Author Archive

Chalalan Eco Lodge, Madidi National Park, Bolivia

 

By Laura Closkey
29 May 2004 2:57 pm

Arriving Rurrenabaque
Chalalan is a community owned rainforest resort. The project was sponsored by a NGO some years back (hmm, forget the NGO’s name at this moment). The mission was to help one native community inside Madidi park develop sustainable income through the creation of an eco resort, while also protecting the park through sound […]

Biking the worlds most dangerous Road, La Paz to Coroico

 

By Laura Closkey
19 May 2004 2:55 pm

The road to Coroico was named the world most dangerous road by the World Bank because it suffers the most deaths per persons traveling in the world. Because of this, the World Bank spent a bunch of money and built a ‘new road’. But, as things go in Bolivia, the new road has a toll […]

Sucre

 

By Laura Closkey
15 May 2004 8:18 pm

One of many afternoons at Cafe Mirrador
They say that Sucre is the nicest city in Bolivia and a great place to stop and study Spanish. I completely agree, Sucre IS really nice. We all know how picky I am, and if I like it, it MUST be a good place.
Sucre isn’t the largest city […]

Potosi, Bolivia

 

By Laura Closkey
6 May 2004 2:36 pm

Shrine to the devil, lord of the underworld

These young guys are 16 and 17 years old. They seemed very proud to have jobs.
Potosi is COLD (like the rest of Bolivia) but not such a bad town. At once time Potosi was a large and wealthy city because of the mine, so beautiful colonial architecture remains. […]

Bolivia!

 

By Laura Closkey
5 May 2004 8:47 pm


Solar de Uyuni

 

By Laura Closkey
4 May 2004 2:22 pm

Speeding through Martian landscape
Markus, Anja and I set out for the 3 day tour of the Solars with Colque tours. The other travelers in group turned out to be great. Klaus from Germany, one of the happiest people I’ve every known. Ernesto, another Swiss and Christine a young woman from Australia. Day 1 began at […]

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

 

By Laura Closkey
30 Apr 2004 1:06 pm

42k ride to Valle de la Luna
Part 1: Sunset
San Pedro de Atacama is a gringo village in the desert. There is not much to the village but gringo tour offices and gringo restaurants. Still, because we are gringos, there was plenty to do. I talked Markus and Anja, my two new Swiss friends, into […]

The Road from Heaven and on up to Hell

 

By Laura Closkey
29 Apr 2004 12:58 pm

Road from Salta to San Pedro
Buses from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile leave only at 6 am. L I we had a big asado (BBQ) at the hostel the night before and I only got to bed at 4:30. With just 1 hour of sleep, I boarded my deluxe semi-cama sleeper bus […]

La Peña

 

By Laura Closkey
28 Apr 2004 7:38 pm

Last night I returned to La Casona del Molino. It’s a peña here in Salta (north western Argentina). A peña is a restaurant where local Argentinians sing and jam out folk music on guitar, sometimes accompanied by percussion or maybe a wooden flute. La Casona has great atmosphere. It’s a rustic place with simple […]

Around Salta

 

By Laura Closkey
27 Apr 2004 11:09 am

Salta must be the loveliest city in all of Argentina. In northern Argentina, Salta enjoys a warm climate and green green GREEN mountains all around. The thing to do here is get in a car and drive around the country side. Nicole (Seattle) and I hired a little white chevy for 5 days and SURPRISE, […]