Similar reed boats have sailed from Morocco to Barbados Islands in the Caribbean, from Peru to Polynesian islands, from Chile to Easter Island and from Egypt to Lebanon and Cyprus (Ref: phys.org).

In the afternoon we visited a small Aymara village called Sanca Jahuira on the shore of lake Titicaca close to the popular town of Huatajata in Omasuyos province. The village is a couple of hours away from La Paz by road.

There is a little crafts and history museum in Sanca Jahuira where local Aymara women demonstrate the art of weaving garments using Alpaca wool. Some authentic hand-make garments along with other handicrafts are also available for purchase. I purchased an Alpaca wool poncho and a Bolivian-style woolen hat with ear flaps to go with it. The poncho itself has a hood that covers the head.

The captain of a reed boat welcomed us heartily and took us for a cruise around lake Titicaca. The reed boat was proudly flying the Bolivian national flag along with the official Bolivan southern Qullasuyu Wiphala flag. The colorful flag represents some of the indigenous Andean tribes across modern Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and Colombia (Ref: Wikipedia).

He pointed at a distance where lake Titicaca rolls over the horizon and told us somewhere out there is the international border with Peru.

We returned to the dock at Sanca Jahuira and enquired if there is any coffee for purchase at some place near by. Everything around seemed to be closed, but the captain said his sister-in-law can make coffee at home and asked us to wait in the floating restaurant moored to the dock. We sat down in comfortable chairs around one of the tables in the empty and closed restaurant. After what seemed to be an inordinately long time for making coffee, we were served not only excellent coffee but some fabulous cookies to go with it.

In a remarkable experience with Andean hospitality, it turned out they had nothing to offer alongside coffee, and so they had gone out to the next town to get cookies just for us!

They wouldn't take any money either. I had to put my foot down to insist covering the cost of the cookies at least.

It always amazes me how the most humane gestures come from folks with not much means but supersized hearts and unlimited courtesy for the traveler and the guest.

And the Bolivian version of Orioles were fabulous enough for us to bring some back home!

The Chinese Automobiles of Bolivia

I am reasonably familiar with brand logos of automobiles. But on the roads of Bolivia, I was having trouble with a great number of mysterious brands, logos and vehicle models.

It turns out Chinese auto makers operate in a big way in Bolivia offering vehicles very cheap and that too with financing plans that forego credit checks and such with lucrative low down payments and instalments. These car makers have flooded the country while the few who have the means stand out by driving authentic imports. Private car ownership is rare in Bolivia and the market for contraband cars called "chutos" is huge, according to reports (Ref: The Guardian).

I took pictures of a few alien vehicles in El Alto - La Paz on our way back to the hotel from lake Titicaca. Among them:

 

Plaza Murillo, La Paz

I rose early, gulped down some Coca Tea at the lobby and headed to Plaza Murillo, a five-minute walk from the hotel.

Plaza Murillo, the central square of La Paz, is named after Don Pedro Domingo Murillo, revered leader of Bolivia's struggle for independence from Spain. Murillo was captured and hanged by Spanish troops in January of 1810 in the plaza. A monument (Monumento a Pedro Domingo Murillo) in the center of the beautiful pigeon-filled square commemorates the great freedom fighter.

The Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace, popularly called the Presidential Palace or Palacio Quemado) and Catedral Metropolitana Basílica Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace) are located next to each other at south-west of the plaza. The Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional (Plurinational Legislative Assembly previously called the National Congress of Bolivia) building is on the south-east. The Museo Nacional de Arte (National Art Museum) is at the western corner of the plaza.

The Presidential Palace was burned in an uprising in 1875 giving it the colloquial name Palacio Quemado (burnt palace).

Palacio de Gobierno and Catedral Metropolitana Basílica Nuestra Señora de La Paz

Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional

The plaza was adorned with the national Christmas tree and decor during our visit over the holidays. 

The Backwards Moving Anti-Clockwise Clock

The Legislative Assembly / National Congress building features a large unusual clock that has its hands moving anti-clockwise. The numbers reflect the direction of the movement; 1 o'clock appears to the left of 12 o'clock and the numbers progress left to right with 11 o'clock to the right of 12 o'clock.

After inauguration of the strange clock in 2014, Bolivia's Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca proudly announced it to be "The Clock of the South’ (Ref: theculturetrip.com). This makes sense because clock makers have traditionally based the direction of movement on that of the shadow of the sundial, and the sun's shadow moves anti-clockwise in the southern hemisphere. Other theories for the backwards-moving clock include being a symbol of Bolivia's distaste for Western European culture. Mr. Choquehuanca also said in a press release, "Who said that clocks must turn the other way? Why should we always be obedient? Why can't we be creative?"

Flag Hoisting Ceremony

December 27, 2022

Tiahuanaco (Tiwanaku) and Puma Punku

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

I have had my fair share of looking at ancient man-made objects - Pantheon, Ayasofya, Acropolis, Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Saint Peter's Basilica et cetera. But nowhere did I get goosebumps like I got at Tiwanaku.

As you purchase tickets and go through the entrance walking on the pathway leading to the site, the first things that strikes you is the geometric precision of work on solid hard volcanic andesite rock across the expanse of the 1.5 square miles of Tiwanaku currently excavated. Even from a distance, all lines are sharp, all circles are precise and all angles are perfect 90 degrees with razor-sharp edges.

Then you get closer and start examining polished andesite stone objects much taller and wider than you, and your mind goes "mathematics", followed by "200 BC!" As I tell people who ask me what I think about Tiwanaku, I stood there and walked around with a feeling of incredulity.

However, there is some promising news recently. Researchers are increasingly gaining confidence on finally solving the basic problem with Tiwanaku / Puma Punku, stated succinctly by researches: "four  giant  red  sandstone terraces weighing between 130  and 180 tons and small blocks of  andesite,  an extremely hard volcanic  stone, whose  complex  shapes  (the  H-blocks)  and  millimetric precision are  incompatible  with  the  technology  of  the time. And  for  good  reason,  since  archaeology  tells  us  that  the Tiwanakans had only stone tools and  no metal hard enough to carve the rock.  But  they  would  have  carved  the  gigantic blocks of red sandstone (these ancient blocks are the largest of all the American continent!)  and  they  were able to carry these  hundreds  of  tons  to  the  site,  then  to  adjust  them precisely. Also, they would have been able to carve the “H” blocks made  of volcanic andesite, an extremely  difficult-to-carve  stone  with  an incredible  finish perfectly flat  faces  at exact 90° interior and exterior right angles! Archaeologists  cannot  give  any  rational  explanations  on how this was possible. Archaeologists  cannot  give  any  rational  explanations  on how this was possible. Therefore, for the general public, the assumptions  generally  advanced  to  explain  these  wonders are  the  achievement  by  a lost  ancient super  civilization  or by aliens’ involvement."

The research paper that I quote from then provides a solution that is causing excitement in current archeological circles. The abstract reads: "The studies carried out in 2017-2018 on the monumental stones constituting the Pumapunku site in Bolivia (South America) provided evidence that the stones are ancient artificial geopolymers (Parts I to III). To make geopolymer andesite stone, around AD 600 to AD 700, the builders could have transported an andesite stony material having the consistence of sand from the Cerro Khapia volcano site, and added an organo-mineral geopolymer binder manufactured with local biomass ingredients. They did not use the many quadrangular volcanic blocks, the famous "piedras cansadas”, the tired stones, which are still lying on both sides of the lake Titicaca. The present paper describes how the builders of Pumapunku / Tiwanaku exploited a natural volcanic andesite sand from the volcano Cerro Khapia, transported and stored it at the shore village of Iwawe, Stratum (V) in the excavation by Isbell & Burkholder, (2002). For the making of their andesite geopolymer monuments, they did not need to crush andesite rock. This andesite sand is similar to one of the pozzolana sands found in the best ancient Roman mortars and coined in Latin “carbunculus”, 2000 years ago."

Here is a link to the research paper: "Ancient geopolymers in South-American Monuments, Part IV(*): use of natural andesite volcanic sand (not crushed). Joseph Davidovits and Frédéric Davidovits Geopolymer Institute, 02100 Saint-Quentin, France."

Bienvenidos A Tiwanaku

Probably due to destruction unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Tiwanaku was eerily empty of visitors. The restaurants and gift stores at the deserted entrance were closed. The archeological site ticket counter was fortunately open.

The Tiwanaku complex lies in lake Titicaca's southern basin close to the coast and 12,697 feet up on the Andean altiplano. The road to Tiwanaku leads to an abandoned Tiahuanaco train station with the site entrance ticket counter next to it. There seems to be a El Alto - Tiahuanaco - Guaqui tourist train but that stops at a different station.

According to a UNESCO report, a drone study revealed vast swaths of unexplored ruins at the Tiwanaku / Pumapunku complexes covering over 2.3 square miles. Only about 1.5 square miles has been excavated so far.

Tiwanaku had widespread influence. Multiple temples and at least one entire city complex have been found submerged under the water of lake Titicaca (Ref: BBC, Meditation Retreat Peru). Some say the baffling Wall of the Six Monoliths in far away Ollantaytambo, Peru Inca ruins is actually a Tiwanaku construction.

The current excavation of Tiahuanaco archeological site and the recommended route to tour it in order of the great map right after the entrance to the complex:

According to the chronological chart also posted at the site, Chunchukala is the oldest part of the excavation, dating back to c.750 BCE when the Chiripa civilization was declining. Kantatallita was next, constructed c.200 CE, followed by Semi-Subterranean Temple c.300 CE. Kalasasaya was constructed c.400 CE, Pyramid of Akapana c.550 CE, Pyramid of Puma Punku c.700 CE, and Putuni Temple c.900 CE.

Tiwanaku was not an empire in the conventional sense, rather a multi-cultural network of powerful lineages that brought people together to build large monuments. Supported by large-scale agriculture, Tiwanaku is believed to have had a peak population of 10,000 to 20,000 people (Ref: Wikipedia).

Outside the core location of southern Titicaca lake basin, the influence of the Tiwanaku people ranged from Peru's Pacific coast to northern Chile where Tiwanaku cemeteries have been found.

We see the first examples of stone workmanship as we head to the Pyramid of Akapana.

Pyramid of Akapana

It looks like a natural mound today but in mid-7th century CE it was a magnificent stepped pyramid. Measuring 840 feet by 630 feet at base and 55 feet tall. The mound was man-made using soil and then encased in a perfect east-west axis in stepped walls of massive megalithic sculpted andesite blocks with columns and a T-shaped flat top featuring carved stones laid out in typical timeless Andean Chakana shape around a sunken platform that had stairs leading down to it. The perfect east-west alignment is also seen in the later Puma Punku pyramid quite a distance away.

Here is a rendition of the stepped Pyramid of Akapana. (source)

Some of the walls and columns survive at the base today, as do a few of the polished sculpted stones at the top, some of them slipping down the sides. The site has been looted for ages and stones appropriated for a wide range of purposed including building churches and for use as sleepers for rail tracks.

The biggest stone piece used in the construction of Akapana has been weighed at a gargantuan 67 tons. The processes used for sculpting and drilling solid andesite rock, transporting and installing them with such precision remain a field of research.

Also for reasons unknown, late Tiwanaku construction projects like the Akapana used material from demolished prior gargantuan structures in the flourishing civilization. As Akapana came up, smaller homes around it were also torn down for building large square compounds, also with material from older structures.

Numerous stone sculptures of human and puma heads were found on the pyramid, though the exact purpose of the pyramid remains lost in time.

Strangely, the entire city would be abandoned within 300 years of Akapana, leaving behind unfinished stones and construction sites. (Ref: The Akapana Pyramid Mound).

Some of the monoliths still stand at the edges of the top of Akapana.

As we climb down from the top of Akapana, more of the steps and precision construction techniques of the pyramid come into view, along with pieces thrown around. We then leave Akapana  and proceed on the path towards Kantatallita.

Kantatallita - Light of Dawn

Kantatallita is a large open rectangular temple with carved monoliths. There is an unusual sculpted square 20-ton andesite rock block inside that looks like a miniature model of a temple with stairs and a sunken courtyard. In the model, to the east (left in the first picture below), there are two little stairs on the  side going down to the courtyard in the middle. On the west side of the courtyard, there are three more little stairs leading up to a platform with two rows of three square holes. Monoliths or some artefacts are thought to be attached to the square holes. (Ref: magicalandes.com)

Also inside the Kantatallita temple site is an arch (or a frieze) on the ground that is usually seen on the top of gates. Six brilliant sculpted figures on it demonstrate the Tiwanaku stone artisans' amazing abilities. It was plated with gold with just the nail holes remaining now.

Also scattered around Kantatallita are other various blocks with intricate sculpture.

On the pathway to Kantatallita there are these two remarkably sculpted monoliths showing the level of  precision of Tiwanaku stonecraft.

Exiting Kantatallita on our way to the Semi-Subterranean Temple, we notice this large piece. There are three holes drilled right through and a beginning cut of sculpting. Did the Tiwanaku use rope through the holes to transport such blocks?

Semi-Subterranean Temple

Something happens to you when you enter the templete Semisubterráneo. You get goosebumps thinking dark and sinister things happened here. A purely personal perception, perhaps this was a happy place. But the huge courtyard 6.5 feet below ground level - deeper than I am tall - surrounded by walls of red sandstone blocks and columns in contrast to grey andesite of prior monuments, and especially the menacing tenoned whitish heads made of limestone and ignimbrite sticking out of the red walls - the sense of foreboding was unmistakable. The gigantic walls of Templo de Kalasasaya next to it with its gate framing the Monolito Ponce with geometric precision looms over it.

It is thought the semi-subterranean temple is a monument to the Tiwanaku belief of an underworld of the unborn and the dead. The dead were just unborns waiting to be born again, given that Andean civilizations have been mummifying their dead for 2 millenia before the Egyptians, and the mummies were placed with all sorts of useful items and jewelry for use when they return to be born. 

Built c.300 CE, the 94 feet by 85 feet lightly graded tamped earth open courtyard's red sandstone walls are decorated with 175 brilliantly sculpted human heads, light and ghostly in color and appearance due to use of material like limestone and ignimbrite. The walls have uneven numbers of monolithic pillars - 14 on the north, 11 on the east, 15 on the west and 9 on the south.

In the middle of the patio there used to the largest humanoid column of the Tiwanaku complex - a massive 26 and a quarter foot stone statue called the Pachamama Monolith (mother of the universe) also known as Monolito Bennett Pachamama. From 2002 it resides as the star attraction at the Museo del Sitio de Tiwanaku. We did not have time to visit the museum, but here is a picture.

This raises a possibility of the templete Semisubterráneo being a place of celebration of creation, not a temple to the netherworld of the dead and unborn.

By Pavel Špindler, CC BY 3.0, Link

The current patio of Templete Semisubterráneo still features three monoliths - the 8-foot Monolito Barbado and two smaller ones. They face south, representing night, instead of the usual east-west orientation tracking the sun.

There is a 2% graded channel carved all along the bottom of the four walls for rain water to flow out. The channels converge to the mouth of a water collector in the northwest corner.

There is also a perfectly cut round cylindrical stone block believed to be used for offerings. It is now located between the walls of Semi-Subterranean Temple and Kalasaya.

Piedras Cansadas (Tired Stones)

The Piedras Cansadas are huge 5 to 10 ton quadrangular blocks of extremely hard andesite rock found in many places on the shores of both Peruvian and Bolivian parts of lake Titicaca as well routes from the lake to Tiwanaku complex (Ref). There is one outside the wall at northwest corner of Kalasasaya where the map specifically mentions Piedras Cansadas. It is important enough for it to be surrounded with rope to protect it from tourists.

Estela Descabezado (Headless Monolith)

We didn't see it - at least the wide flat red monolith with folded hands that is supposed to look like this. There is a decorated monolith outside the north wall of Kalasasaya inside the rectangular pit, but it looks darker, narrower and very different from the Estela Descabezado. This note alludes to a conservation effort of the Descabezado stela from 2010. Is this a newly discovered monolith undergoing restoration? If so, where is the Descabezado stela?

Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun)

Tintin fans like me across the world find it fascinating that in the famous scene of Tintin and friends crashing into the court of the Sapa Inca, Hergé used the stunning stone sculpture of Viracocha - the God of Sun and all creation - on the frieze of Gate of the Sun found inside Kalasasaya at Tiwanaku.

Standing in front of the massive ten ton La Puerta del Sol sculpted out of a single block of hard volcanic andesite stone in c.300 CE, I payed homage to Lord Viracocha, the creator of the universe, sun, moon, stars, time and civilization.

I heard from some locals that the founding Inca emperor Manco Cápac and his sister Mama Ocllo were children of Viracocha.There is continuity in Andean mythology.

On Tiwanaku's Sun Gate, Viracocha carries a scepter in each hand, each scepter having a condor and a puma on its ends (symbols of the celestial spiritual world and the living world of the ancient Andean three-world belief system). Four rows of brilliantly sculpted figures surround him.

The three rows adjacent to him feature winged figures with condor heads close to him and winged figures with human heads wearing masks further away. Some see a decorative fourth row of figures in the row below him, others see phases of the moon. (Ref: pueblosoriginarios.com)

Templo de Kalasasaya (Temple of the Standing Stones)

Dating back to c.200 BCE, Kalasasaya is the largest temple of the Tiwanaku complex with a huge slightly-rectangular courtyard surrounded by high stone walls. It measures 141 yards by 130 yards. There is a lowered patio in the middle of the courtyard. Here is a view of the compound looking south-east from in front of Puerta del Sol (Temple of the Sun) which is one of the artefacts inside the compound.

The walls have been reconstructed from the 1960s to mixed reactions, mostly due to modern stone laying abilities being no match for the Tiwanakan level of skills. Here is a section of the north wall after reconstruction:

Kalasasaya was built with precise astronomical and directional alignments. The grand main entrance stairway (closed to visitor access) has 7 steps and points east catching the first light of the sun every morning. Columns at the corners of the main stairs precisely mark solstices and equinoxes. 7 was a holy number for Tiwanakans and appears throughout the complex.

Visitor entrance into the Kalasasaya is through a narrow gap in the northern wall leading to stairs going up into the elevated courtyard.

The Puerta del Sol (Temple of the Sun),  Estela Ponce (Ponce Monolith) and Estela Fraile (Friar Monolith) are inside Kalasasaya compound. The western wall is pretty much an advanced astronomical calendar called the Chunchukala (Balcony Wall). The north wall has two blocks with holes made in the shape of the human ear canal. They are acoustic amplifiers - you can whisper into the small hole and the sound is louder on the other side.

There is a large hard andesite stone with a smooth rounded surface that is thought to have been used to polish the blocks for construction.

Remnants of various constructions with steps, platforms and decorations are seen around the compound. 

Cuartos Ceremoniales (Ceremonial Rooms)

Inside the Kalasasaya compound,  there are ruins of small semi-subterranean Cuartos Ceremoniales (ceremonial rooms) arranged so that there are 7 rooms on each side of the compound. 7 is an auspicious number in Tiwanaku. Perhaps ceremonies in these rooms reinforced the connection between the netherworld of the dead and unborn with the world of the living.

Estela Ponce (Ponce Monolith)

Estela Fraile (Friar Monolith)

Someone moved "El Fraile" (also called The Friar, Monolito Fraile or Friar Monolith) to his current location of the southwest corner inside the Temple of Kalasasaya. The 10-foot single block sandstone monolith was baptized by overzealous Spanish christian missionaries, but the statue is actually of a ruler. He holds a cane with backwards fingers on his right hand, and a ceremonial vase on his left hand.

His rectangular face with a headband has tear-filled square eyes. He wears a girdle decorated with what was previously believed to be ocean crabs found in far-away Pacific but is now believed to be plants. Once-vivid iconography covering his body has eroded over time.

Templo Putuni (Putuni Temple Complex)

Deriving its name from Aymara "Putuputini" ("where there are holes") due to burial chambers surrounding the central patio, the Putini complex is also called "Palace of the Sarcophagi". It is a late construction, c. 900 AD, and shows refinement in building techniques. It is also a better surviving complex with rows of stacked andesite blocks marking the plan of the structures.

There were clusters of buildings around four sides of the elevated central courtyard, the western cluster being wider than the others. Inside the interior walls there are burial chambers with access to the central patio with sliding stone doors that slid on wet floors.

On the north wall there are two small entrances with steps to access the platform illuminated by the "Fire Stones".

To the west was the main structure with drainage channels. It was probably the ruler's home. Riches found in graves indicate nobility and the privileged were buried around that large house.

A monolith statue once stood in the center of the patio. It has been willfully destroyed at the head and base.

Chunchukala (Balcony Wall)

Puerta de la Luna (Gate of the Moon)

Located on another man-made mound northwest of Putuni, the 7-foot tall Gate of the Moon monolith was sculpted out of a single block of hard volcanic andesite stone. The frieze on the arch features high and low reliefs of puma heads with fish mouths. Together with Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun), it was part of the Tiwanaku worldview. There is evidence that it was moved to its current location from its original site at the entrance to the Putuni complex. (Ref: pueblosoriginarios.com)

Kherikala (Fire Stones)

Just west of Putuni lies the Kherikala complex consisting of a large 125 feet by 207 feet uncovered central patio with four pillars at the corners. The pillars were painted red and featured cruciform motifs in bas-relief. Around the patio there were four double rows of rectangular rooms, each just over 16 feet long. Double adobe walls with space in between served as thermal insulation. It was probably a monastery occupied by priests in charge of religious oversight. The blocks of its walls have holes where koa (incense) was burned as offering to the sun. (Ref: pueblosoriginarios.com)

Pyramid of Pumapunku

Made famous by coverage of H-blocks and precision drilled holes with equal depth in solid hard volcanic andesite by History Channel's In Search of Aliens: Mystery of Puma Punku Revealed (S1, E7),  the Puma Punku Pyramid or Puerta del Puma (Gate of the Puma) was put up c.550 CE.  Advanced construction techniques, millimetric precision cutting and drilling and hydraulic engineering make it one of the two most important structures in the Tiwanaku complex along with its twin - the Akapana pyramid.

What a sight it must have been to behold Tiwanaku from the top of Puma Punku looking towards Akapana!

Mi Teleferico Cable Car Public Transit System: La Paz to El Alto and Back

Mi Teleférico is the longest urban public transit cable car network in the world. It serves the metropolitan area of ​​La Paz and El Alto that has unique topographical challenges for any public transit system with an altitude of at least 13,500 feet surrounded by mountain ranges and rivers. In addition to being a quick, environmentally friendly, fossil-fuel saving comfortable solution, the cable car transit system offers outstanding panoramic views of the highest capital of the world nestling in a plateau of the Cordillera Real range of the Andes wrapped around it with the towering peaks of Nevado Illimani and Huayna Potosí mountains watching from still far above.

We took a ride up and down the Red Line from Estación Central in La Paz to 16 de julio station in El Alto via Cementerio station.

Plaza Murillo again!

It had started to rain heavily by the time we returned to the hotel after our Teleferico ride. But Plaza Murillo was just a five minutes away on foot, and we could not resist the temptation to check the plaza out in its festive holiday decorations with the christmas tree and lights.

We saw a Patagonian Eagle motorcycle. These cruisers are made by Keeway in Malayasia. Keeway is part of the Qianjiang Group of China.

Multicine mall and multiplex

It was raining too hard and it was getting too late to visit the famous Witches Market of La Paz. We instead headed into downtown and ended up at the Multicine which is a typical multi-level shopping mall combined with a movie multiplex. I got myself a Subway sandwich for dinner and then saw a Bata shoe store from where I picked up a pair of flip flops.

It was our last evening in La Paz. We took a cab back to the hotel. For our next segment in Bolivia, we had airline tickets to Uyuni on an early morning flight. It was time to get some rest before the surreal sights of Salar de Uyuni, the lakes and geothermal geysers of the Bolivian Andes altiplano leading into the great desert of Atacama in Chile - Part 2 of this story.

Acknowledgements

We owe the pleasurable Bolivia part of our trip to a couple of outstanding people and their businesses. We are not affiliated with these businesses and this is independent opinion.

Juan's friends Luz and Nelson are now my friends too. They run Mammut Expeditions from Uyuni: expedicionesmammut.com