A Trip to Bolivia with Our World Traveler,
Laurie Campbell
On April 11th we met at the Commack Branch of the Smithtown Library to visit Bolivia with Laurie Campbell. As usual, Laurie gave a wonderful presentation.
Bolivia is a country in central South America. The terrain spans the Andes Mountain, the Atacama Desert, and the Amazon Rain Forest. At more than 3,500 m, its administrative capital, La Paz, sits on the Altiplano Plateau with the snow-capped Mt. Illimani in the background. Nearby is the glass smooth Lake Titicaca, the continent’s largest lake, straddling the border with Peru. Its capital is Sucre and Bolivia has a population of 11.5 million people.
Bolivia is equal in size to California and Texas combined. Brazil forms its eastern border and its other neighbors are Peru and Chile on the west and Argentina and Paraguay on the south.
In Bolivia, the people are culturally, racially and socially diverse, a clear reflection of the 36 native indigenous groups that have inhabited the country’s various regions for thousands of years. It is one of the least-developed countries in South America. Almost two-thirds of its people, many of whom are subsistence farmers, live in poverty.
Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat. It was a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desert like, nearly 11.000 sq. km. landscape of bright white salt, rock formations, and cacti-studded islands. Though wild life is rare in this unique ecosystem, it harbors many pink flamingos.
Laurie also showed exciting slides of Illimani’s snowcapped mountain and the Aconcagua Mountains with a summit elevation of 6,960.8 meters, making it the highest mountain in both the Southern and Western Hemisphere. Her slides of the Atacma Desert showed a vast region and it is one of the driest places in the world. This desert region is actually a really cold place with temperatures ranging from 0 to 30 degrees.
Laurie also showed us many slides of the colorful woven garments as well as the famous hats that were worn by the people.
It was a pleasure having Laurie at our meeting. We hope that she will return in the near future to take us on another journey. Her presentations are always fast moving and informative.
Have a safe trip to the British Isles Laurie, and have a safe trip back to the colonies.