Red lights, [Un acordeón en Palermo], Todo puede pasar, aún. Todo es posible. Todo pasa mas queriendo que sin querer. Estaciones con mendigos y guitarristas. Suena un Waltz en La Paz y el caribe en Rio, cántico de negros, alma blanca e impura. Cierro los ojos y me pierdo en América, a pesar de todo, de ti, de él y de todos nosotros, a pesar de la historia y de los hombres. The spirit from the north, the cherry-red spirit travelling through paradise.
Bogotá off the road 2004/2005
Iguazú falls. Argentinian and Brazilian side.
Rio de Janeiro and Sao Pablo.
(unfortunately it wasn't such a good idea to take my canon 400D to the streets of Rio, specially during carnaval, that explains my lack of photos) 
posted by Lo @ 10:43 AM
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Leaving Bolivia...
...well, as you can see if you scroll down to the photos. When arriving at imigration between Bolivia and Paraguay -yes these 3 wooden desks in the middle of the dessert, that was imigration-, I seemed to have forgotten this paper which has got a stamp that's got the exact day I got into the country. When telling the police officer, who sat in this completely destroyed little house with a shitload of papers, old books and ancient maps, that I didn't have that paper with me, he told me I had to pay a fee. (didn't want to, but hey.. he wanted only 25 bolivianos, which is... 2,5 quid). Finally I did... and when I turned back, just for inertia, i saw the guy putting the 25 boliviano bill into his pocket. Bah.. I couldn't bother any longer, just wanted to rest on a decent bed so I said to myself: "hey, at least I bought the guy a lunch." Bah.. that's the way the cookie crumbles in these countries.
as for Paraguay...
I don't even know how to start talking about Paraguay. I spend less than 24 hours in this country and I felt like leaving from the moment I arrived.
Paraguay is like this South American favela-like neighbourhood but bigger, nastier and filthier. Yet, I did have fun talking to some -not all- Paraguayans. Paraguay is the country of corruption. Things here are managed with money, which gives you power to do whatever you want. There is not such thing as "the law", this is Darwin al over again... survival of the fittest to the fullest. It is completely normal to bride whoever crosses by, specially if they are foreigners, not to mention Bolivians.
Ciudad del este is this "Sanandrecito-like" city. Sanandrecito is a shopping centre with only merchandise which has come through the black market, this makes things way cheaper but with no warranty at all. People from all over south america come to this place to buy from cameras, to laptops, from hair dryers, to car batteries. You can even sell your soul here to the devil... it wouldn't surprise me if you could...Once you arrive, there are people everywhere pushing you to come to the best, cheapiest store in town in the hope you'll fall in the trap and buy some crappy electronic device and never come back to complain about it.
posted by Lo @ 12:04 PM
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No need for words.
Santa Crúz de la Sierra, Bolivia
posted by Lo @ 11:54 AM
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If this is really happening, then I should keep my eyes open....
posted by Lo @ 11:34 AM
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La Paz
Some places on earth tend to stick out a kind of tenderness in me that is quite hard to explain. This is the case of La Paz, this city, as hectic as it is, didn't drop my into an abyss of oblivion but instead pushed me into a reality that keeps on striking me every time I crush into it.
After what I could call a deadly bus ride, I decided to catch a flight from Lima to La Paz, I claimined my luggage and looked for the nearest exit to catch my breath and -oddly enough- light up a fag -as I always tend to do-. Amazingly enough, La Paz welcomed me with an amazing view of what its named the mount Illimani -at 6.439 above sea level-. It seems as if La Paz was a city that dropped out of heaven and ended up falling into a mountain range, right in the middle of it...
There were two options to get into the city, one, take a bus which costs about 2 bolivianos or take a taxi for about 50. I doubted for a while until I realized the difference in currencies and what I was getting for a single boliviano. 12 bolivianos make up about 1quid, so make the math...
Smartly enough I took a taxi and headed for the centre. Apparently La Paz's airport lays between a mountain and the city itself on a valley in between various mounts... on the way to the city, most precisely in the middle of a highway from which you had an astonishing view of the city I felt extremely tempted to make some photos, assured by my friendly taxi driver -called Joaquín- that I wasn't going to get smashed by a truck in the middle of the highway, I was able to enjoy myself using my camera.
When I got into the city I couldn't believe what I was seeing, La Paz is one of the most chaotic city's in the world and to make things worse, there aren't any flat streets at all... (after all, they decided to built it in between mounts which makes it the highest capital in the world)... if I didn't get killed while taking photos next to the most important highway of Bolivia, I felt I was going to die a Shakespeare-like death by traffic..... if there ever was a conception of driving, civilization or civic morals in this place, it is gone by now, completely.
Luckly I survived -can't imagine how romantic it'd have been to be hit by a cholo bus in the middle of La Paz-.... Well, I'm not here to scare you off, I won't show you the chaos of La Paz -to tell you the truth I didn't dare to take out my camera in the middle of any single road-... I'm going to portrait what I believe made me fall in love with this city of hell... -or a step closer to heaven?, you decide-.
posted by Lo @ 2:58 PM
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...well, here we are again, suddenly living in in mid may. Time runs in such a speed that I can't tell what fast is any longer. It's been an eventful weekend and an amazing first 3 months in Buenos Aires even though I ought to apologize for the lack of care and dedication when writing and posting on my blog. I haven't been able to finish my Peru chapter of photos and I reckon that by the time I get to Argentina, I'll be back at home only writing memoirs about this wonderful and magic continent.
So... excuse moi for the delayed photos.
This is the last part of Peru... Cuzco, the metropolis of the Inca empire.
posted by Lo @ 12:01 PM
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Machu Picchu
Speechless... People knew more about it all than we will ever learn. Architecture-wise, spiritually, geographically, statically... historically. This place blew me away...
posted by Lo @ 9:29 AM
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Okay kids, this is the final round from what is was to be in Perú! (Tomorrow Machu Picchu)
Enjoy!
posted by Lo @ 4:06 PM
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Taquile Island is an island which sits on the Peruian side of the Lake Titicaca, 45km off shore from the city of Puno. About 1,700 Taquileños live on this island and they live from fish, rice and potatoes and of course... gringos.
They gave us this amazing show, with lovely dancers. These dances are mainly used for weddings and different religious ceremonies. Taquileños, run their society based on community collectivism, since every one must learn from others as soon as they can basically walk.
After the show, they cooked an amazing local fish with different kinds of potatoes, as you know Peru has got about 4000 different kinds of potatoes, so there's enough choice for the one that has hat it with European pomme frites.
I had the most amazing experience with these people. I was keen to get in touch with them and since music is the universal language and they had just given us an amazing dance and music show, I saw myself borrowing a guitar from a local Taquileño, I told them I wanted to play to them since they had just played to us.... well, not being a Eric Clapton nor Paco de Lucia playing guitar.... I started playing some fireplace songs, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones...
and suddenly I saw myself surrounded by about 30 people, 20 being children. I reckon they had never heard of Dylan in their lives and they thought I was some kind of rock star from far away... at the end I decided to play some gipsy/Spanish music and well, they all started clapping, dancing, going mad. It was the best way to get in touch with them... definitely.
I felt like finishing a bridge between the Locals and the tourist which never closes, since they just play their thing, cook their meals and get some money in return. That's how far is goes, most of the time.. but as I said before, music is a global language and I'm glad I got to share it with them. It was magic yet ephimeral...
I apologize for the delay on posting pictures, but I took about 1000 photos on my trip through South America. Expect Machu Picchu soon!
posted by Lo @ 10:04 AM
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The highest lake on earth
No need for words, let the pictures speak for themselves.
posted by Lo @ 9:14 AM
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A dreamer behind a camara, with dark brown soul windows, who lives at the country side of a land below the mighty seas... "Our lives don't really belong to us, you see -- they belong to the world, and in spite of our efforts to make sense of it, the world is a place beyond our understanding." -P.A
