212 CultureShock! BoliviaTo most folk who travel around
the world, San José would seem
like a disappointing backwater
village. But after the jungle of
pitiless beauty, San José was a
welcome refuge, “where a piece of fresh bread comes over
like a great delicacy,” Andrew explains.
Andrew and his three companions, with the indispensable
help of several shifts of guides, had made it through
inhospitable uncharted territory, discovering ruins of ancient
Inca villages.A True Discovery
On Andrew’s next trip through the region, the ornithologist, Bret
Whitney, was going to discover a new species of bird! Whitney
had been there before, and in one of his bird recordings, picked
out a new ‘tune.’ He returned to discover what is now named
Sevialapus Schienbergi.A few years later, San José received a grant and a world-
class ecotourism lodge was built.Bolivian Paradise
Adventurers Peter and Andrew fi nd weird joy in exploring
places where their lives are in danger. Their wilderness
machismo requires 30 kgs (66 lbs) on your back and a trail
only navigable with a machete. Anything less is for wimps.
Maybe I’m a wimp, but I prefer to venture where I have at
least a 97 per cent chance of survival. Sorata is one of these
places. It is less awesome than La Paz’s Palca Canyon, less
sensational than Potosí, less prominent than Lake Titicaca’s
melancholic beauty. But Sorata is mellow and sensorial, as
it hides within virtually inaccessible mountains.Sorata in Style
Once you get to this tidy town of pastel façades that
resembles an Italian hillside village, Sorata continues to play
hard to get, with snow covered Mount Illampu offering only
an occasional glimpse.In Sorata, stone stairways
connect streets that are lined
with wrought-iron balconies.
The lush town plaza is nurtured
by recurrent silky drizzles.