so yesterday was amazing. during our technical session we visited a local watershed protection organization. there were probably 100 campesinos waiting to get paid for their work...what they do is build terraces to reduce the force of water as it descends into the cochabamba valley, construct wooden walls to hold the steep land from sliding down the mountain and of course plant trees to stabilized the ground and help infiltration of water to recharge the aquifers....
so, in our mighty peace corps landcruisers we began climbing. i have great respect for those machines and they proved their worth climbing up and up and up. we convinced our trainers that yes, we did in fact want to go all the way to the top and it was well worth it. switchback after switchback we climbed and climbed and made it to the peak of the cordillera de tunari, the mountain range that rises above one side of the bowl of chochabamba valley. we were well above the clouds (and smog) but could see the entire city clearly. and....the best part was there were llamas. yes, beautiful llamas just chilling by the road, so ive added more pictures to the same facebook album and included myself in them. its kinda scary when you don´t ever see yourself in mirrors anymore until you show up on your camera. but, asi es.
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i could see how in your experience that llamas are beautiful animals. however, a certain one named jeffrey repeatedly spit graham crackers on me when i was younger, and thus i have had an aversion to them since then. i may need to go to bolivia just to give them another chance. and i am happy to hear that Land Rovers have real purposes other than a status symbol for American suburbanites. yay!
i am also glad to discover for the first time the actual purpose of Land Rovers. Also, at least now you can tell a difference in the pictures between you and the llama, who knows, there may come a day when you cannot. I was reading about Evo going to Ortega's inauguration and Nicaragua signing of the ALBA agreement...yay Bolivia, we are all intertwined. I love you!
B
Highway to Hell
"The world's most dangerous road," according to a November BBC News dispatch, is a 50-mile stretch of winding, mountain-hugging cliff three miles abouve sea level, running from La Paz, Bolivia, to the country's Yungas region. At least 200 people a year reportedly die on the road, which is about 10 feet wide with no railing and frequent confrontations when wide-load vehicles meet from opposite directions. Furthermore, bad Andes Mountain storms wash away parts of what road does exist. Bolivians frequently pray to the goddess Pachamama for safe passage.
Reported in the News of the Weird section in the LEO, February 21, 2007.
Moral: Pray to Pachamama, and then take a llama down the mountain if you really need to go to Yungas.
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