Uyuni

Pensive and unsettled we all decided to leave that night. I quickly packed up and joined Christians friends, Makka and Ery, for the night bus to Uyuni. We knocked on several doors closed under lit Abierto signs. The next morning I woke early to find a spot on a tour leaving that day. Makka, Ery and I had the most wonderful feast of a breakfast and parted ways. At the start of the tour I found a window seat, Nanita, and soon Diane. We became fast friends animated over the salt flats, and the stargazing adventures that awaited us in Chile. The tour of the Salt Flats is a dream where abnormal is normal. A red lagoon, a cactus island on a lake of salt, coral 4000 meters above sea level, and small craters of earth boiling from a volcano below. 

Potosí

A late night bus took me to Potosí. From too many stories of stolen luggage I’m in the habit of bringing my luggage onboard, and buying the window seat so i don’t inconvenience my neighbor by barricading the isle. Though even bringing mochi(mi mochilla) onboard and down the isle is an eye attracting endeavor. Luckily I was placed next to Christian, who sacrificed some of his leg room for me and mochi, and we talked about cognitive linguistic theories and life for the three hour ride. 

Once in Potosi we went straight to the Koala Den, a wonderful, almost treehouse tucked into the colonial streets. Christians found old friends in the common room, and we all talked about going to the mines the next day. Potosi is the highest, once was the richest city, in the world. Visiting the caves is to enter the shadow left behind from the glory days. Saturday morning we turned on headlamps hunched over and entered the mines of the mountain.

Sucre

Cou-nya-pe.  I first tasted cuñapés in Los Angeles with Sarah, they were brazillian and called Pão de Queijo. 

The manager of my hostel had spent an hour annotating the best of Sucre onto a map el mejor sights and bites. The best place to get cuñapés was at four sharp, in the entry hall of a building a block up the street. And indeed I did find a woman and with her blanket protected basket of fresh baked cuñapés.

I spent the days walking to the pen marked destinations on my heavily creased map. Climbing up to a viewpoint, running through a park with replica Eiffel tower, and wandering though beautiful museums. 

Where palm trees come from

Saturday night we went to the river, raced kids through the current to the other side, skipped rocks upstream, and laid to dry on the grassy bank. When the sun set only five of us were left listening to music watching the stars come out. That, night thinking back on my past two weeks, I felt I could stay at the park forever.
Six days a week, up at six, return after six, asleep before nine.  I worked with the monkeys in the parque de monos. My favorite part of the day was when we took them on walks to the park, and climbed trees together. The monkeys would stay close at first then leap away to snack on leaves. Then Alejandra and I would chat, laughing when one of them would drop in, clinging to our hair like branches. Alejandra is a vet in training, to help her is to walk through each task with careful attention. Always with time to stop on the path to check out a bug, or stay up in the trees longer to give the monkeys more time to play.
Now I'm back in a land with electricity and internet, the park feels like a secret garden. . .jungle. Amy thank you so much for highlighting the jungle and putting Bolivia on my map.

La Paz

The bus dove in on steep streets stacked with brick houses, for the first time in some time I felt intimidated. After a walking tour of the city I happily had a vague lay of the land, and a reservation for a mountain biking adventure with a charming group of Brazilians. Though I hardly planned to have a few days in La Paz I left more than a week after arriving. The streets are studded with vibrant markets, breath taking churches and sprayed with art. On one of my favorite days I found the museum of musical instruments. A lovely winding museum where every room you step into strikes up a tune and you can play the instruments! Afterwards I sat in the Murillo Plaza, where the pigeons take up more space then the people that come to feed them. Couples and children pose for pictures giggling adorned with the tame grey birds. Here, after a fateful conversations with Sean, I decided to climb Huaya Potosi. All details quickly slid into place and at 12 am Wednesday morning Sam and I set headlamps to our helmets and set out for the summit. I cannot think of another experience I've had like this, it's hard to say what keeps you going. We had snowy weather so in the fresh powder each step slid back like climbing in sand. 6,088 meters, my highest summit.

Border crossing

Too many American travel blogs exasperated about the trials of taking a bus from Puno, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia, at the bus station I chose a ticket to Copacabana. The buss ride connected me with Opheli, and we decided to adventure the next two days together. Copacabana is a perfect transition town, a place to pause and flip my travel calendar from month in Peru to month in Bolivia. Opheli and I sailed across Lake Titicaca to the Isle Del Sol for a laborious and peaceful walk across the historic island. Recently I've been a bit challenged for breath and so just the walking was difficult. Luckily Opheli keep me going with stories of her favorite artists, films, acting classes, and a hip hop festival in France.