We started our trip within a trip with a visit to the Hacienda of Candelaria and the surrounding countryside to see the weavers of this region and were hosted by three generations of the owners of the hacienda that has been in their family for 6 generations. Great discussions of politics, land reform, poverty, traditions and history – and wonderful food cooked over a fire stove with 8 – 10 holes in it for pots of various sizes. The hacienda was similar to a feudal castle in that it was the residence of the land owner and the villages that sprung up around them were for their support and were people that worked the land but didn’t own it – and the amount of land that went with the haciendas was huge. Enough to support 10,000 people or more I would guess. Liz’s family went through land reform in 1952 when the campesinos (peasants/people from the countryside) had organized into militias and other changes were going on in the government. Her grandmother met a group at the door once with a double-barreled gun and explained that she thought she could kill 3 of them before they could kill her. Eventually the people supported the owner of the hacienda (Liz’s grandparents) and they were able to keep the main house and a small orchard as well as some land a distance away. We were both attracted to the candor and poise of our main host Liz who told stories from her youth and explained the culture that we were seeing.
One of the stories she told us was about a story found in one of the Tejidos (textiles). It was a story about a partridge and a fox. The partridge is going to go to heaven for a big feast and is gloating about it to the fox. “It is only for pretty creatures that can fly high.” “Take me with you please,” the fox begs and eventually the partridge acquiesces. The feast is huge and abundant, but the fox makes a pig of himself and is rude and greedy. The partridge tells the fox he is not going to take him back to earth, but the fox says, “Who cares!? I’ve already had my fill, and I’ll use a rope to descend from the sky.” On his way back to earth he meets two parrots and begins to taunt them. “I’ve just been in heaven. It is for pretty birds and creatures who can fly. It’s not for ugly birds like you. You just squawk and can’t fly high, and you weren’t invited. “ The parrots bit the rope that the fox was descending from heaven on and he fell to earth and died. His stomach split open and the contents that he had eaten in heaven spilt onto the ground, and this accounts for the bounty of things we have on earth today – good foods and drink and the abundance of things we find from the earth.
We then took in Tarabuco for the second time – this time for the festival of Pulljay with dancers and politicians and lots of other gringos dancing and picture taking. Miss Bolivia was there too – she was a candidate for governor of one of the departments (although on Easter Sunday the elections were held and she lost, but I read in the paper she is talking about election fraud now). The textiles of the region are amazing and worn by the 
small groups dancing and playing instruments: Colorful ponchos, intricately woven skirts, decorated leather hats, wooden shoes with 2 sets of spurs on them as a type of musical instrument… The beer and potable rubbing alcohol and chicha was also flowing freely at this celebration. Participants dance around a large tower loaded with things that Pacha Mama has given or things symbolizing the earth’s abundance. Traditionally everything on this goes to the family that will pay for next year’s even bigger tower… Once again we were treated to feast of stories and political insights. “That man behind us was the Mayor of Sucre when the constitutional referendum was held and they burned his just completed house down on the third day,” for example.
We were both sorry we hadn’t met Liz earlier, I would have enjoyed helping do some work on the hacienda, and she is such a class act that we wanted more of her company. We ended up coming back a day earlier than planned from our next trip to be able to have dinner with their family and spend the afternoon with Liz before she departed to lead a guided trip across the Salt Flats.
We left Tarabuco without having bought any textiles, but were now on the lookout for them. We flew the next morning to La Paz, ringed by stunning mountains, and sitting at around 2 miles high it made breathing a bit difficult. We flew on to the Amazon rainforest and spiraled upward in the plane to get over the mountain range where once on the other side the landscape plunges away to a level of 200 meters above sea level. We arrived in Rurrenabaque hot and humid, and were the next day on our way up one of the tributaries of the Amazon – Rio Beni to Madidi National Park (written about several times in National Geographic and notable in our memory for Joel Satore’s description of biting things and critters…) We saw a capybara family hanging out on the shore (picture 300 pound beavers who have been crossed with guinea pigs and you get the picture).
Then two hours into our 6 hour journey we saw an ocelot swimming across the river. It was about half way across and right next to our boat. We freaked it out and it turned to swim back to the nearer shore. 
We let the boat drift backward and were able to watch the wet cat – keeping his head and ears out of the water but nothing else – make his way back to shore, slip a bit on the rocks and blend into the vegetation.
Chalalan lodge is a special place. It is built in the heart of Madidi by a community who 15 years ago decided to try and become eco-friendly and earn money from tourists instead of forest products. The buildings are beautiful and the site is full of nature. Trails are well marked and we saw in our 5 days in the jungle 4 different types of monkeys, 2 snakes, lizards, frogs, caiman, tarantulas, a cicillian – one of the strangest animals I’ve ever seen – also called the “blind snake”, it is an amphibian that looks like an overgrown worm or a really slow snake, toucans, red and green macaws, and numerous other birds. One of the things that impressed me though is how empty the jungle is… some days we walked for hours without seeing a thing – and although the jungle supports extraordinary amount of diversity, it is not like the illustrations might lead one to believe full of a monkey and snake and birds in every tree.
Because the lake is pure and they use the water for drinking, people are asked to not wear insect repellent or sunscreen when they go swimming. One day I was heading down for a swim but decided instead to canoe around the lake and look for monkeys… Although I didn’t know it at the time, the no-see-ums had me for lunch, and they happen to be a vector for Leishmaniasis – also known as tropical ulcers or dry leprosy. The next day I could feel and see the bites and had more than 250 on my lower body. One of them developed blisters and bumps after 1o days or so and that is when we started getting more concerned and saw a few doctors. So far it is early and hasn’t erupted into an open wound, so the prevailing advice seems to be wait and see, and that it is probably not Leishmaniasis…. The last doctor we saw was before we were supposed to board our plane to exit the country and as a result of this and other things we missed our flight out and spent an extra 2 days in Bolivia.
After leaving the Amazon, we headed to Copacabana (not the Rio Beach) on Lake Titicaca to have a night on Isla del Sol (island of the Sun) where the Incas believed the sun was born, and which is often compared to the Greek Islands. It felt very pastoral and was fun and exhausting to climb the 1000 steps up to the ridge for the panoramic view.
We had pizza by candlelight that evening and explored a small Inca ruin the next morning where Yvette found a bit of peace at the end of the dock before we went back to the main land and watching the ramp up to the elections with a big political rally/party in the streets.
Copacabana is famous in Bolivia especially on Holy Friday of Semana Santa for cars and things being brought here to be blessed. One of the hills is called Little Calvary and has the stations of the cross on the ascent as well as a spectacular view from the top. People also ask Jesus and the Virgin for many things, I like the Spanish on this sign - "Welcome to the Sacred heart of Jesus where...[and here my Spanish becomes less literal] you can ask for objects you desire, cars, things, money, etc."
Pilgrims walk for 3 days from La Paz during Holy Week before Easter to this place, and we saw some of them on our early morning departure the next day.
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