Lake Titicaca, big stuff. South America’s largest lake, the world’s highest commercially navigable one. And if you take it all in from Bolivia’s Isla del Sol, something beautiful. Deep blue skies hang above inky fresh waters, clouds pop over a lonely landscape, and the whole scene is wrapped by the 20,000 foot snowcapped mountains of the Cordillera Real.
It’s one thing to admire the lake from the shores of Copacabana, Bolivia’s main outpost on the lake, but it’s another to hike the length of Isla del Sol. Breath-taking, quite literally. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, Panorama, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
7 Comments | 28 November 2010
The folds of Bolivia’s beauty – and its contradictions and struggles — defy a story line.
– Our thoughts in Bolivia, First Impressions
Bolivia may defy a story line, but it sure does beg a visit.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
4 Comments | 17 February 2010
We eat the mountain…and the mountain eats us.
– David, a mine guide and former miner in Potosi, echoes a decades-old sentiment about the city’s lifeblood, its world-famous silver mines.
It was late morning and the sun was bright, the sky crystal at 13,400 feet in Potosi, Bolivia. We were being tended to by a group of schoolgirls dressed as nurses at a hygiene fair; they sought to teach us the methods and benefits of properly washing our hands.
The mood: uplifting and hopeful.
Contrast this with just the day before. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, Perspectives, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
17 Comments | 21 January 2010
While the people of Tarija, Bolivia will keep you hanging around, it’s the wine – surprisingly drinkable and made with grapes grown at an elevation of 6,000 feet — that Tarija is best known for.
Continue Reading »
- Tarija, Bolivia: It’s About the People
- Tarija, Bolivia: The Lowdown on Bolivian Wine
Filed Under: Bolivia, Food, South America, Travel, Wine by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
9 Comments | 15 December 2009
Oh, Tarija. The women there are beautiful. It’s their smiles. They are the dream of every Bolivian man.
– David, our Bolivian guide for the Salar de Uyuni tour, delivers an animated testimonial for one of Bolivia’s lesser-known cities.
Cafés with outdoor seating line palm tree-dotted squares; cars broadcast opera from open windows as they cruise the plaza; wine lists measure longer than food menus; tablitas (ham, cheese and olive tapas plates) are standard fare; and smiles are in ample supply.
A Mediterranean-style culture smack in the middle of South America? Tarija is not your typical Bolivian town. Continue Reading »
- Tarija, Bolivia: It’s About the People
- Tarija, Bolivia: The Lowdown on Bolivian Wine
Filed Under: Bolivia, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
11 Comments | 13 December 2009
I need to fill up the tank completely. Finding gasoline in Chapare can be unreliable. It’s one of the ingredients in cocaine production – and that gets first priority.
– Alvarro, our client and guide in Cochabamba, Bolivia explains why it’s necessary to gas up in the city before heading into the jungle.
Paraguay customs. We had just crossed the 200 mile desert frontier with Bolivia. Border agents dressed in knit shirts, their shoulders adorned in crossed Paraguayan and U.S. flags, scanned our bus’s contents –- all of it piled before us. As we waited for a drug-sniffing Labrador retriever to finish pacing and pawing suspect bags, we figured it was time to bring the cocaine story to its finish.
And just as we thought this, the guard approached, “Miss, place your bags up here. We’d like to take a look.” Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, Paraguay, Perspectives, South America by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
9 Comments | 2 December 2009
Thanksgiving may be over, but I’m still thankful.
– DPN
We admit it – we are the worst bloggers. Many wrote their Thanksgiving posts a week or two before turkey day while others prepared something to publish on the day itself.
Then there’s us.
We intended – we really did – to publish a reflection yesterday, but life took over and filled our day with a raft of experiences and emotions.
As we engineered our Thanksgiving dinner in an under-equipped Bolivian kitchen, we reflected on the kindness of people like the chicken rotisserie guy who came to our rescue with a smile…and a bottle of chicken drippings. And as we longingly recalled Thanksgivings past and the family and friends we spent them with, we reminded ourselves once again of what we are thankful for. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, Food, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
11 Comments | 27 November 2009
Vast, stunning, barren, surreal — and a stark, beautiful reminder of how small we humans are, particularly in the face of Mother Nature. That’s southern Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni and the surrounding high deserts that float in pastels from 11,500 to 16,400 feet.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, Panorama, Photography, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
12 Comments | 13 November 2009
In case you haven’t already heard, I was recently interviewed by Pauline Frommer for The Travel Show, a weekly radio program she co-hosts with her father, Arthur Frommer. We chatted about one of our recent articles – Fawlty Tours – and some of the pitfalls one encounters when booking local tours.
The entire interview experience was terrific.
But there’s more to this story than just a successful radio interview. There’s the behind the scenes in Bolivia to comply with a simple request: a landline phone number at 4:45 PM on Thursday. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Bolivia, South America, Travel by: Audrey Scott
9 Comments | 6 November 2009
Sometimes life’s complexities get in the way of a poetic narrative. Bolivia is proof of this.
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Filed Under: Bolivia, Perspectives, South America, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
15 Comments | 4 November 2009
