Bolivia: Isla de la Luna

The small neighboring island of Isla de la Luna has the ruins of an ancient, pre-Inca temple.

Bolivia: Isla del Sol

We spent day 12 hiking over Isla del Sol from our hotel down to the lakeside, taking a boat to the neighboring Isla de la Luna, and coming back to the hotel for an evening ceremony at moonrise. A wonderful day, divided on this blog into three postings. Today, a baker's dozen of scenes from Isla del Sol overlooking Lake Titicaca. The first two are at Ecolodge La Estancia.

Bolivia: To Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca

On day 11 of our Bolivia tour we drove back to Uyuni, flew to La Paz, drove to the Strait of Taquina, ferried across to Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca (shared by Bolivia and Peru), and ferried again to Isla del Sol. We ended the day with a breathtaking (literally, since we were at 15,000 feet) climb/hike through pretty farmland to our hotel, the Ecolodge La Estancia.

Our blue-green bus is being ferried across the strait in the upper left.

Bolivia: Alpacas, Grasses, and Hot Springs

The Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve features not just stone trees and red lagoons with flamingos, but also golden tufty grasses, grazing alpacas, and hot springs—all set against rugged mountains at about 4000 meters. Truly one of Earth's remarkable places.

Bolivia: Red Lagoon with Flamingos

Brine shrimp, on which the flamingos feed, color the lagoon a deep purple-red. The snow adds an additional touch.

Solar Eclipse

Portland, Oregon was near totality for today's solar eclipse. We would have had to go about 70 miles south to experience totality, but 99.44% in our back yard seemed close enough. So we walked across the street to Jamison Park, where we joined a few dozen of our neighbors to witness the event. I didn't plan to photograph the eclipse itself, but rather the spectators with their special glasses in the dark and contrasty light.

The unexpected happened as we left the park after the maximum occlusion had passed. We noticed crescents on the sidewalk under the trees. The small spaces between the leaves had acted as pinholes, serving as a set of pinhole cameras to project images of the solar crescent on the flat surface.

And then, walking back to our condo building, we saw this strange light pattern on the flat wall. Light was reflecting from windows in a building opposite, and the overall dim illumination allowed us to see the different intensities of reflection from the imperfectly planar windows.

Bolivia: Rock Valley in the Snow

An unexpected snowfall, which yesterday made it difficult for us to reach our hotel, gave a different appearance to the bizarre formations in the Rock Valley.

The Stone Tree

Note the table in the center, and the pyramid to the left.

Vicuñas grazing

Our caravan