The country is dominated by indianculture and -population. Here you find more than thirty different indian groups who represents about 65 % of the total population.
Bolivia is a multicultural and fascinating country to visit. You will meet old cultures, since long vanished, as the Tiahuanacu- and the Incacivilisations.
The different climatezones, from the rainforest to the Altiplano, the highplateau with the lake Titicaca and the peaks of the Andes, offers interesting nature-, culture- as well as trekkingexperiences.
I visited Bolivia during five weeks in June/July 1997 and covered about 20 % of the surface.
My trip started in La Paz, the highest situated capital in the world. About 50 % of the population belongs to the indiangroups aymaras or quechuas.
Lake Titicaca
At lake Titicaca, the highest navigatable lake in the
world, I
stayed together with an aymarafamily in the village of Kusijatha for
almost one week and helpt them with their fieldjobs.
An unforgetable
experience.
I also had the possibility to visit The Island of Sun,
according to the legend, the birthplace of the Inca Empire as well as, the holiest
place.
Amazonas
During one week I made different ”djungleexpeditions” among alligators, kapybaras, araparrots, monkeys and anacondas.
We flew in to Rurrenabaque. A small town
located at the Rio Beni, which is a tributary to the Amazon River.
From here we continued with a jeep to the
village of Santa Rosa, about 120 kilometers south of "Rurre".
The expedition was carried out along the small Yuacuma River, a paradise
for people interested in birds and animals.
The unique Saltdesert.
I passed ”Salar de Uyuni”, the great saltdesert, on my way to
the city of Potosi, which is a wast and barren, but very fascinating part on
earth.
The
city of Potosi became the richest on the continent when the spaniards
found silver in the mountain Cerro Rico. The mining of silver was of
great impotance for the development of Spain, but a big tragedy for the indians and the
slaves who were brought here from Africa. More than 7 000 000 (seven milions!) of them
died under a period of 200 years.
I finshed my visit to Bolivia with a highaltitude trekk in Parque Nacional de
Condoriri y Yungas. We partly followed old paths used by the incas and
reached our highest point at 5000 meters above sealevel.
This was my first visit to a south american country and I was surprised to meet only kind
and nice people. The continent has a different reputation.
Bolivia, with its different cultures, naturetypes and climatezones is a very
interesting, beautiful and fascinating country to visit.
La Paz
The surroundings of La Paz
The Kalasasaya temple. Tiahuanaco
Humanfaces in the Kalasasaya temple
Aymarawoman. Lake Titicaca
Illimani seen from the Island of sun
View from the Island of Sun
Tachibo tree in blossom
Kapybara.
Amazonas
Tiahuanachu
Hunting anacondas. Amazonas
The carneval in San Buenaventura. Amazonas
Entering Parque Nacional de Condoriri
Huyana Potosi. Parque N de C
Trekking in Parque N d C
Miners in the silvermine. Potosi
