Samaipata

Instead of Concepcion I came to Samaipata. It's a lovely little town 120 km west of Santa Cruz. I took the bus at 4:00pm yesterday and came here around 7:00pm. It was a wonderful ride along the Piray george. Samaipata is on the altitude of 1,600 m so we were going up the winding road. I read in the guidebook that Bolivia's roads are in a shocking state. I wouldn't say "shocking" (I don't know if I will ever find anything "shocking") but strange: there are kilometers of nicely asphalted road and then suddenly the road becomes bumpy and there are fragements when the asphalt disappears and there's dirt road instead. The mountains around Samaipata are not as dramatic and high as the ones I saw before but nicely rolling hills, covered with dense, subtropical vegetation. The center of Samaipata is a very nice park with palm trees and benches. Today is Kids' Day in Bolivia and the whole day there were all kinds of festivities going on for kids and the whole park was vibriting with voice of the leading clown, disco music and various contests. It seems kids in Bolivia have as much fun as I had in elementary school. Our Kids' Day is June 1st. I wonder if they have the same tradition of not having to have to anything including not having to wash teeth and ears? Mid-day I took a taxi (there's no other transport) to El Fuerte, a pre-Inca ceremonial site which was later adapted and used by Inca for their purposes, a practice generally used by them. The Spaniards demolished all Inca and pre-Inca temples and ceremonial sites but Inca adapted whatever they found in the counquered lands and welcomed into their tradition what was beneficial to them from pervious religions and political, agricultural, etc. systems. El Fuerte is a rock carved into various shapes. On the sides there are niches, on top there's a circle used as a gathering place for the corus. There are carvings resembling snake's skin and cats. There are various theories as to its actual use but all are just scientific guesses... As with all other Inca and pre-Inca structures there's no definite proof of anything.

Samaipata is very peaceful and very unexpensive ($2 for a wonderful, clean and homely, bed and breakfast, and a few restaurants with very delicious food). The people are wonderful and very relaxed. All along the way from Santa Cruz, and espacially the first 20km outside of Santa Cruz, I saw very nice, brick and mortar, houses with front yards full of flowers and shrubs. The houses are small and simple but don't look poor. I was very glad to see this. It was afternoon when I was passing them by and the inhabitants were sitting in their yards, kids were playing, dogs were playing, cows, horses, pigs (some were enormous and very hairy), and donkeys were wandering around free, not tited to anything. The whole area of Santa Cruz looks like a wealthy region.

Tomorrow I am going to go visit three waterfalls 20 km away from Samaipata. There is no other transport than a taxi but taxis are cheap and if I don't get any ride back, I will just walk the 20 km. I recovered from my Andean hardship and I am ready for more walking!