Larry Memmott's Blog

About halfway between Caquiaviri and the Bolivia/Chile border at Charaña are two hills on which the ancients chose to build a necropolis and a fortress.  I haven’t had the chance to fully explore these hills, but even the short visits I have made to this area have been very interesting. Even without climbing the hills you […]

I’ll get to some of the places I like in Washington, itself, eventually, but for someone like me, someone from the open spaces out west, the most important thing to know when you live in a city like Washington is how (and to where) you can escape.  My favorite escapes from Washington are Dolly Sods […]

  Rosapata and Lerqu make a great side trip on your way to Curahuara de Carangas.  The two chapels are small and humble, but each is beautiful in its own way.  Also, the landscape is spectacular.  That said, this is not a trip to take in your nice sedan, and it is going to take […]

The area around Zongo, with many isolated mountain valleys, lakes, and ruins, including of several Inca roads, seems like a great place for exploring.  I’ve been hiking in the area, but haven’t been able to devote to it the time it deserves.  Jorge Pinto and a group from the Club de Excursionismo Andinismo y Camping […]

Alex got here Thursday morning and we’ve been having a good time since then (even though work has been completely insane).  Friday night we went to the video taping of a concert by Bolivian metal group Armadura at the Ministry of Culture.  It was a blast. Saturday we went down to the Valley of the […]

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 […]

The small, but interesting, archaeological site at Cala Cala, less than 15 miles from Oruro, together with the colonial-era chapel in Sepulturas, along the way, make for a very pleasant half-day trip from Oruro.  If you have a full day for an excursion, you could certainly pack a picnic and spend a few hours hiking around the […]

  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, […]