Density Altitude

Pilots call it "density altitude." Hot air is thinner and lighter than cooler air (that's what makes hot air balloons go up). As the day heats up, the air gets thinner, whether one is at sea level or two miles up. When trying to take off from an airport at 13,300 feet elevation, the air is already pretty thin, and heating it up -- even just a little bit -- can make a big difference in how quickly a plane can get off the ground. True, big jet cruise in the range of 30,000 to 40,000 feet. But cruising is much less of an issue than getting off the ground in the first place. If the effective altitude is too high, the plane can run out of runway before getting airborne.

That's why big jets only schedule international flights from La Paz, Bolivia -- the highest international airport in the world -- at the coolest part of the day. And it's why we had to leave our La Paz hotel in the middle of the night -- 12:30 a.m. -- to get to the airport for our 3:30 a.m. flight to Bogota. And that's why we are once again sleep-deprived zombies today.

We arrived in Bogota at about 6 a.m. local time, were met by our new tour leader, Alejo Garcia, and were driven to our hotel in morning rush hour traffic. Bogota is visibly more prosperous than La Paz. It's a modern city that looks much more like southern Europe than a tropical developing country. Our hotel is in a very nice area just a little over a mile east of the central business district. There are lots of banks,  securities companies, and other financial institutions nearby. Businesspeople on the streets are very fashionably dressed.

It was much too early to get into our hotel rooms, so Alejo took us on a walking tour of the neighborhood. We have a nice little park nearby. There are tons of very nice restaurants in the area -- mostly ethnic restaurants. Alejo explained that Colombians don't like to go out to eat food they could make for themselves at home, so there are almost no restaurants here that serve traditional Colombian food.

Coffee is a big deal in Colombia. There is a Starbucks nearby, of course. But Colombians generally prefer one of their many local coffeeshops. Alejo took us to one. Mary and I each had a very good cappuccino. Others ordered lattes or plain black coffee. A few ordered pan de bono, a traditional Colombian cheese bread that is popular with morning coffee here.

Alejo took us by a local bank where we could all use the ATM to get Colombian Pesos. Right now, there are 4,600 Pesos to the U.S. dollar! A 50,000 Peso note is worth about $11 U.S. And folks in the U.S. think that inflation is bad there! The inflation rate is about 13% here, and Biden has nothing to do with it.

While waiting for the ATM, we were approached by a young woman in a long skirt and bonnet. She was a Mennonite teenager from Pennsylvania who heard us speaking English. Her family has been here about three years on some sort of religious project, but she was feeling a little homesick for American English.

We finally got a room about 10 a.m. It felt as if it had been a long day already, so we went down for naps. Then we showered and began a new day. It started with lunch at a Peruvian seafood restaurant a couple blocks for the hotel. The meal was excellent, a wonderful bargain, and we were able to get through the experience without total embarrassment, despite our very limited Spanish language skills.

Next, we walked about 15 minutes to a shopping mall that we had been told about. It looked like pretty much any high-end shopping mall anywhere. Mary wanted to look in one small shop, and before I could even greet the clerk with my very best buenas tardes, she welcomed us in perfect, unaccented English. I laughed and asked, "Do we really look that American?" She laughed and said, "Just a little bit." As much as we try to blend in, we stand out in the crowd.

Still not fully recovered from a night with little sleep, we returned to the hotel for a bit of rest. We hit one of the several local brewpubs in the neighborhood this evening. Early. Then we'll try for a good night's sleep. We meet the rest of the group and begin the tour tomorrow morning.

Tiwanaku

We drove this morning to Tiwanaku, Bolivia's most important archaeological site. It was another long drive, and retraced some of the route we suffered over yesterday. Somebody really needs to revise this itinerary to make the travel more efficient.

The drive was across Bolivia's high central plateau. The land is reminiscent of Wyoming or Montana, with isolated farmsteads and small settlements scattered about. The land is primarily good for grazing, although there are small plots of crops. One thing we noticed is that there are no fences. Cattle are put on on a rope leash staked to the ground. Sheep seem to wander by themselves, though people are around.

Tiwanaku was the primary temple site for the Tiwanaku culture, which covered most of modern-day Bolivia and Peru, as well as portions of Chile and Argentina, from roughly 600 B.C.E. until being conquered by the Incans sometime around 1100 C.E.

We visited the museum first, guided by Williams, our tour leader. Over the course of their 1700 years, the Tiwanaku civilization developed to a high degree, giving rise to modern speculations about their having been visited by aliens from space who gave them secrets. They practiced medicine, including brain surgery (evidence shows the patients actually survived!), were master engineers and architects, and had elaborate astronomical knowledge. The empire was a theocracy, with the priests serving as the ruling class.

Unfortunately, the site has been heavily looted and used as a quarry from which the finely finished stones could be carted away for other building projects. For instance, the large church in the nearby village was constructed almost entirely with stone stolen from the temples. Fortunately, recent archaeological studies suggest that only about 4% of the site has been surfaced, and that many other treasures remain to be uncovered.

The site consists of a large, rectangular pyramid about 50 feet tall, plus several smaller structures. Reconstruction has been very limited. The pyramid is an earthwork, constructed much like the agricultural terraces we've seen, and had a sun temple on top. The totem animal for the sun god was the condor. 

Another small temple was dedicated to the moon and stars. Not much remains of that structure.

A temple dug into the ground was dedicated to the underworld. This structure is well preserved because it was buried by floods and only recently uncovered. The totem animal here was the snake.

Finally, a ground-level temple site has been reconstructed. This temple was dedicated to the earth with the puma serving as the totem animal. All of the temples are perfectly aligned withe the cardinal points of the compass.

Everything in the design of the temples revolves around the number seven. The pyramid consists of seven levels, with seven steps leading to each. There are seven stones in each horizontal line, separated by 14 verticals on the east and west ends, and by 28 verticals on the north and south sides.

Some of the statues are very well preserved, and are noteworthy in that they have two arms, both with left hands. Apparently, left-handed people were considered gifted, and the leaders particularly so.

A short drive into the village brought us to a very nice restaurant for lunch, where we enjoyed llama steaks. I thought it tasted a lot like lamb, and it certainly had that texture. Some others thought it tasted more like pork.

The long, slow drive back to La Paz took us into the heart of the old city. We walked for several blocks through the old, narrow streets surrounded by 18th century Spanish mansions. Many of these buildings have been repurposed as museums and schools.

In the central square, we viewed the exteriors of the parliament building and the presidential palace. The old colonial buildings remain, but rather ugly, glass and steel modern high-rises immediately behind them are where the political action now takes place. The president lives in the penthouse of an administrative sky-scraper!

One oddity is a clock that moves backwards that was installed on the parliament building by a recent former president who sought to make a reputation as a politician who shakes things up and defies tradition. Another feature of the square is an enormous number of pigeons.

Also on the square is the Cathedral. Built in the 1800s, it is constructed of local stone, but finished entirely with Italian marble. Tons and tons of marble, as well as delicate sculptures, had to be brought from Europe. Because the railroad had not yet been completed, most of the stone and fragile statues had to be brought hundreds of miles on donkey carts!

After returning to the hotel, we got packed and tried to rest a bit. Our departure for the airport is just after midnight. Because of the high altitude, large jets only will attempt to take off from here in the coolest early morning hours. We were just beginning to feel as if we had caught up on sleep, but we won't get much tonight.

Lake Titicaca

What a grueling day this has been! But quite an experience. At about 8 a.m. on this cloudy morning we boarded a covered boat for an excursion across Lake Titicaca to the Island of the Sun. The ride was fairly smooth, and it took about an hour to reach the island.

First stop was an Incan temple, dating back to at least the 1400s. It's in quite good original condition, not a restoration. A Catholic priest who arrived here with the Conquistadors back in the 16th century stated that 175 gold figures were discovered here. There were also two other temples on the island, which was inhabited entirely by young men and boys.

In the distance, we could see the Island of the Moon. The same priest described it as being inhabited only by young women and girls, with the temples there finished in silver. Apparently these were sort of monastic communities.

After visiting the temple, four of us set out on a hike. Due to the high altitude and rough terrain, the other three opted to stay behind. We learned that the island today has about 4,000 inhabitants concentrated in three settlements. 

Unlike most of the rest of the area, the old Incan agricultural terraces remain in use here. It was fascinating to see the crops growing in these, to see up close how they were constructed, and to meet people who are actually working these fields. Just on this side of the island there are over 32 linear miles of terrace! Using only hand labor, it must have taken the Incans centuries to terrace so much of this area.

At the end of the hike, we came to one of the settlements. People still draw water at an ancient spring here, but water is now also pumped from the spring to a cistern at the high point above the village, so that most of the tiny, mud brick houses have running water and indoor plumbing. Electricity has only fairly recently reached the island to make this possible.

Descending to the lakeshore, we met our other three group members who had been brought here by the boat. We joined them on the boat and went a very short distance to another nearby bay. Here we found a rather nice, modern resort owned by an indigenous family. They prepared for us a traditional native lunch, consisting of potatoes, lava beans, corn, plantains, black potatoes, chicken, fish, and fritters. It was a lot of food and all very good.

As we ate, the heavens opened and the rain began to pour down. Our timing was excellent, because if the rain had begun before we finished the hike, getting down the steep stone pathway would have been treacherous. As it was, we got pretty wet just getting back to the boat.

The return trip was not so smooth. With the rain came wind that made the ride back to Copacobana a longer and rougher ride. With our stomachs so full, the rocking put almost everyone to sleep.

Upon docking, we got into the van for the trip back to La Paz. The rain made this trip a near instrument of torture. Roads were rough and muddy, so it was slow going. The sun came out for awhile, and we were able to stop and get some nice views of the lake. But rain resumed once again, making for a very unpleasant journey.

Even though we don't finish this excursion until late tomorrow night, we had our "farewell" dinner tonight. It was a good meal with a good Bolivia cabernet wine, but two huge meals in one day is never a good thing.

A New High

Totally exhausted from the late night flight, the full day of sightseeing, and the high altitude, we wanted nothing more last night than sleep. It was as if our bodies didn't know how to fall asleep, or with the crazy schedules of the past days, didn't know when.

We had just gotten down, about 9 p.m., when the parade began. We could hear the drums many blocks away, and as they got closer, the brass players and then the singers and shouters. They came right up to our hotel and then turned, and turned again passing our hotel on two sides. The drums were in the lead, followed by 60-80 young women about high school age, all in identical white tops and silvery skirts that reflected the light as they danced. The brass band came next, then five guys in black who were dancing so energetically that we could not imagine anyone having that kind of stamina at this altitude. Follow this elite group were another 60 or so young men, also in identical white outfits. We finally got to sleep, but not until well after the parade had passed. We still don't know what they were celebrating.

We left LaPaz this morning, heading for Copacabana. Although it is a Saturday morning, when traffic supposed to be lighter, it took more than an hour just to get out of the city. Gridlock moves slowly. The people who were taking the cable cars, over our heads, were moving along just fine. 

Most of the traffic is other vans like ours. The standard 12 passenger van is everywhere. They are privately owned, but offer bus service. Most have signs on top that indicate their "sindicato" or affiliation. Just because you own a van and want to make money taking people on a route doesn't mean you can do it safely. The syndicate that has that route will run you out of business if you don't join. It's part union, part mafia. But there are thousands of these vans on the street, and it's how many residents of La Paz get around.

The countryside looks something like the American West -- land that isn't good for growing much. Buildings -- all of the same red clay brick that is the city of La Paz -- are scattered around haphazardly. Nearly all of them are under construction. Buildings under construction are taxed at a very low rate compared to finished structures, so most building are never completed. We saw cattle and sheep grazing, and occasional small plots of potatoes or beans. None were more than a half acre or so.

Snow-capped Andes mountains were on the horizon as we kept climbing on the twisting roadway. Most of it was paved, but our driver was all over the road avoiding the myriad potholes. Sometimes the pavement would end, and we would drive on gravel for a mile or so before picking up pavement once again. Williams, our tour leader, brought up an app on his phone to show our altitude. It peaked briefly at 14,150 feet above sea level.

After a couple of hours, we got our first glimpses of Lake Titicaca, the largest fresh-water lake in South American and the highest navigable lake in the world. At one village along the shore, our van turned off and we made a stop. First, some women demonstrated their weaving technique and some of their wares. Then we went inside a building where there were all sorts of things related to the reed boats that natives have used for centuries on Lake Titicaca.

We learned that this family has been making such boats for generations, passing the trade from fathers to sons. We also learned that when Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, famous for his Kon Tiki voyage, set out on his Ra adventure in the 1960s, he came to this family for the expertise needed to construct his giant reed craft. Family members traveled the world with Heyerdahl and became partners in several expeditions. The room was filled with Heyerdahl memorabilia and models. We even sat on "sofas" made of reeds that are of the same construction as the boats.

Driving on along the lakeshore, we passed miles and miles of hillsides that had been terraced for agriculture, but were now barren. The terraces date back to the Incas, and were built more than 600 years ago. But terrace farming is labor intensive, and modern agriculture can produce more food more cheaply using fertilizers and machines on flatter land. The ancient terraces are eroding away.

At one point, it was necessary to cross a small narrows to get to the other side of the lake. There is no bridge. Vehicles and their drivers cross on some of the most decrepit barges one can imagine, while passengers cross on equally decrepit wooden boats. The boats and barges jockey for docking space just like the passenger vans of La Paz jockey to get through crowded streets. It's amazing more vehicles don't wind up on the bottom of the lake!

On the way across, we saw the second largest naval base of the "Armada Boliviana." As a land-locked country, it's a bit ridiculous that Bolivia should have a navy at all. But the border with Peru runs down the middle of this large lake, and the two countries don't always get along. The "armada" here consisted of two boats that looked like PT boats from World War II. Probably adequate for catching smugglers.

Finally, we reached Copacabana. First we looked down on it from above -- Lake Titicaca is at 12,500 feet of elevation. Then we drove into the crowded streets. It's a typical tourist town, but we may well be the only Americans here. Most of the tourists are from Bolivia or Peru (so close you can see it across the lake), Argentina, Chile, or other South American countries. The lake is a big draw. Even though it is much too cold for swimming, families swarm the beach and engage in all sorts of boating activities.

But we learned that the larger attraction is actually The Virgin of Copacabana -- a carved figure of the Virgin Mary dating from the 17th century and residing in the Basilica of Copacabana here. At a time when indigenous people were resisting conversion to Christianity, a young member of the Anansayas tribe of Incans carved a figure of the Virgin with indigenous facial features and skin color. Long story short, the figure encouraged the conversion of many.

So, hundreds or thousands of families come here to have their cars and vans blessed by priests on Saturdays, and to attend mass at the Basilica on Sundays. The car blessings involve lots of flowers, and often washing the car in beer or wine.

We walked from the Basilica back to the hotel -- fortunately, almost entirely downhill. The altitude is still sapping us. We enjoyed a nice dinner with our group at our very pleasant lakeside hotel.

Slow Motion

Everything happens slowly in Bolivia.

There are only two daily international flights that arrive in La Paz. Both of them don't arrive until after midnight. Our flight arrived on schedule at 2:15 a.m. People were slow to get off the plane, and our seats were near the back.

We stood in line for almost an hour getting through immigration and customs. It was the slowest process we've ever encountered crossing a border. The line moved ever so slowly, and when we finally reached the front, we found out why. Even though we had acquired visas in advance, for which we had to submit current photographs, we had to answer questions about ourselves and where we would be staying in Bolivia. Our answers were typed into an ancient Dell computer by a person who had only hunt-and-peck typing skills. Then we had to be photographed.

At customs, they seemed perplexed that we didn't have customs forms completed. No one had even mentioned them, much less given them to us. The light level was low, and the English translations on the form were so tiny that we couldn't read them. Most of the questions on the form were questions we had just finished answering at the immigration desk.

We finally got through and met our driver. He warned us to walk slowly because of the high altitude. We had already figured out that we couldn't walk at our normal pace, but he was even slower. Nice guy, but he even drove slowly, despite the fact that we were nearly the only vehicle on the road at 3:30 a.m. Of course, part of that was the road conditions. Bolivia is a Third World country, and even though they don't have winter here, they have even more pot holes in the roads than Minnesota.

We were exhausted when we reached the hotel, but we were checked in -- slowly. And we took the elevator to our room on the sixth floor. It was a very slow elevator. But a large and beautiful room when we got there.

After a limited but nice breakfast, we met our group and set out to visit The Valley of the Moon. It really does look like a moonscape! The clay erodes every rainy season, completely reshaping the moonscape. Our tour leader, Williams, took us through it very slowly. But in his defense, we were feeling the altitude and probably wouldn't have been able to do it much faster.

A big chunk of the morning was spent very pleasantly riding the La Paz mass transit system. Steep mountains, twisting valleys, and the unstable clay soil, all conspire to make a subway system impossible in La Paz. To get above the narrow, twisting and congested streets that snarl traffic in the old city, they came up with an ingenious, unique and innovative system of cable cars. The system was built by the Austrian company that has, for many decades, built most of the gondola ski-lift systems in the Alps and for ski slopes around the world.

The system has multiple cable lines criss-crossing the city. Routes cover more than 20 miles horizontally and more than 3000 feet vertically. It was relatively cheap to build because it didn't require bulldozing a huge right-of-way. Each supporting tower requires only about 10 square feet of foundation, and stations were constructed elevated over roadways. It's cheap and fun to ride, carries thousands of commuters daily, and it's actually the fastest moving thing in La Paz!

The driver picked us up at the end of the line and took us to the market area. City streets in the downtown are narrow and traffic is congested. Nothing moves very fast. Our group set out walking through these streets, past shops selling everything from plumbing supplies to electronics. One entire block was only for costumes used at Carnival, coming up just before Ash Wednesday. Sidewalks were narrow and crowded, so we moved slowly.

Lunch was at a restaurant in the market area. We were served the standard lunch special, consisting of a very good soup, an interesting pasta dish, and a sort of cake brownie dessert. We then continued visiting the market -- slowly because we have shoppers in the group.

La Paz is definitely a Third World city. There is lots of poverty, infrastructure is not up to date. But it's amazingly clean, and there is lots of art and color everywhere.

We visited the "Witches Market." These are shops that sell the various charms and talismans that native people take to the indigenous shaman for ceremonies for prosperity and good luck. Most are just clay figures or decorated sugar blocks, but llama fetuses are also considered excellent sacrificial offerings (yes, real ones from natural miscarriages and stillbirths, preserved)!

Finally, we visited a seasonal market -- really more of a fair or flea market -- where hundreds and hundreds of temporary stalls were set up to sell miniatures. Miniatures of what? Of everything one might wish for. In the indiginous culture, if you wish to have a house, you buy a miniature model of the house you wish for. If you want a car, you buy a miniature of that car. If a college degree is your wish, you buy a miniature diploma (even if studying might be a better way to get it).

There were even miniature brides and grooms -- or if you are merely wishing for a boyfriend or girlfriend, you buy a symbolic miniature rooster or hen. You can even get miniature stacks of money, usually held together by a frog, the symbol of prosperity. The possibilities are endless -- even miniature baby dolls (choose male or female). This market only appears for the new year, and we were fortunate to see it. But we went through so slowly, that with less than four hours of sleep the previous night, we were spent.

Fortunately, that was the end of the day's activities, and we had the rest of the evening to collapse.

It's All Part of the Adventure

We are off on another excursion to South America! We left home very, very early on Wednesday morning -- but not quite as early as planned. We had reserved an Uber to the airport at 3:30 a.m., and at 3:10 the Uber app notified us that a driver was on the way. And then he wasn't. For whatever reason, the driver canceled at the last minute. Uber dispatched another driver, who arrived about 10 minutes past our appointed time. But we still arrived at the airport in plenty of time.

Our flight to Miami was right on time. Miami's airport is horrible. We've been through this before. There is no way to get from the domestic terminals to the international terminal without leaving security walking -- literally -- a mile. No tram, no bus. Then there was the long line to get through security once again. Fortunately, we had plenty of time to wait for our Avianca flight to Bogota, Colombia.

That flight was right on time, too. We had great seats on a nice, big Airbus. The plane taxied out toward the runway, and then I noticed that we were heading back toward the terminal. Soon, the pilot announced that there was a problem with the flight computer and that we were returning to the gate. They kept us on the plane for a little over an hour before telling us to gather our stuff and return to the terminal.

Miami is like being in a foreign country. All the announcements are in Spanish first, and sometimes they forget to add the English translation later. My Spanish is at a very elementary level -- I can only pick out words here and there. Mary's is worse. But we got that we were supposed to go to another gate where Avianca would rebook us. The line there was long and very slow.

Finally, we were booked on another flight as far as Bogota, but we had missed our connection to La Paz, Bolivia. Apparently, Avianca only has one flight per day to La Paz, and it's in late evening. They promised us that we could get lodging and meal vouchers in Bogota, but we would be arriving in La Paz a full 24 hours late.

The second plane to Bogota was not nearly as nice as the first. It was an old, stripped down Boeing, much smaller, and now of course, packed to the gills with people, like us, taking the later flight. The seats were hard plastic and did not recline. There was no service -- not even so much as a glass of water -- and nothing for in-flight entertainment. The last was OK, since we generally read anyway.

We arrived in Bogota past 10 p.m., and sure enough, there were people waiting for us with our vouchers for a night (at the Hilton, no less!) plus three meals and cash for transportation. Navigating through immigration was going to be a challenge, as we had not yet completed the proper Covid forms. We weren't planning to be here until next week, and they can't be done until 72 hours prior to arrival. But people at immigration even facilitated that, too, by checking our U.S. Covid vaccination cards.

In all of the moving around and standing in lines, we got acquainted with a Bolivian man who currently lives in Miami. Eugene was on his way to visit relatives in La Paz, and he was most helpful to us in helping navigate the mess. Colombians speak Spanish very fast, and I was having trouble even picking out occasional words. But Eugene was a great translator, and we even shared a taxi to the hotel with him.

Just a street in the neighborhood, lots of traffic.

Our day in Bogota was spent mostly resting and getting used to the altitude, which will only get higher in La Paz. That would have been most of the agenda for the day had we made it to La Paz on time, except that we would have me our tour leader and the rest of the group. We'll catch up with them tomorrow. The weather was gorgeous! We walked around the neighborhood and visited a supermarket. Our hotel room got very hot, so the Hilton moved us down the hall to one that had working A/C. They even extended our stay to 6 p.m. so that we had a place to be until going back to the airport for the evening flight.

Avianca took quite good care of us. We joked that they are such a bad airline that they've gotten very good at making apologies! Things have not gone exactly as planned so far. There have been lots of adjustments. But we just keep telling ourselves that it's all part of the adventure!