Trinidad Bolivia '07

Postcards from:
California planning
La Paz Bolivia
Camino de la Muerte
Trinidad Bolivia
Santa Cruz Bolivia
Cochabamba Bolivia
Sucre Bolivia
Potosi Bolivia
Uyuni Bolivia
Tiwanaku Bolivia
Back Home in California

Trinidad Bolivia: Health signs on the walls of the entrance to the airport.

Trinidad Bolivia: Open sewers like this are said to hide ten foot long anacondas. Look as I might, none made an appearance.

Trinidad Bolivia: Even here in the most remote parts of the country I found more evangelical churches.

Trinidad Bolivia: Typical street scene away from the center of town.

Trinidad Bolivia:These kids demonstrated interest in my tiny camera... so I "showed" it to them. Click. Got' cha.

Trinidad Bolivia: The main plaza in the middle of the town. That is the cathedral in the background.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town.

Trinidad Bolivia: The main plaza in the middle of the town. That is the cathedral in the background. The policeman jumped when a big firecracker went off. It sounded like a bomb to me.

Trinidad Bolivia: The main plaza in the middle of the town. This is one of the several statues in the park-like area.

Trinidad Bolivia: Photo taken near the center fountain at the plaza.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town.

Trinidad Bolivia: A group of sculptures in the town's central plaza.

Trinidad Bolivia: A marching band... sitting down.

Trinidad Bolivia: The new president and his Communist policies has many detractors... but is very popular with the common people. This graffiti shouts "Self Rule or Death!"

Trinidad Bolivia: The new president and his Communist policies has many detractors... but is very popular with the common people.

16 September 2007

Greetings from Trinidad,

Our tiny 19 passenger Fairchild plane left the La Paz Alta Airport at 14:15 Thursday for the hour flight to Trinidad. The La Paz airport is located at an altitude of about 13,000 feet and the Trinidad airport is near sea level at about 1300 feet. Trinidad is a dusty backwater full of noisy motorcycles and little or no modern infrastructure. It might well be the "real" Bolivia, though citizens clearly want a bigger piece of the modern world. Its main claim to fame is as a transportation hub and starting point for river trips into the Bolivian Amazon.

So called four star hotels are nothing of the sort... perhaps 2 star if we are going to be generous. Breakfast is a joke: orange Kool-Aid, instant coffee, one egg, a couple pieces of fruit and rock hard rolls. My first overpriced hotel, the $47 Jacaranda could only accommodate me for one night as they had sold the entire 10 room house to a tour group arriving the next day. The $30 Hotel Don Bernardo, my second hotel (still under construction) didn't even change the linens which were full of holes. To make matters intolerable, the owner-manager strutted around like royalty co-opting staff by clapping his hands for personal attention, ignoring the obvious needs of guests. The third day I discovered the toilet was clogged, prompting me to cut short my stay in this unpleasant place.

The city badly needs to send all their hotel personnel for training in La Paz where modern standards are met... and to spray the entire town for insects. While I saw plenty of mosquitoes, none ever bit me in a way that I could feel or see. Very strange. Microscopic crawlies however, explored my body every night making my body itch through the night. I never actually saw one on my skin, but now and then would see one jumping against a white background... they reminded me of flees, but invisibly smaller. Refer to this large scale MAP of Bolivia for orientation.

Peace

Fred L Bellomy

PS: In numerous discussions with my conservative friends I have often suspected their brains had evolved differently than mine. Now a study reported in the Newscientist substantiates that suspicion: Brain study shows a sharp political divide. So, when someone says "the devil made me do it," they might not be that far off. F

Trinidad Bolivia: Map of the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Sculpture on the way to the airport.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the four wide promenades that join the corners of the town's central plaza.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town. The cathedral is in the background.

Trinidad Bolivia: Sculpture near the river. The slab being held up is in the shape of a Bolivian map.

Trinidad Bolivia: This is the other side of the sculpture near the river.

Trinidad Bolivia: Inside the cathedral.

Trinidad Bolivia: This is an excellent restaurant on the East side of the main plaza. Of course, excellent is a relative term in this town of simple pleasures.

Trinidad Bolivia: Captured wildlife on display in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Decorated wall in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Captured wildlife on display in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: A marching band... sitting down.

Trinidad Bolivia: A marching band... playing in the background as this group gets ready to... march?

END

Trinidad Bolivia: This is the 19 passenger Fairchild plane that took us to Trinidad from La Paz.

Trinidad Bolivia: Inside our small 19 passenger plane into Trinidad.

Trinidad Bolivia: Welcome to Trinidad sign near the plaza.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town. The cathedral is in the background.

Trinidad Bolivia: One of the sculptures in the central plaza of the town.

Trinidad Bolivia: Entrance to the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Reception desk in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Lobby furniture in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Looking down the street from my second floor room in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel.

Trinidad Bolivia: Looking down the street from my second floor room in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel. Early in the morning the streets quickly filled with motorcycles... few cars.

Trinidad Bolivia: The pool area from the morning dining area in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Interesting bas sculpture of wood in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Interesting wood sculpture in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Sculpture of an Indian in the central plaza of the town.

Trinidad Bolivia: Captured wildlife on display in the pool area at the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Looking back into the morning dining area in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Breakfast in the Jacaranda Suites Hotel where I spent my first night in the city.

Trinidad Bolivia: Entrance to the new Hotel Don Bernardo still under construction.

Trinidad Bolivia: Lobby furniture at the new Hotel Don Bernardo still under construction.

Trinidad Bolivia: A dry fountain in the hallway at the new Hotel Don Bernardo still under construction.

Trinidad Bolivia: Breakfast at the Hotel Don Bernardo: one fried egg and a glass of Koolaid already consumed. Coffee instant package impossible to open! This was a quite awful breakfast.

Trinidad Bolivia: Luncheon special advertised at the new Hotel Don Bernardo still under construction. 10 Bs is about $1.25.

Trinidad Bolivia: Our small 19 passenger plane out of Trinidad to Santa Cruz.

Need to reorganize photos & check captions.