So Long Cochabamba
After seven and a half days of work, our Habitat build activities in Cochabamba concluded with a small celebration with the partner families and Habitat folks from both the Cochabamba affiliate and the national office. We were presented with certificates and honoured with many kind words of appreciation before our last departure from the build site.
Then, it was back to the hotel to clean up, pack, say our goodbyes to the fantastic hotel staff and our new friends in Cochabamba, a few quick trips to ATMs, and off to the airport for our flight to La Paz. The direct flight is about 45 minutes and we arrived in La Paz around 8:00 pm. We were met at the airport by the tour company that had been hired to manage the R&R activities. The drive into the downtown area of La Paz was quite interesting as we dropped down more than 500 metres from the El Alto airport to our hotel. The descent into the city provides a quite light show from the thousands of houses/dwellings that seem to fill the "bowl" in which La Paz sits. The steepness of the hillsides cannot be fully appreciated in the dark, but a daylight view quickly shows that many dwellings sit in highly precarious locations. The soil on the hillsides is unstable and every decade or so there are significant landslides during or following long periods of heavy rain. Homes are swept away accompanied with the loss of many lives. While this discourages people from re-building on the steep slopes for a few years, the building invariably starts again in a few years and the whole cycle is repeated. Currently, the city is in one of the building cycles.
In La Paz, our hotel was located in a somewhat affluent area of the city. While comfortable, it was not quite of the quality of the hotel in Cochabamba. However, there were complaints from me! After checking in, we went for dinner in small groups at the hotel restaurant and then headed to bed after what was a long and tiring day, knowing that we would have a reasonably early start the following morning.
Heading to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana
We had a reasonably early start for the drive to Copacabana for the first day of our R&R. Copacabana is located about 160 km north of La Paz on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The drive by tour bus took us back to the area of El Alto near the airport and then through the countryside to Lake Titicaca. There was much evidence of farming with red clay soil seeming everywhere. We passed through several villages and in many places it was easy to see the significant poverty in the country.
At one point on the drive, we reached the highest elevation of the entire trip to Bolivia at 4,200 metres (13,780 feet). Well before arriving in Copacabana, we had our first glimpses of Lake Titicaca.The first impression is pretty much as expected - a large body of water in a beautiful setting. By water volume, it is the second largest lake in South America and considered as the highest elevation (3,812 metres/12,500 feet) navigable lake in the world for commercial. If often difficult to know if these types of claims are true, but regardless it is impressive. Lake Titicaca spans the border of Bolivia and Peru, with the larger portion being in Peru.
At one point en route, we had to cross a portion of the lake. This was an interesting exercise as we had to disembark the bus while it was ferried by barge. Meantime, we were transported by a small foot passenger boat. There always seems to be something different and interesting when traveling in other countries.
Copacabana is a lakeside town of about 6-7,000 people, which is strongly oriented toward tourists and I'd say it's classed as a resort town. Lots of shops, side walk vendors, nice hotels and some historic sites such as the famous Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana. Prior to about 1535, Copacabana was an outpost of Inca occupation of many sites in Bolivia. The Spanish influence in the area started to be felt after Spaniards first visited in the mid-1500s.
After a late lunch on the day we arrived in Copacabana, we boarded a boat to travel across part of the lake to Isla del Sol.The island's terrain is rugged with lots of steep hills and despite, the challenging topography, farming is the main economic activity on the island. The subsistence farming is supported by fishing and some tourism. There are many historic ruins on the islands, some dating back to the Inca era. We walked part of the island and were able to see aspects of day-to-day life including farms, Alpacas being used for transportation and a few other things. It was a very interesting afternoon.
Back in Copacabana, we relaxed at our lakeside hotel for a bit and then had an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant. Despite the remoteness of the town, the restaurant was the most expensive of all the places we went to in Bolivia. The next morning, we had lots of time to wonder around the town, do some shopping, see a few markets and watch local women assessing the fish catch of the day before making their purchase.
In the early afternoon, we started the drive back to La Paz. It was a very quiet ride as virtually everyone was tired and wanted to rest. Back in La Paz, we checked into our hotel and had an early dinner (at least for us). The following day - our last full day in La Paz - we toured parts of the city by bus and were able to feel for the place, but some areas were not available to us because of strikes and protests. We got to some historic sites, the highest elevation soccer stadium in the world and were treated to spectacular views of the city.
Final Thoughts
This was a great trip and I would love to return to Bolivia, especially Cochabamba! The Habitat work was physically demanding, but very satisfying. For the most part, the Bolivian people were welcoming and helpful, the Habitat folks were excellent hosts and the language barrier was not as dramatic as in some countries (it seems most of us know at least a few words in Spanish). A return trip is need as there is much more to see and do!
After seven and a half days of work, our Habitat build activities in Cochabamba concluded with a small celebration with the partner families and Habitat folks from both the Cochabamba affiliate and the national office. We were presented with certificates and honoured with many kind words of appreciation before our last departure from the build site.
Then, it was back to the hotel to clean up, pack, say our goodbyes to the fantastic hotel staff and our new friends in Cochabamba, a few quick trips to ATMs, and off to the airport for our flight to La Paz. The direct flight is about 45 minutes and we arrived in La Paz around 8:00 pm. We were met at the airport by the tour company that had been hired to manage the R&R activities. The drive into the downtown area of La Paz was quite interesting as we dropped down more than 500 metres from the El Alto airport to our hotel. The descent into the city provides a quite light show from the thousands of houses/dwellings that seem to fill the "bowl" in which La Paz sits. The steepness of the hillsides cannot be fully appreciated in the dark, but a daylight view quickly shows that many dwellings sit in highly precarious locations. The soil on the hillsides is unstable and every decade or so there are significant landslides during or following long periods of heavy rain. Homes are swept away accompanied with the loss of many lives. While this discourages people from re-building on the steep slopes for a few years, the building invariably starts again in a few years and the whole cycle is repeated. Currently, the city is in one of the building cycles.
In La Paz, our hotel was located in a somewhat affluent area of the city. While comfortable, it was not quite of the quality of the hotel in Cochabamba. However, there were complaints from me! After checking in, we went for dinner in small groups at the hotel restaurant and then headed to bed after what was a long and tiring day, knowing that we would have a reasonably early start the following morning.
Heading to Lake Titicaca and Copacabana
We had a reasonably early start for the drive to Copacabana for the first day of our R&R. Copacabana is located about 160 km north of La Paz on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The drive by tour bus took us back to the area of El Alto near the airport and then through the countryside to Lake Titicaca. There was much evidence of farming with red clay soil seeming everywhere. We passed through several villages and in many places it was easy to see the significant poverty in the country.
At one point on the drive, we reached the highest elevation of the entire trip to Bolivia at 4,200 metres (13,780 feet). Well before arriving in Copacabana, we had our first glimpses of Lake Titicaca.The first impression is pretty much as expected - a large body of water in a beautiful setting. By water volume, it is the second largest lake in South America and considered as the highest elevation (3,812 metres/12,500 feet) navigable lake in the world for commercial. If often difficult to know if these types of claims are true, but regardless it is impressive. Lake Titicaca spans the border of Bolivia and Peru, with the larger portion being in Peru.
Lake Titicaca
At one point en route, we had to cross a portion of the lake. This was an interesting exercise as we had to disembark the bus while it was ferried by barge. Meantime, we were transported by a small foot passenger boat. There always seems to be something different and interesting when traveling in other countries.
Copacabana is a lakeside town of about 6-7,000 people, which is strongly oriented toward tourists and I'd say it's classed as a resort town. Lots of shops, side walk vendors, nice hotels and some historic sites such as the famous Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana. Prior to about 1535, Copacabana was an outpost of Inca occupation of many sites in Bolivia. The Spanish influence in the area started to be felt after Spaniards first visited in the mid-1500s.
That's our bus
After a late lunch on the day we arrived in Copacabana, we boarded a boat to travel across part of the lake to Isla del Sol.The island's terrain is rugged with lots of steep hills and despite, the challenging topography, farming is the main economic activity on the island. The subsistence farming is supported by fishing and some tourism. There are many historic ruins on the islands, some dating back to the Inca era. We walked part of the island and were able to see aspects of day-to-day life including farms, Alpacas being used for transportation and a few other things. It was a very interesting afternoon.
Our guide
View of the lake from my hotel room
Local women assessing the "catch of the day"
In the early afternoon, we started the drive back to La Paz. It was a very quiet ride as virtually everyone was tired and wanted to rest. Back in La Paz, we checked into our hotel and had an early dinner (at least for us). The following day - our last full day in La Paz - we toured parts of the city by bus and were able to feel for the place, but some areas were not available to us because of strikes and protests. We got to some historic sites, the highest elevation soccer stadium in the world and were treated to spectacular views of the city.
Final Thoughts
This was a great trip and I would love to return to Bolivia, especially Cochabamba! The Habitat work was physically demanding, but very satisfying. For the most part, the Bolivian people were welcoming and helpful, the Habitat folks were excellent hosts and the language barrier was not as dramatic as in some countries (it seems most of us know at least a few words in Spanish). A return trip is need as there is much more to see and do!
Example of the colours seen at sidewalk shops
