Slowing Down

Yesterday we took a beautiful trip down into the Altiplano of Bolivia, to a small town called Coroico. This is the first time we've ever just shown up somewhere with our bags and waited for a bus to take us. Fortuneately, we didn't wait but 1/2 an hour to fill a car. I'm so glad it was a 8 passenger minivan-like vehicle. The path of the vehicle was down the beginning of the "Most Dangerous Road in the World". The government has now paved a new road across the valley - but our road did not feel like a walk in the park. There were several crosses around every bend and a few in places I couldn't quite figure out what had happened (perhaps an animal in the road or something?).

When we finally arrived into town, our driver found us a taxi driver to bring us up to our hotel. It's a good 20 minute walk to town from here (all downhill - I'm sure the return trip would take us a good 40 mins, but it's only a $15-20 Bol.($2-2.50US) taxi ride back - I'm pretty sure we'd never walk back. :)

This morning, we went into town and tried our hand at grocery shopping. We did okay, I think. Probably spent about 100 Bolivanos (@ $15) on what we think will be 2 days worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner (minus the beer we'll be buying from the restaurant here b/c they don't really sell beer in the bottles to us foreigners - there's a deposit on the bottles).

The afternoon is consisting of the girls taking a dip in the pool, Mike spending some time in the sun, and me in a hammock with my book - minus this foray inside to type a note to the blog - which can't be posted until we are somewhere with internet (for our hotel doesnt' have it).

The views out of our little cabin are beautiful. They would be moreso if the farmers here didn't burn their land this time of year to prepare it to plant in the spring. This town is perched 1/2 way down the side of one of the mountains in the Andes. We're experiencing the first really warm afternoon of our trip. The view is hazy but I can tell it is breathtaking when the smoke is gone. Our cab driver this afternoon said it hasnt' rained here in 2 months and that if it would just rain a little it would clear the sky.

We are enjoying the feel of our bare feet on the tile floor (minus sand) and having our windows open to hear the birds calling and the crickets chirping. The girls are taking a nature walk by themselves. I'm thinking about heading back to my hammock with a beer. :)