla against chuncho, demons picking up the dead, doctorcitos trying to alliviate the problem and maqtas making things worse...




a guerrilla war that will end up with the death of the Colla Caporal, the return of the Chuncho Lady and Collas and Demons now in the avern together enjoying some chicha :)

a very special way to end a special celebration....


till next one Paucartambo...

domingo, 17 de julio de 2011

Paucar II



y la programación lee:
romería al cementerio general y visita a los que se nos adelantaron en el camino...
bello..
y a las 9 asi es, una ceremoniosa muestra de respeto de cada una de las danzas a los ya idos de la cuadrilla


mas al mediodía esto es una fiesta general: bombos, platillos y trompetas son incapaces todos unidos de opacar las risas y el conversar de los invitados, de aquella multitud ahí presente: el cementerio se vuelve el punto de reunión para generaciones de Paucartambinos, danzantes, amigos y visitantes todos, todos ahi alrededor de un par de chelitas, un chichita, una bandita, o dos, una llamita borracha...

respeto no sé, pero amor, definitivamente.....

3 cruces revisited




sábado, 16 de julio de 2011

Paucar I



 3 years later and little has changed.
 El fervor y la piedad siempre presentes, aun con los ciento y pico de turistas merodeando la ciudad con sus US1500 cámaras....


Collas still coming down from the Altiplano (Puno) to pay homage to the virgen...
Maqtas still raising havoc everywhere they go...

Chunchos walking kms after kms and traversing  the jungle just to see the "woman" they fell in love with...

 The wacas and their bull, happy as always...

the Danzaqs trying to enchant more young ladies, older ladies, widowers, teenagers etc etc ;)
and the always present demonios, here to revere Camuchita, to give her their love, just to see her even if from the distance....