Weekend of soccer and Tiwanaku

Facebook pictures are up. I was able to fill this last weekend up with some cultural events, both old and new.

I took a trip to the old capital of the Andean region called Tiwanaku. It is thought to be the most powerful city from roughly 1000 BC to 1000 AD. It was a economic and religious center. It is thought that human sacrifices of the gruesome type were performed. A lot of the buildings and statues were destroyed by the Spanish to "modernize" their cultures. They used the stones of the temples to build churches and beheaded statues, etc. Academics still dont understand how they built a lot of the large temples with the techonolgies at the time.

I personally had a great time as I really haven´t had much experience with ruins this old.


The next day, I went to a soccer game. There are 2 teams in Bolivia, Bolivar and The Strongest. They were playing each other making for a big rivalry so some of us students decided to go. We got about the best seats in the place for 10 dollars. I bought a jersey for 5 dollars and of course routed for that team, Bolivar. Bolivar did win so it was a good day. The ends of the stadium held the hard core cheerers that were constantly singing, jumping up and down in unison in support of their teams. While certain areas of Souther America are a little famous for violence at soccer games, Bolivia seems to be pretty tame. I was surrounded by families with little kids. It was an excellend venue.

Next trip on the schedule: Uyuni salt flats.