crossing cultures

In my travels I like to visit places where the culture is not too corrupted by foreign influences.  But on the other hand I do enjoy that strange mixing of cultures that I sometimes find myself in.

I Bolivia, I sat one afternoon in Café London on the shore of Lake Titicaca, drinking a cappuccino, trying to read the next chapter of the Koran (prompted by the growth of IS and its affiliates I thought it important to know something of what drives them), Bolivian radio playing James Brown's "Get On Up (Like a Sex Machine)"... I looked up when I heard a ringing sound only to see an Aymara woman, in her traditional dress, walk past pushing a mobile ice cream trolley.  An equally strange combination to me was this seemingly middle class house and car, with four llamas in the garden:

At the same time I very much enjoyed my experience in a cool underground bar in La Paz, when an Aymara woman joined us.  She accepted a glass of whatever strange brew we were drinking, but poured a small drop onto the floor - for Pachamama (mother earth) - before drinking herself, then proceeded to ask me about typical society in the UK, seemingly with genuine interest.  A magical evening

in the Bolivian altiplano

I had a few opportunities to visit the Bolivian altiplano ('high plains').  Firstly as part of work when I went to review a youth livelihood project down in the south of the country.  This was way up at some 4,300m and took me past lagoons with Andean geese, Giant Coots and both Chilean and Andean Flamingos, as well as a hilly region full of cacti.  I usually avoid writing about work here, but will just mention that part of the livelihood project involved llama rearing; the llamas had just been delivered to the village, and at the time of my visit the vet was there giving a practical demonstration of how to castrate the males not needed for breeding (castrated males produce more meat) - very interesting to see but I did have to sit down with my head low ("to write some notes") once the blood started flowing.

Back in the northern part of the country, a colleague kindly took me out to the Tiwanaku ruins. These pre-date the various ruins from the Inca culture, and not that much is left of them, but there is an impressive sunken courtyard, probably used for ceremonial purposes, with carved stone head all around the walls. The museum is interesting too, particularly for the skulls, made narrow and pointy by the practice of binding the heads of babies to planks of wood. Apparently a long pointy shaped head was a symbol of great intellect.

After the work was finished I took a bus out to Lake Titicaca, for a couple of nights in the lakeside town of Copacabana and a couple of nights in the village of Yumani on an island (Isla del Sol) in the lake.  Isla del Sol is considered by the Aymara and Quechua peoples of Bolivia and Peru to be the birthplace of the sun and of the first Inca people, so has a number of sacred rocks, and interesting ruins such as these:

The island is also a great place for hiking although with a range from 3,800 to 4,100m above sea level it is hard going.  I puffed and panted a lot, and burnt my face in the strong sun as well as as needing six layers of clothing to stay warm when the sun went in.  It was certainly the right decision to pack my thermals!

Apart from the cold, the other shock was the prices.  $5 a night for a single en-suite room with sporadic hot water and wifi!!  Plus the four-hour bus trip there cost only $3, as did the four-hour boat trip from Copacabana to the south of Isla del Sol.  I changed $300 to be sure I had enough for five days and spent only $125!  & some things don't really have a price anyway - this is the view of the sun setting on Mount Illampu, taken from my $7 a night accommodation on Isla del Sol: