Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-09-20
ADIOS TO BOLIVIA.
SOME OF THE TRIALS - TRAVELLERS
IN SOUTH AMERICA,
From La Paz to Lake Titicaca-Journey-
ing Among the Andes in Four
Wheeled Carriage.
Especial Correspondence of the REcoED-UN1oS. j
XVIII.

republic and seek the world once more.
There is no way out of it but that by which
the early Spaniards came-up, by zig-zag
windings, from the sequestered valley OF
La Paz to the Andean plateau and thence,
following the old highway of the Incas
among the mountains, to Lake Titicaca
Small steamers ply between Chililaya, a
village on the Bolivian border Of the lake,
and Puno, on the Peruvian side. Chllilaya
is fifty-six miles from La Paz, and dill
oencia runs between, making the round
trip only once week, timed SO as to meet
the regular arrival and departure OF the
steamers.
The diligencia is a numbering coach of
the oldest Concord" pattern, resembling
an ark more than carriage, with four
seats inside of it and several perches on
top, which, by tight squeezing, can be made
to accommodate (?) from fifteen to twenty
passengers. The fare one way is So for
each person. This, however, does not in
clude luggage, all of which must be sent
the day before to the coach office, where it
Is duly weighed and charged for at an av-
erage of So per hundred pounds and is
then sent on ahead in freight wagons, when
it is not forgotten. Everywhere in South
America, and especially in these parts, the
tourist will do well to keep a sharp eye on
his own baggage, or the chances are about
ten to one that it may be left behind. If
no trunks are to be found when you are
ready to sail across the lake, there will be
10 rt IF ha
that be and no end of assurances that the
missing articles shall at once be forwarded
to your address. But don't you believe a
word of it, though the promises are prob
ably made with the best intentions. There
being no check system, there is no way of
identifying stray bags and boxes, and the
employees are much too careless to be
trusted. At any rate, great many things
disappear somehow on this short journey
as mysteriously and completely as though
the earth had opened and swallowed them.
Though the start is made promptly at
o'clock, very early hour in the country,
the accommodating officials will not send
the coach to your door, and therefore the
mountain must go to Mahomei. Despite
the absence of breakfast (which you could
not possibly procure anywhere in Spanish
America before 1890 A. NJ. j. storms, cold,
sirroche, or whatsoever may betide, you
must hurry on foot, up and down the steep
and stony streets, to the diligencia Office,
which is fully three-quarters of mile
from the hotels.
Besides the stage there is another We
hicIe that may be hired for private use, if
ones purse is long enough. 1t is called
"Tillbury" from the name of the English
manufacturer and is an odd cross between
double phaeton and a Black Maria. A
days use of it costs anywhere between $50
and 500, according to the mood of the
owner and the exigencies of the occasion.
If your need is great, such, for instance, as
having to convey an invalid who could
not possibly endure the crowded coach, the
highest price will invariably be charged;
but if you are careful to display no eager
ness and are only travel-stained pilgrim
with no indications of wealth about you,
you may get the tillbury for $50. 1t is a
two-seated vehicle and only four persons,
including the driver, are permitted to ride
under any circumstances; therefore, if your
party numbers three, $40 apiece is not so
bad, especially as the carriage will come
to your door and its driver will conform
somewhat to your directions in the matter
of going fast or slow and the length of
stops.
Think of being whirled over the Andes,
sitting at ease in a carriagel We have
crossed and recrossed these mighty mount
aims in many places generally on mule
back, over perilous trails; and l am glad
to tell you that though grand and pict-
uresque from any point of view, the Andes
can nowhere be seen with greater satisfac
tion than right here on the easy road be-
tween La Paz and Chililaya.
The first three miles out of the valley,
the road is like a corkscrew, winding
higher and higher by so sharp an ascent
that frequent stops must be made in order
to allow the painting animals time to re-
cover breath, though eight horses are to
the coach and six to the tillbury. When
the plateau is reached at last, the view
spread out beneath is more magnificent
than tongue or pen can adequately de-
scribe, and one might travel the wide
world over without finding its superior
More than fifteen hundred feet below lies
La Paz in It's narrow gorge; but from this
aerial perch nothing is visible of it but an
apparent fiat surface of red-tiled roofs,
pierced here and there by trees and church
towers and curling columns of smoke. On
every hand there are hills on hills. crowd
ing close upon the town, and beyond rise
the Jagged peaks of the snow-capped Cor
dilleras 1t is now nearly 8 o'clock, and
the mists of morning are rapidly rising.
As we look the view is suddenly shut off,
so that the zig-zag road up which we came
seems TO drop into a sea of cloud. And
thus we bid ddios to the "City OF Peace"
This vast Andean plain, of which Lake
Titicaca is supposed to be part, lies at
the mean elevation of $4,000 feet, and is
$50 leagues long by 35 leagues wide-a
Bolivian league being nearly three miles
and half, instead of three miles, accord
ing to the measurement of North America.
The broad road is excellent, though not
even drained, being neither wet nor dusty,
and hard as if macadamized. Part of it
leads along the ancient highway of the In
cas-, wonderful work, which still endures
in good condition though constructed
nearly 500 years ago. Perhaps the best
Monuments left by those people of the past
are their cdminoS reaies, or "royal roads"
which extended from Cuzco, the capital TO
the remotest parts of their empire. One of
them led to the sea and the other, which
is followed to La Paz, ran along the crest
of these eordilleras, the combined length
of both with their branches being about
1000 miles. Says recent writer; "In
contemplating them We know not which to
admire most, the scope Of their projectors,
the power and constancy of the Incas who
carried them to completion, or the patience
Of the people who constructed them under
all the obstacles resulting from the topog-
raphy OF the country and from imperfect
means of execution. They built these
roads in deserts, among moving sands re-
fecting the fierce rays of a tropical sun;
they broke down rocks, graded precipices,
leveled hills and filled up valleys, without
the assistance OF powder or instruments of
iron: they crossed lakes. marshes and riy-