Larry Memmott's Blog

We enjoyed a glorious day on the Altiplano on Sunday.  Our plan was to drive a loop south of La Paz, visiting several colonial-era churches, a mining town, and some Inca and Pre-Inca ruins as well as Comanche and the famed Queen of the Andes.  In fact, we had such a good time in Comanche […]

That’s the English translation of the theme of the new Bolivian tourism campaign (Bolivia te espera). Take a look at the ads. They may be a bit repetitive, but they give you a good idea of some of the beauties of Bolivia. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goR8GRPlLbE&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2rRn7ZurvI&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXI5SPaM_s8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu-1L8fkvv8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

The valley of the moon is one of the closest and easiest trips out of La Paz. In fact, these days it is hardly even out of La Paz, as the south zone of the city (Zona Sur) continues to creep down the valley. The formation is of heavily compressed dirt and clay, which has […]

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

Though I’ll call this a day trip, you can actually visit this field of wildflowers on your lunch hour.  I’m not certain that it is actually in Bishkek proper, but if not, it is just outside.  Really, it is just an example of many beautiful places you can find by exploring the near foothills. This […]

Kok-Moinok Gorge is another of the fantastic day trips to the mountains from Bishkek.  It’s the next gorge east of Issyk Ata, and another beauty, with a rushing river flowing down through rough terrain with some forestation and scattered wildflowers.  It’s another one, though, that I did not have time to explore well, so I’ll […]

The wildflowers of Kyrgyzstan are rightfully considered among the most beautiful in the world.  While I got a chance to get around and see a lot of them while I was there, one of my regrets about departing so soon was that I missed the opportunity to get out again this spring, now that I’ve […]

The trip to Issyk Ata is a nice day trip, with possibilities for hiking or soaking in the hot springs. It’s also another curious relic of Soviet days with lots of old symbols of the Union still scattered about. I won’t go into the route details, since the route, including links to gps information, is […]

Utah must be one of the best places on earth for hiking.  That said, there are not so many good options in the north of the state in the winter.  Looking through the book, “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Salt Lake City: Including Ogden, Provo, and the Uintas,” I saw the recommended winter hike on […]

I’ve never been attracted by the “peaking” thing.  Always figured that once you had peaked, it was all down hill from there.  So, climbing to get to the top of something never mattered to me.  Actually, I’ve often found that if you bushwhacked a bit off of the beaten trail to the top (or to […]