{"id":2885,"date":"2012-11-06T04:16:58","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T22:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2016-02-14T20:47:42","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T00:47:42","slug":"albergue-and-capilla-tomarapi-sajama-pt-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2012\/11\/06\/albergue-and-capilla-tomarapi-sajama-pt-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Albergue and Capilla Tomarapi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Capilla Tomarapi<\/p><\/div>\n

To my mind, there are two places you can stay in the Parque Nacional Sajama. \u00a0The best is your own tent. \u00a0A close second best is the Albergue Tomarapi. \u00a0The difference between the two is not as great as you might initially think.<\/p>\n

Albergue Tomarapi<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Fine Dining – Anyone for Fried Alpaca?<\/p><\/div>\n

The Albergue is a lovely little guesthouse, with small rooms in a semi-rustic style. \u00a0It costs about $100 for a double room, and includes full board. \u00a0Since there are no restaurants anywhere nearbye, the full board is necessary if you are not going to make your own meals. \u00a0We found the food to be plentiful and tasty, though a bit exotic (both good and bad). \u00a0The breakfasts were very extensive. \u00a0They can fix a bag lunch if you plan to be out during the day. \u00a0Dinner was also good. \u00a0We had never eaten alpaca meat before, but it was very tender and tasty. \u00a0The dining hall is very nice, and the fireplace is very useful since nights are cold.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Cabins Are Set Around Cute Courtyards<\/p><\/div>\n

The facilities are basic, but it is supposed to have heated rooms, hot showers, and electricity. \u00a0While we were there, the heating in the rooms worked at night (after lots of effort by the staff), but was not sufficient to keep them at a comfortable temperature — good for sleeping, but not for sitting up after dark. \u00a0Hot water is available<\/p>\n

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View From the Bell Tower<\/p><\/div>\n

only when they turn on the heater. \u00a0They did ask us upon our arrival if we would shower, in order to turn on the water heater. \u00a0The electricity and\u00a0hot water did not work the first night\/morning, but did work the next night\/morning.<\/p>\n

The Albergue is a project of the local community, which owns it in common and shares in the work and profit. \u00a0While the price and facilities do seem to be out of sync, it is pretty much your only option, so I guess they charge what the market will bear. \u00a0In that sense, maybe it is a very capitalist socially-owned operation. \u00a0I don’t resent that, but, honestly, would probably prefer my own tent, especially since I can bathe in hot water in the\u00a0Termas Manasaya<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Capilla Tomarapi<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even if you don’t stay in the Albergue, you still want to visit the very small village (the Albergue is probably as big as the rest of the village).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Altar of the Capilla de Tomarapi<\/p><\/div>\n

The Capilla Tomarapi is a beautiful little church which the U.S. Embassy helped to restore in 2010. \u00a0It has the stone construction and separate bell tower of the churches of the region. \u00a0The bell tower is open, so you can climb up for the beautiful view. \u00a0You want to get access to the interior of the church, too, as one of the last church murals of the colonial period is inside (the other is in the church in Lagunas).<\/p>\n

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Detail of Mural and Straw Roof Construction<\/p><\/div>\n

Definitely worth a stop, and Tomarapi, in any case, is on the route back to La Paz (via the old road) described in the final post on the Parque Sajama.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next installment of the Guide to Sajama is\u00a0Sajama Hike (Climb), Sajama National Park, pt. 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you want to see more photos of the Capilla de Tomarapi, go to\u00a0my photo site<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To my mind, there are two places you can stay in the Parque Nacional Sajama. \u00a0The best is your own tent. \u00a0A close second best is the Albergue Tomarapi. \u00a0The difference between the two is not as great as you might initially think. Albergue Tomarapi The Albergue is a lovely little guesthouse, with small rooms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,92,57,103,91,59],"tags":[15,187,168,81,14,170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2885"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4886,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions\/4886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}