Double click the video for full screen–it’s worth it.

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Others? Sound of coffee in the percolator brewing, muffled electric guitar playing from the neighbors downstairs (good in that it’s muffled… heh) and since I happen to live across the street from one of the city’s charter schools, some get-to-know-you game sounds from a group of 20 to 25 young teachers/staff standing in a circle outside the window. Doing name games with the accompanying little embarrassed dance moves to connect motions to name memory. The silly stuff to watch and the good stuff to actually do. Yeah, I’ll admit it–I see the value in those icebreakers.

Looking forward to getting started with the new school year! In the short meanwhile though, days like these I’ll definitely take. Slow and easy. Home projects here and there. And later today with a nice lunch planned with an old roommate, a long afternoon bike ride and a promised visit to the gym.

I’ll happily take a pass on the name games for a couple more days…

So tonight?  Doing the hour drive south with S. to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to spend one late summer evening watching a minor league baseball game.  Almost a necessity to round out any good summer.  Seven dollar seats, cheese fries and hot dogs from the concession stands, and a chance to cheer on the local team in the outdoors under the bright stadium lights and a cool dusk.  Excellent.

Pedestrian filled streets of La Paz

La Paz.  The final city of our Peru/Bolivia trip and as such, the place to simultaneously witness the gathering of our selves (not to mention our increased bulk of stuff) in preparation for home as well as to give us our last flavor and impression of life (for our specific experience) in South America.

And to those who might write off La Paz as a destination city to visit?  Maybe in the classical sense of there not being a huge number of historic sites, museums and colonial-tinged squares that must be visited.

But for us?  A fine place to end our journey south of home.  La Paz with its own densities of narrow market-filled streets (translate:  Sagarnaga and Linares with their fill of tourist hostels, travel agencies and handicraft stalls), to its simple squares filled with Pacenos sitting, feeding pigeons and eating ice cream or jello cups under the partial shade of trees, governmental buildings or statues.  The unexplored neighborhoods of the poorer city residents lining the upper reaches of the city’s hills in distance and the wealthier areas of Zona Sur with its wider main avenue–and location of our final diner of Italian food at the recommended Casa Nostra.  And our final evening hours at our hostel, the Estrella Andina, packing our things, writing last minute postcards and saying goodbye to the city and the populated Illampu street below us.

Bright colors and market sellers in the city

Traffic zebras on the streets of La Paz

Un fuego que no se apaga

Volkswagens all over La Paz

Plaza Murillo, formerly the Plaza de Armas

A Paceno making friends with pigeons

From the Musical Instruments Museum on Calle Jaen

Too early of a wakeup to be decent in order to catch the first leg of our flight home (think of a groggy 3:30 AM), but something good about moving through the emptied streets and cool fog of a La Paz winter pre-dawn.

Bye, La Paz and to an unforgettable South America trip experience!

Waiting in La Paz

Boarding flight to Rurrenabaque

San Miguel Del Bala.  Five days and four nights of what was close to, if not certainly, the highlight of our Peru and Bolivia trip over the past three weeks.  And that’s saying a lot.  After getting to La Paz this past Tuesday evening from Copacabana, we had one main goal in mind: to find a good tour operator to allow us to experience the Bolivian rainforest.  We were feeling a little worn out from all the moving around from place to place and the bustle of moving our things from one hostel to the next, from one city to another.  Time to turn ourselves and our trip experience over to someone else, and to visit a completely different ecological environment.

After talking with a few agencies connected with the many hostels in the Sagarnaga street area of La Paz, we decided to go with our Rough Guide Bolivia suggestion and looked at possibilities through America Tours (whose office happened to be right next to the well-reputed mountain biking company, Gravity Assisted Tours–the ones who lead you down the World’s Most Dangerous Road from La Paz to Coroico in the Yungas).  A little hard to decide between the popular ecolodge of Chalalan and San Miguel Del Bala (both near or in the expansive Madidi National Park), but we decided to go with the experience organized by the Tacana community of San Miguel.

San Miguel Del Bala operation in Rurre

Can’t imagine a better choice.  And over the next five days and four nights, we were lucky to get an incredible introduction to the people, the rivers, the surrounding rainforest, the animals and insects of the protected forest of the Madidi National Park.  Finally making use of that bug spray, wicking clothes, hiking boots and a sense of awe from immersion in a wild, protected place–with the particular comforts afforded by our excellent guide Don Demetrio, the community members who cooked delicious and filling meals and the ones who took the time to further introduce us to the animals, the music and traditions of the area.  From hiking a dark, wet canyon to taking an evening boat ride up the river to spot animals, or from watching a special ceremony for the earth deity Pachamama to fishing barefoot along Amazon river tributaries, wow–a really special experience.

A few thematic pictures to give you a sense:

Place

Walking up towards San Miguel Ecolodge

View across Beni River from main San Miguel ecolodge

Bunks at the San Miguel ecolodge

Enjoying the overlook at the ecolodge

Large river stones along the Beni river

Foggy morning entry into Madidi National Park

Unripened papayas in front of our Madidi lodge building

Rainforest Flora

A baby pineapple being cultivated

Protective spines on a tree

More spines on palm trunks

Shape of a dried leaf on the forest floor

Leaves of a whole other order of shapes and sizes

Rose pattern on fallen leaf

Spreading roots of the walking palm

Posing in front of a huge ficus tree

Animals and Insects

Night insect exploration in the rainforest

A web throwing spider in wait

A poisonous spider on the canyon wall

Macaus nesting in cliff wall at distance

Huge herd of wild chanchas at distance

Caiman sunning itself on river shore

Demetrio showing us the teeth of a fish he caught

This was the BIGGER of the fish I caught

River turtles sunning on a log

People, Community and Traditions

S sampling a palm seed

Practicing some traditional weaving in San Miguel

S giving the weaving a try

Looking at San Miguel's classroom for the kids

A boy from San Miguel with a puppy

Our guide Demetrio with his family

Night ceremony for Pachamama

Demetrio showing S the dyes in a certain plant leaf

Fellow Bolivian travelers Felipe and Melby

Demetrio with a wild pig skull .. remains of a jaguar kill

Landscapes:  Rainforest and River

Traveling along the river to and from San Miguel

A hike through the dense forest

Demetrio guiding us through the canyon hike

Rainforest reflections

Rainforest foliage below hills beyond

Saying goodbye to Rurrenabaque, San Miguel and the Madidi rainforest

A blur of moving from place to place over the last four days or so.  From Huaran back to Cuzco.  Then a full day Perurail train ride from Cuzco to Puno, a city on the Peruvian side of the border.  Then from Puno to the Bolivian city of Copacabana.  And finally, following a full day and evening on Lake Titicaca’s Isla Del Sol, we traveled to La Paz, Bolivia via a combination of boat, bus, another boat, walking through crowded streets with our luggage, and taxi.  Whew.

Maybe because (or despite of?) the pace of moving from place to place, we’ve both been a little hard pressed to keep up the pace with all those transitions.  I’m thankfully about through with a few days of some kind of flu and S. has been sleeping off a bit of a stomach bug.  Goes with the territory of travel I guess.

Still, it’s worth pausing to remember some pretty great moments and experiences from the recent blur of days.  To bring out some still images and moments.  It’s always good to unblurrify, friends.  Or as the dancer Nijinsky once explained, to do the seemingly impossible by pausing during that leap.

From enjoying that last, slow morning in Huaran at the Green House and spending a few hours hiking accompanied (or rather led) by one of the owners’ dogs, Leika, to a waterfall overlooking the low valley.  Meeting a friendly and talkative campesino family along the way.  And after a quick visit to the famed market (or at least the end of it) in Pisac, making our way to the Casona Pleiades in Cuzco.

Enjoying the hammock one last time at the Green House

Beginning hike through farmland towards the waterfall

Seeing the Huaran waterfall at distance

S with our guide dog Laika

Amazing to get right under the waterfall in Huaran

Peruvian campesino family we met

Pisac market emptying out in afternoon

Making it to the Casona Pleides in Cuzco

To enjoying our big splurge for the trip, a pricey and picturesque luxury train ride from Cuzco to Puno, with linen table service and meals, live music and fashion shows, and the chance to stand in the open caboose watching the Peruvian landscape go by.

Looking happy on the Andean Explorer from Cuzco to Puno

Fancy interior of the Andean Explorer

Enjoying the fresh air in the open caboose car

Our train following the river, rounding a bend

Moving through the landscape with grazing animals

Posing with animals part three at quick train stop

Perurail train against mountainous backdrop

And on to doing some brief (and sickly) exploration of Puno with its mostly buzzing streets, spontaneous parade action with a special emphasis on the pan-flute playing.

Walking a shopping street in Puno

Spontaneous parade in Puno

Pan flute player

A quieter conversation in Puno, Peru

To our afternoon bus ride from Puno to Copacabana in Bolivia where we went through the border process with the other lone American traveling in our coach.  That evening and the next morning looking around Copacabana in preparation for a busy saints day with the expected thousands of Peruvians coming for particular vehicular blessings.

Successful crossing into Bolivia!

Main cathedral in Copacabana

Copacabana banners for sale for blessing vehicles

Early morning market sellers in Copacabana

We could all use a zapateria universal

Peruvian with decked out car for blessings

The large crowds gearing up for the religious festival in Copacabana

And a full day and evening spent on the Bolivian Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun), sacred to the Incas as the birthplace of the sun and the moon.  A 20+ kilometer hike from the north side of the island to the south side, with us enjoying the landscape of Lake Titicaca and the Andes mountains behind but also working mighty hard for it.

Lake Titicaca tickets sellers in early morning light

Boarding our boat to the Isla Del Sol

Arriving at the Isla Del Sol after two hours on the boat

Shoreline on the Isla Del Sol in the north

Approximating the front cover of our Rough Guide Bolivia book

Sharing the path with a girl and a calf

Gaining alttitude at Challapampa, northern part of the Isla Del Sol

Really feeling that altitude and under-the-weatheredness in steep spots

Line of German hikers heading south to north on the island

Mountains in far distance at the Isla del Sol

Late afternoon sun behind us on the path

Spontaneous stay at nice little hostel overlooking Lake Titicaca

And here we are now in La Paz, a city with its own frenetic busyness and the street markets and Pacenos  going full force.  Bolivian independence day coming right around the corner with the colors of the Bolivian flag everywhere.  Very, very thankful for the day of rest and planning.

And tomorrow morning?  We’re off to Rurrenabaque and the rain forest over the next five days for our last major trip experience.  Pretty awesome.

But what a day and what a place.  Pictures say it much, much better.

Morning Peru Rain train from Ollanta to Aguas Calientes

Enjoying that scenic train ride

View from train ride to Aguas Calientes

Train following the Urubamba river

Pulling into Aguas Calientes

Our first view of Machu Picchu as we walked in

Stone terraces up close

Looking towards Huayna Picchu

Walking towards the temple complexes

Tour guide Felix pointing out features against mountain backdrop

Some of the restored straw roofs

Posing at a spot between the upper and lower complexes

The size of Machu Picchu hid the crowds well

Closer look at Huayna Picchu

Our shared tour guide Felix showing us a carved cave area

Looking at some of the rooms for the nobles

Walking among some of the mountain stones

Stones in foreground that were used to build Machu Picchu

Foliage, Machu Picchu and sky

Some of the wide terraced areas

Arriving at the sun dial

Grazing llamas at Machu Picchu

At the temple to the earth

Through stone doorways

Commanding view of valley below Machu Picchu

Flowering tree in foreground, mountain behind

S at our late afternoon overlook

Me at our afternoon overlook

Final classic view of our Machu Picchu visit

]]> http://jamesliou.com/liouwp/2010/08/01/our-visit-to-machu-picchu/feed/ 0 http://jamesliou.com/liouwp/2010/08/01/our-visit-to-machu-picchu/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BostonTeacher/~3/qioj1lYQX2E/ http://jamesliou.com/liouwp/2010/07/30/enjoying-the-green-house-and-a-day-trip-to-ollantaytambo/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:25:52 +0000 James http://jamesliou.com/liouwp/?p=2245 I tell you.  Quite a difference seeing the grounds of the Green House, the bed and breakfast where we are staying for the next three days, during the morning light as compared to the non-view we had as we trudged in with our bags in the darkness yesterday evening (one of us was likened to a wild boar coming down the road).  Such a pretty and peaceful looking place under the care of its owners—Bryan and Gabriel.

Location of the Green House - View from our room

The Green House sun porch

Gabriel talking with S over breakfast

After some good advice from Gabriel this morning and after filling up with scrambled eggs, toast, fruit and some good coffee, we decided to take a few buses towards Ollantaytambo, an important administrative center for the Incan empire.  As before, there was something particularly satisfying in taking the public buses which we hopped on and off without any problem at all…getting more views of the countryside at the same time.

Bus ride from Urubamba to Ollantaytambo

Road into Ollanta

At Ollantaytambo (also known as Ollanta), we walked around a bit, figured out where the Peru Rail train station was for the following day’s trip to Machu Picchu, and had a filling lunch at the Pukarumi restaurant.

A more rustic storefront wall in Ollanta

The original Incan water channels still running

Tourist stalls heading into the Ollanta fortress area

Then it was on to the main fortress with its huge stone terraces, temples and rich history.  S. pushed for getting a guide for our visit and it was well worth it.  Rather steep in some spots, but the views and the experience more than made up for it.

Bright sun and entrance into Ollanta site

Many people visiting the former Incan administrative center

View of Ollanta fortress with mountains behind

Another view through stone window

Our guide Alberto showing a sacred fountain

Mountains behind and town below the fortress

Exploring the Ollanta terraces

Alberto showing S the valley below

Visitors walking the impressive site

How the Incans moved huge stones

Posing by the main gates to the sun temple

With only a few hours of afternoon light left after the visit to the fortress, we walked around what is known as the Incan part of town, now inhabited by local Quechua (and Spanish) speaking residents.  They’re still living and working in buildings whose stone foundations were originally constructed by the Incas and accessing water from the canals they built as well.  Something particularly good about visiting this part of the city…living.

Walking the still inhabited old Inca town of Ollanta

More buildings in the old Inca town

Late afternoon light on mountains in Ollanta

Remains of a building where we hiked

Friends we made along the way

Grasses along the walls of the ruins

Stone-piled entrance at one of the small ruins

And I just have to post a few pictures of the mountains and the fortress of Ollantaytambo in the late afternoon and early evening light.  Competing and complementary edges against the horizon.  Beautiful.

Mountain landscape in Ollantaytambo

Competing landscape edges of mountains and fortress

Tripled landscape in Ollantaytambo

A bit of an adventure heading back on the buses towards the Green House, including almost running over a cow in our colectivo (mini-bus) and standing in an absolutely packed bus for the second leg of our trip back, but all was good with a great Green House dinner and time by the fireplace.  Looking at an early wake up to get to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning…