The plane from the Chilean coastal city of Iquique to this Bolivian city in the middle of South America flew over a desertic, grey plateau during most of the 1.5 hours that takes to go from one city to the other. Then it suddenly went down into a sea of very heavy clouds, and after a little bit of turbulence... There was the green. All over. So green that it could hurt your eyes.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the entrance to the Orient of Bolivia, a thick strip of jungle-like or tropical-forest-related ecosystems that spread from north to south of the country, including deep forests and rich land and misterious corners that have attracted explorers, golddiggers, Japanese peasants, Menonite colonies, Jesuits and other priests, nazis, capitalists, soybean farmers, natural gas investors, Brazilians and Paraguayans, indigenous people from other parts of the country, dealers, and of course the Che Guevara and his Cuban guerrillas, Incas a long time ago, Spanish conquerors, indeed, developmen preachers, wanderers, and lost souls, among others.
It is a huge territory. In the top north of the country, Pando is considered one of the most isolated places on Earth. To the south, in the Chaco, there was a very cruel and stupid war. My granparents met during the Chaco war.
At noon Santa Cruz was chaotic. But now is 2 pm, the sun hurts, and all the people and the traffick jams have disappeared. Stores are closed, public offices too. Heoric backpackers challenge the white light in the main plaza. It is the heat, siesta time. And it is humid like hell. For me, time to find a train ticket, since the newspaper says that roads in remote areas are closed because of recent rains.
Hope the train is ok. Internationally, it is known as 'Tren da morte', or Death Train. But I have done it twice already and it's not really that bad.
(Luis Cordova, Santa Cruz, kind of warm...)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment