Sipe Sipe / Incarakay

Feeling the need to get out of Cochabamba to see some of the natural environment, we set course today for the nearby town of Sipe Sipe. From there, a walk would take us to the site of Inkarakay - Inca ruins. To be honest, though, it was just an excuse for a long walk.

In Bolivia - well, Cochabamba, at least - there seems to be several ways of getting around: bus, trufi taxi, or micro. The local buses ply length and breadth of the town with the name of the streets they visit in the window. They are colourful blue, white and red Dodge vehicles emblazoned with encouraging slogans such as "Comfort, Elegance, Security".

Travelling in style

A trufi taxi is like a regular taxi cab, only it has an extra row of seats in the rear of the car, so as to fit more people in. Rather than taking a single ride to your destination, you get in and share the ride (and hence cost) with the other passengers, eventually ending up where you want to be after a circuitous fashion.

Trufi taxi

Micros are also collective transport. Comprising mostly Toyota minivans with as many seats in them that will possibly fit, micros journey between towns along known routes and can be hailed at any point along the way. Although small, there are many of these micros and it is not uncommon yo see a stream of three or four going the same way along our street.

Scooter and (behind) micro buses

In fact, conveniently the micro leaving for Quillacollo, the next town and launching point for Sipe Sipe, passes directly outside our door at all times of day. We hopped on this morning and got off at Plaza Bolívar, paying 2.40bs per person for the trip. The square was busy and jammed with micros heading in all directions. After much walking around and asking locals, we finally found one bound for Sipe Sipe and hopped on board.

At Sipe Sipe, we took the only road southwest out of town, which was the uncomplicated route up to the ruins. The road was cobbled with stones for much of its length and was also used by the odd truck. We saw no other walkers and simply followed the road as it steadily ascended from the town's 2600m, up to an elevation of 3260m.

View over Sipe Sipe

With the sun beating down, the 13km to the ruins was more of an endurance test that we had anticipated. The Inca ruins, once we were in sight of them, were rather an anticlimax, but the purpose was for the hike, not the destination.

Some very ruined ruins

The views were stunning overlooking the red rocks and the valley containing Sipe Sipe. We sat and ate our lunch gazing out into the distance before tackling the descent.

The return journey was far easier, but we were glad to let the micro take the strain after the 26km round trip. Our micro from Quillacollo seemed to be full to capacity, with 15 passengers plus two babies. Nevertheless, this didn't stop the driver screeching to a halt for more passengers, who flipped down hitherto unseen seats or simply crouched in the doorway ready to leap out with a cry of "voy a bajar" (I'm getting off).

There was only one dish that today's exertions called for: a large helping of rice with green beans, broccoli, and a fried egg.

Energy food