Bolivia Travel Guide: Juengst Edition

I know that at least some of you reading this have aspirations to travel in and around South America, maybe making an awesome stop in Bolivia. So here is my advice (most of it tested, some of theoretical):

Things to pack:
- just go ahead and bring some strong antibiotics (cipro is pretty good) because your beautiful pristine protected stomachs will get assaulted by a mix of exotic bacteria, amoeba, parasites, and god/microbiologists only know what else. You'll get over it but antibiotics help. a LOT.
-warm clothes no matter what time of year. if you are planning on coming to Bolivia (or Peru for that matter), all my favorite stuff happens at above 10,000 feet. the days will be sunny and warm (ideally) but at that altitude, its freaking cold at night. and oh yeah, dont expect indoor heating.
-extra socks: see above
-a camera and maybe extra batteries/charger. my camera died this summer which i kind of like bc taking pictures sometimes bums me out but you will have the urge over and over again bc the scenery is pretty freaking amazing.
-books to read-- ive read 11 this summer and counting. theres not much else to entertain yourself with after the sun goes down if you dont ahve internet or a stockpile of movies. and most hostels dont have tvs in rooms anyway.
-uhh whatever else you normally pack

Places to Go and Things to See:
-If you go through Peru, you are obviously going to go to Cusco. DO THIS. Cusco is an amazing town.
      -I highly recommend staying at the Hotel Suisse 2 which is right near the main plaza and pretty inexpensive.
      -there are so many museums and sites to see immediately in Cusco, you almost don't need to go anywhere else. Spend a few days just exploring this city (a ticket to about 15 of the main attractions costs about $15-30 depending on if you have a student id)
      -if you HAVE to go see Machu Picchu, fine. but make sure you see some of the even more amazing sites in the Sacred Valley along the way! Ollantaytambo is halfway to MP from Cusco and I think is even cooler. (sidebar: i'm prejudiced against machu picchu bc it has been really heavily reconstructed and not accurately. plus so many tourists go but its not even really that important of a site-- just some rich inka's summer home. its like if tourists came to the US, saw the Biltmore Estate, and thought that was representative of US culture, govt, religion etc. Blergh)

-From Peru, definitely come by Copacabana. A lot of tourists skip straight to La Paz or Tiwanaku, but Lake Titicaca is pretty awesome and Copa is the best place to see it from. Its super easy to get here by bus from Cusco (about 8 hrs to Puno, where you change buses, then another 3 to Copa with a nice, easy border crossing). Also, hotels are cheap here so why not? My favorite hostels in town (from how they look since I've enver stayed in one) are La Cupula, which has a nice lakeview and interesting architecture, Hotel Chasqui del Inka (lakeside), and Hotel Rosario  (supposedly the most expensive in town for about $30-40/night).
      -in Copa, there are 3 cool Inka sites to see, the best is Bano del Inka which is about a 30 minute walk to the small neighboring town of Kusijata (its a flat, easy walk too!). You can also catch boats to the Island of the Sun (worth staying a night there but its pricier) and Island of the Moon which both have Inka ruins. Also, you can eat lunch of one of the floating islands, which are fake on the Bolivian side of the lake but still pretty cool! Around town you can also hike up to the Calvario, which has a great view of town and sells fun souvenirs.
    -in Copa, eat at: Huanchaco. Easily my favorite restaurant in town, it is peruvian themed (oh my god, the delicious ceviche) but also has "gringo" food like awesome tacos and decent pizza. Also good is the Eagle and the Condor for breakfast. It's run by an Irish guy and his Bolivian wife, they are super cool, and the coffee/food is the best in town for mornings. For drinks/late night, Nemo's is my favorite. There is one club, called Wayki's but it is a bit sketchy. Fun, but just don't go by yourself!

--From Copa, I would check out Sorata (lower elevation, jungley, cool snow capped peaks looming overhead). pretty easy to get to by local bus (or combi) but you might have to go to La Paz to catch a tourist bus if you want to be fancy ;) Getting to La Paz is super easy, buses leave Copa every 30min or so. La Paz has awesome museums on Calle Jean and near the Plaza San Francisco in the part of the city called El Prado. It's also the best hub to find your next adventure!

-- Obviously, you HAVE to go to Tiwanaku. This cool archaeological site is about 3 hrs from La Paz, so definitely worth a day trip (although maybe not an overnight stay). It was the main site for the first "state" society in Bolivia and has some pretty impressive ruins, such as a large mound site, sunken temple with stone heads sticking out of the walls, huge walls and statues.

Places to go after La Paz: Now we venture into the realm of guesswork, since I have sadly done little travelling around greater Bolivia. But here's what I would do:

Option 1: Catch a cheap ($100ish) flight to Rurrenabaque aka the Bolivian Amazon (or take a 24hr bus ride...). Here you can go to a national park, Madida, and see some cool animals etc. Lots of "ecotours" benefitting local groups and stuff so thats cool.

Option 2: Take a bus to Cochabamba, hang out there for a few days (lowland city which is supposed to be cool) then catch a bus, ride 4x4s, or charter a small plane for 5 people to Torotoro. Really crazy geologic area with.. DINO FOOTPRINTS! tons of fossils and stuff to check out.

Option 3: take a looong bus ride (14 hrs) to Uyuni.  From here, you can get a tour to Salar de Uyuni, the high altitude salt flats of Bolivia. Dress warmly!!

Okay I think thats all for now. Basically, you guys need to check out Bolivia. Especially because it might close its doors to those from the United States any time now!!

Ain't That America

Happy 4^th of July!

I haven’t celebrated Independence Day in the United States for a while now (at least 4 years) so this day doesn’t really stand out as much anymore. But given recent international events, it’s definitely a weird time to be from the United States and abroad!

Bolivia and the United States have a tenuous relationship at best. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, is not particularly a fan of Obama or the US generally, and with some good reasons. First, the US is not especially kind to Bolivians immigrating or visiting the country—the reason we have such a high visa fee to enter Bolivia! Additionally, Evo is somewhat concerned about assassination attempts from CIA/US agencies or just US spying in general. This is not entirely unfounded- in the past few years, several groups of people posing as researchers and government diplomats have been discovered as spies, although details regarding their spy status vary depending on who you ask!

In addition to long-term diplomatic tensions, stakes have recently been raised by the Snowden/NSA case and yesterday’s “emergency search” of Evo’s plane (aka Bolivian Air Force One) on his way back from a diplomatic trip to Russia. Forced to land in Austria for 12 hours while his plane was searched and then declined passage through French, Spanish, and Portuguese air space, Evo was not pleased, to say the least. And no matter what one’s beliefs about the rights and justification for this search, this was not the way to repair US-Bolivian relations! It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few months, years etc. Needless to say, while I might go enjoy some good ol’ Murrican pizza and beer later, I probably won’t be flaunting my citizenship status… (Not that it’s really dangerous or anything to be here, just to avoid any fights or whatever)

In totally different news, I’m always struck by the canine genetic diversity here in Copacabana. Most dogs are more or less street dogs—people will often have one particular dog that they feed and maybe let stay in their yard at night, but mostly dogs run free in the streets, scavenging food and generally having a good time. Definitely no leash laws here! What’s amazing is that there are literally all types of dogs- ones that look like purebred German Shepherds, tiny Shih-tzus, Sharpeis, Golden Retrievers, and plenty of mutts. I’ve always thought the variety is pretty cool and so this year I’ve been chronicling it on this site: dogsofcopa.tumblr.com. Just pictures of various dogs I’ve seen around town, but kinda cool! Plus most of them are really cute J Here’s one of my faves, chowing down on some bread I gave him (oh yeah, dogs here eat ANYTHING):

Hopefully you all get to eat some hamburgers and hot dogs, drink some cold ones, and watch some fireworks tonight! 

30 White Horses Upon a Red Hill

Time for a little lab work update. This summer, I am primarily focusing on teeth and slight variations in dental formations that can indicate genetic relationships between people. Not the most riveting work but it will (hopefully) be really helpful in figuring out who these people buried at temples were and how they knew each other!

So teeth are pretty cool and can actually tell us a lot about people. Your dentist probably knows (or at least could know) more intimate details about you than you'd think! Here are some "fun" facts about teeth...

Humans have a dental formula (the order of the types of our teeth) that is unique to Old World (Africa/Europe/Asia) primates. Ours is 2:1:2:3, which means for each quadrant of our mouth (splitting our upper and lower jaws down the middle) we have 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars (or bicisupids), and 3 molars. Having these 4 different types of teeth is pretty cool- we can tear into stuff with our incisors and canines and really grind up tough foods with those molars. Other animals have really specialized dentition (think beavers, hippos, or most carnivores) that can also tell archaeologists, zoologists, and other interested people what types of food they eat.

Notably, that 3rd molar is giving a lot of people trouble these days (why we get our "wisdom" teeth removed!) because our diets have become more refined and our mouths are getting smaller, leaving less room to cram in all those molars!

Tooth problems can also tell you a lot (and cause you a lot of trouble if you have them!). Cavities are most often related to what types of food you are eating-- we all have been lectured about eating less sugar to prevent cavities! But there are a number of other factors too that contribute to the creation of cavities, such as the "stickiness" of your food (carbs are all pretty sticky), the acidity of your mouth (which naturally varies from person to person), whether you are pregnant (which changes the amount of saliva you have- who knew??), and thickness of dental enamel. So cavities are not the MOST reliable indicator of food but can give you some ideas. Here in the Andes, cavities in the past seem to be most closely related to eating maize (corn) or chewing coca. Location of the cavity on the tooth can help you figure out which!

Another cool thing about teeth is that the exact form of your tooth is pretty variable from person to person (what I'm looking into this summer). Your lower molars can have anywhere from 4-7 cusps, for example! I've spent a lot of time looking at past teeth of course, but have also been investigating my own in the mirror, because I'm a big nerd, duh. I learned that I have 6 cusps on my first 2 bottom molars (left and right) and only 4 on my left 3rd molar. The right one still hasn't erupted, which probably means it'll stay hidden forever, unless I get it removed!

Anyway. Really interesting stuff, right?? Now go brush your teeth and don't get cavities!

Island Life

This week I spent two days on the two biggest islands in Lake Titicaca: Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna (Island of the Sun and Island of the Moon). Both have been inhabited probably for as long as the lake basin has (at least 8000 years) but have some really neat Inka architecture on both which makes for great tourist attractions! I have visited Isla del Sol before but have recently learned some cool trivia about both islands, worth sharing!

These are the Inka ruins on the Island of the Sun. The Sapa Inka (Inka king) would make annual pilgrimages to this island from Cusco. There are a few stories explaining why- one Spanish chronicler wrote that this island was the mythical Inka origin point, although few corroborate this. More likely, the Inka nobility visited this area regularly to reinforce their authority in this area (especially since the lake basin was home to some powerful polities prior to Inka conquest!). Interestingly, this island is actually called "Titikaka" in Inka legend, and this is probably where the whole lake got its name. What is modernly called Lake Titicaca is actually two large lakes, joined by a narrow strait at Tiquina. Both the upper and lower lakes have names in Aymara/Quechua (Chucuito and Winaymarka) but are collectively called Lake Titicaca today. The Island of the Sun was renamed thus by the Spanish and it persists today. Also, to complicate matters one step further, the island was called Titikaka because of a huge boulder that vaguely looks like the head of a native wild cat, the titi. Kaka means house or home. The island was thus named "the home of the titi" because of this sacred rock.  

These are the ruins on the Isla de la Luna, nicely framed by a llama (and her baby which you can see if you count the legs!). This is a smaller site overall but slightly better preserved. This was a temple run by women devoted to the empire and sun god, Inti, called Ocllakuna. They did a lot of weaving for the state and ran temples such as this one. The island as a whole has an interesting mythology behind it too (as translated from Spanish on a signpost on the island by me, so with some editorial opinion!). Called Coati originally, this island is somewhat long, skinny, and curved (thus why the Spanish called in the island of the moon). However, Inka legend actually says that this island represents a great serpent, who swam through the lake to menace Isla del Sol and eat everyone living there. Luckily, a brave Inka saw the serpent coming, hoisted up a huge boulder, and crushed the serpents head with it! This sank the snake to the depths of the lake, where it turned to stone overtime and created the island, Coati. They say that late at night you can still here the snake wriggling to try to get out under the rocks...

Characters Welcome

It's been a busy week in Copacabana- mostly in the lab and settling into that routine, but also re-discovering all of the secrets and mysteries of the town! One of the great things about travelling is the opportunity to meet diverse and interesting people. And if characters are what you are looking for, Copacabana is the place for you!

This town is a somewhat odd and constantly fluctuating mix of people- local Aymara, ex-pat Argentinians who run a lot of the tourist restaurants, Bolivian tourists from La Paz in town for weekends, European tourists passing through (and a few Americans but less so because of the visa), and a sprinkling of other long term residents. After coming here for a few years, there is a fair amount of continuity in who you see. Here are some highlights (some details obscured since ya know, everyone has the internet these days!):

--The charming and helpful local internet cafe employee. I think this guy has helped me reconnect with the world every summer I've been here and has always cheerfully taken my money to do so. He has also recently helped me (try to) make some international phone calls. When I told him that the phone wasn't working, he tried a few things, then shrugged and said "No se, parece que los Estados Unidos tienen una problema" (I don't know, looks like the United States has a problem). True on so many levels!

--The grouchy Scotsman (?) who runs a local bar. I swear, I've only ever been super polite, left tips (which is also rare here), and approached him in both English and Spanish (not to presume anything) and this guy is just chronically and reliably grouchy. Kind of nice to know some things never change!

--The ex-pat American who is living here illegally (this character tends to change every year, but there's always one). Always eager to here updates from "back home"and then expand on why living here/in South America generally has been the most existential, uplifting, "honest" experience of their lives. Also generally mistrusts any government and forms of capitalism, unless of course you want to buy some of their handmade jewelry?

--The Aymara storeowner who really does want you to buy soemthing but also just wants to get back to watching her telenovella/child/soccer match. She'll heave a big sigh when you ask questions about how much things cost or if she has a t shirt in a different size/color, but don't try to walk out without purchasing anything!  Once you've made her work for it, you better pay up. And then you will be rewarded with a big smile and a hearty "Gracias a USTEDES!"

--Any number of people yelling to advertise their taxi/minibus/bus to La Paz/Kasani/Tiquina/Cusco. Don't try to walk past certain corners without expecting to turn down rides to any number of places that you may or may not want to go. Generally destinations are shouted to a nice cadence though, so that's something.


And so many more! I guess someone could easily write a profile of the snobby archaeology student who walks around looking down on tourists or thinks she shouldn't pay a "gringa tax" (elevated prices for those who are white/not Bolivian) just because she has been here before!

Home again, home again

Hello again! I have finally arrived to Copacabana, the town where my research takes place. My few days in La Paz were restful and museum-full and now I'm (kind of) ready to get to work! (Obviously some motivation is lacking since I'm writing this rather than working!)

If any of you, dear readers, are ever in La Paz, be sure to check out Calle Jean (pictured below)! It's an older road, lined with colorful buildings, most of which contain museums, art galleries, and restaurants. The museums are all basically connected so one 10boliviano ticket (about $1.50) gets you into 5 museums! They are certainly smaller than the usual museum in the US, but have some interesting stuff. For instance, you can learn all about the war for Bolivia's coastline (did you know Bolivia used to have Pacific coastline? Reasons for why is was lost vary widely depending on who you ask and what country they are from!) or visit a museum devoted to Bolivia's national musical instruments. Pretty cool!

Copacabana is always changing-- one thing about the economy in Bolivia is that there is always money for construction! In Copa, because it is on the "tourist track" between Cusco, Peru, and La Paz, new hostels spring up every year. The newer ones are getting creative with their architecture- this one under construction looks like a snail shell, while the buildings in the background are a perfect circle and an igloo! All of these little houses are part of the small hostel, just up the hill from our house. 

The family I live with here are pretty amazing. Pablo and Juana have 4 kids: Rodrigo (14), Ariel (11), Estefany (9) and Raymi (7). They are all pretty funny and smart (Rodrigo just made it into the regional science olympiad for Astrophysics!!) and are good fun to play games with in the evening when it gets cold! Here's a picture of Estefany, Raymi, and their cousin, Christian. Some crazy American thought it was a good idea to give them nerf guns! :)

Alright, well I should probably commit to doing some lab work for the day! Happy Monday!

A Long Expected Arrival

Well, time to update the old blog again! I'm back in Bolivia for one more season of fieldwork, possibly my last for my dissertation research. Here's a quick overview of the plan!

I'm currently in La Paz, one of the capital cities of Bolivia. The airport in La Paz is at about 4000m above sea level (or 14000ish ft) while the city center (where I'm staying for a few days) is a bit lower at 3500masl (or 12000ish ft). The center of La Paz is a good place to hang out for a few days before I head to Copacabana since it is about 300-500m lower than the house in Copacabana and gives your body some time to adjust. I've never had real problems with the altitude, just a mild headache or out of breathness when going up stairs, but some people suffer pretty badly from headaches, nausea, and dizziness. It doesn't help that you typically fly here straight from Miami FL (which is right at sea level) so it's a big jump!

The weather is gorgeous out right now, although definitely chillier and drier than North Carolina! It is sunny but probably only 60 degrees and 0% humidity. Copacabana will be similar, although it can get quite warm in the sun during the day and then below freezing at night! Very strange, but something about the combination of the altitude and desert-like environment causes big temperature swings.

I'll head to Copacabana on Sunday or Monday, after Sergio (the professor from Central Michigan University that I work with) and Stasia (his wife and project co-director) arrive early Sunday morning. Then the work begins! This summer, the plan is to finish collecting data on disease lesions and dietary indicators on about 10-20 people and then start the next stage- measuring variation in genetic dental traits (ie how many cusps are on a molar or how many roots your teeth have) to see how people were genetically related! The hope is to be able to recreate some idea of genetic relationships, which typically relates (at least partially) to kinship and community. I will measure this for all 300 individuals (ie skeletons) and then will be done with data collection for the dissertation! At least in the field. Then they tell me I have to do some analysis and write this dang thing called a dissertation. But that won't be too hard, right? RIGHT??? :)

Alright, that's all for now! The updates will be coming and hopefully will be accompanied by more photos in the future! (The internet is a bit slow for that currently...)