Last weekend was gorgeous. We spent Sunday afternoon sitting at an outdoor grill under giant tiki shelters eating grilled meats, yucca, and plantain. With a nice breeze and some live music to boot, it was pretty much perfect. After a few hours of socializing, we headed to what may be the most well-maintained natural tourist site in La Paz, the Valle de La Luna. Essentially, it's a rock formation consisting of thousands of stalagmites and a very narrow path winding through them...above them really. The ground is gravelly and dry. One misstep and you'll need some strong friends, a long rope, and a good deal of luck to get out. It was quite something to see though. A few locals make a killing (let's say 15 cents per visitor) climbing to ridiculous heights and playing traditional music from precarious heights. You know the music - you hear it outside the metro stations from time to time.
The rock formations really are something and the park has done a good job carving out paths through the spiky terrain. To be fair, there were at least 2 or 3 sections with guardrails and usually you can hug the rock wall on at least one side as you wander through. My favorite part were the directional arrows keeping you on the path -- as though you had a choice in direction.
Towards the end of the trail you hit an outlook that gives you a glimpse of (one of) the valleys in La Paz. I think we live somewhere pretty close in there, but that's just a guess.
1 comment:
I've seen those guys all over the world. New York, Moscow, Barcelona, Paris: it's like the tag line for a hoity-toity line of clothing.
Lu and I have a theory that there's just one Andean music band playing everywhere at the same time. They're magical.
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