What Are These Blobs in the Andes? …. The llareta plant (pronounced yah-ray-ta) is a member of the Apiaceae family which means it is related to parsley, carrots, and fennel. It is found uniquely high up in the Andes and we found these examples at about 14,000 feet on a section of Ruta 40. They …
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The Third World – They Do Things Differently There …… It took four hours for us to get riders through immigration and bikes through customs when we crossed from Peru into Bolivia the other day, and we still had the support truck impounded for an alleged irregularity in Bolivia a year ago. Don’t ask – …
There’s money under that salt … Lake Uyuni in Bolivia’s Altiplano is the world’s largest dry salt lake – over 4000 square miles – that’s more than twice the size of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. We got to explore very little of the expanse but it is easily possible to ride out far …
Bolivia Fuel Stories … First impressions can be misleading …. The Bolivian government subsidises gasoline to the consumer. Don’t ask me why a government would choose to give away money when other governments raise money on fuel sales – maybe Evo Morales wants to be El Presidente For Life. In any event, Bolivians pay around …
Death Road Bolivia – But Nobody Died …. The North Yungas Road is a section of the route that connects the Amazon rainforest region of Bolivia (where all the legally grown coca comes from) to the capital La Paz. It was built in the 1930s by prisoners of war during a war with Paraguay and …
Machu Picchu – Summer Palace of the Inca Kings. But what else was going on in 1450. ….. There is no doubt that Machu Picchu is a magnificent sight and wonderful reason to visit Peru. It was built around 1450 as a summer retreat for the Inca kings whose capital was in Cusco about 65km …
The Nazca Lines – We understand HOW but we have no idea WHY. The lines are a series of geoglyphs in southern Peru – built by the Nazca people between 400 and 650 AD. The images are made with shallow trenches that expose the lighter coloured rock beneath and modern research suggests they would not …
Oregon is a Wonderland – Just back from a quick 1000 mile drive to the bottom right corner of Oregon. Portland to John Day via the Painted Hills, Blue Mountains to Burns to Frenchglen, the Steens, Hart Mountain, and back home via Summer Lake and Bend. Impossible to photograph but here are some snapshots … …
Kam Wah Chung – If you ever find yourself in John Day, Oregon, take the time to visit Kam Wah Chung. In the 1880s, two Chinese immigrants set up their business – a general store, doctor office, and herbalist shop to support the local mining community in the fading days of the gold rush but …
Trips Are Lines on Maps – We always describe our trips as lines on a map; a two dimensional plane of north, south, east, and west; journeys across a Mercator Projection. But sometimes the vertical section of our travels tells a better story. This is the histogram from my GPS that tells the vertical history …
Colin's Travel Journal 