Larry Memmott's Blog

  A group of friends went up to Luna Llena Rock Bar last night to check out The Vampire Shadow’s Nigth.  It was my first time there, so I figured it was worth a short review, both of the bar, and of the show.   Luna Llena is considered to be one of the three […]

One of the great things about Bolivia is that wherever you go, even if it is not where you wanted or intended to go, you will likely find excitement of some sort.  Twice now I have tried to find my way to Laguna Arkhata, nestled as it is in the upper folds of the skirt […]

  The Valle de las Animas, or Valley of Souls, is seriously misnamed.  It is not a “valley” but a region, and I for one fail to see why there is any reason to believe that the rock formations therein have any resemblance to “souls.”  After all, isn’t their lack of a physical form a […]

I’ve occasionally put up posts on music in the past, but it looks like I may be putting up more such posts in the future.  I went with some friends to a Death Metal Festival the other day (posters above and bottom).  It was fantastic.  The variety of music (within the Metal genre) was stunning, […]

Despite its focus on chapels and its brevity, German Ambassador Philipp Schauer’s guide to rural churches (Guía turística de/Tour guide of Iglesias Rurales: La Paz y Oruro, by Schauer, Philipp, Teresa Gisbert) is my favorite printed guide to the Altiplano.  With lots of maps and photos, Spanish and English directions to, and descriptions of the churches, […]

  Caquiaviri is a small town on the road to Charaña, which is on the border with Chile and Peru, north of Tambo Quemado.  It’s a great destination for a day trip from La Paz, and it will soon be an even better destination. According to German Ambassador Philipp Schauer, in his book, “Tour Guide […]

This is one of the places I used to travel to at least monthly to hike, fish, camp, and just relax.  It’s quite changed, now.  All the “lagunas” have been dammed, and in several cases, they are fundamentally different from what they used to be, with their surrounding bofedales now almost entirely underwater.  That said, […]

This is probably my favorite place close to La Paz.  It’s the most inaccessible set of lakes up the Khallapa River Valley, is the most challenging hike, and the payback is also the highest.  Laguna Jachcha Khasiri is quite large and a spectacular blue color.  The small lake another mile beyond is unnamed on the […]

Many of my favorite memories of my first time in Bolivia, 25 years ago, involve days spent hiking, fishing, and floating around on the lakes (lagunas) in the Andes above La Paz.  When I returned to Bolivia, two of the questions in the back of my mind were, “Will they still be there?” and “Will […]

Bolivia is beautiful, no doubt about it.  This is just the view from the bedroom window of our temporary house.