Bolivia has also been called the Nepal of the Americas, for its Cordillera Real with almost a thousand peaks soaring over 5,000 meters and matching anything the Himalayas can offer in climbing and trekking, but with much less of the human traffic.

The major attraction tourists have for Bolivia is its wild, unexplored natural beauty. The country, or the greater part of it, lies off the beaten track; a vast wildness waiting to be seen and appreciated. This land-locked country at the heart and peak of South America offers magnificent trekking, especially around Coroico and Sorata in the Cordillera Real. You can go to the Amazonian rainforests in its eastern parts by breath-taking airplane flights or by hair-raising, or rather, heart-stopping bus rides.

Special Treats

Some travel companies offer the adventurous a one-week ice-climbing and biking vacation. After a day of training on the mountain bike, you pedal away on a mountain road ringed on the sides with 800-foot drops. If that’s not enough, another route will pass by a section with a 14,000-foot drop. The route takes you from the peak of the Chacaltaya Mountain and goes down into the impenetrable jungles of the Zongo Valley. A brief rest, and then you undergo one more day of training prior to a two-day climb up Huayna Potosi, one of the highest peaks in the world at 20,000 feet.

What Else to Do

Most parts of the country are remote, and can be reached only by long bus rides. Vacations lasting a few weeks would hardly be enough to see what should be seen. You may have to fly to other destinations. La Paz is the jump-off point for Bolivia’s sites. From the capital La Paz, you could take a trip north to the city of Tiahuanaco, which preceded the great Inca Empire; further north is Lake Titicaca. On the lake is the beautiful Isla del Sol, where legend says the Inca empire was created. You can also go down a terrifying but spectacular road to Coroico, a popular resort town in the sub-tropical Yungas valleys.

With more time, you could explore the remote corners of the Southern Altiplano. Old colonial Potosi is said to be the most interesting of Bolivia’s cities and the site of the Spanish silver mines. Nearby is the official capital, Sucre, with its fascinating colonial architecture. Southwest of Potosi is Uyuni, which sets you off on a 3-4-day tour to the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt lake. Further south, near the Chilean border, are deserts, volcanoes and multi-colored soda lakes carpeted with flamingoes. The south is also home to the vineyards of Tarija and the graveyards of dinosaurs. The Sajima National Park, near the Chilean border, includes the highest peak in Bolivia.

East of La Paz, you escape the cold of the altiplano and go down the Amazon jungle towards Brazil. The Torotoro National Park is full of fossils, dinosaur footprints, caves and waterfalls, the real trip for those who love the unbeaten paths.

Bolivia’s newest attraction is the Chalalan Eco-lodge, in the Madidi National Park, right in the Amazon jungle. This is ecotourism in capital letters, and the place has the greatest biodiversity in the whole planet. There are over 300 types of birds, 1,200 butterfly species, monkeys, jaguar, tapir, caiman, and other wildlife.

Best time to go

Bolivia’s roads are notoriously poor, so you’ll want to avoid the rainy season from November to March, if you want to visit the jungles. The Altiplano does not get much rain, so timing is not so crucial although hiking trails can get muddy. June and July, the winter months, are colder but the nights are clearer, and these are the best months to visit the Salar de Uyuni. June to August are the busiest tourism months and hotels will be full. The best festivals (Carnival and Holy Week) happen during the rainy season.

Planning your trip

Airlines are busiest from early December to mid-January and July to September. The best connections to La Paz are through Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires or Miami. The main cities have their hotels, but away from them, there are suitable hotels for every budget, which offer excellent value – not luxurious but clean and popular with travelers.

• ISBN13: 9781581570496
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Great Destinations™ puts the “guide” back in “guidebook.”

“Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered…Readable, tasteful, appealingly designed. Strong on dining, lodging, culture, and history.”—National Geographic Traveler. “A crisp and critical approach for travelers who want to live like locals.”—USA Today. Distinctive for their accuracy, simplicity, and conversational tone, the diverse travel guides in our Great Destinations series meet the conflicting demands of the modern traveler. They’re packed full of up-to-date information to help plan the perfect getaway. And they’re compact and light enough to come along for the ride. A tool you’ll turn to before, during, and after your trip, these guides include:
• Chapters on lodging, dining, transportation, history, shopping, recreation, and more!
• A section packed with practical information, such as lists of banks, hospitals, post offices, laundry mats, numbers for police, fire, and rescue, and other relevant information.
• Maps of regions and locales.

A top tier convention and recreational destination, the towns and cities of northern Utah are home to world-class skiing resorts, hiking trails, fly fishing excursions, art and history museums, and the Sundance Film Festival! Salt Lake City, Park City, Provo & Utah’s High Country Resorts: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide

Turn on the Tap

According to the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, Americans are the world’s top consumers of bottled water while, ironically, the U.S. has one of the safest public water systems on the planet. So, why did the bottled water craze take the nation by storm? Some experts say it began as small status symbol, mimicking the bottled waters popular in France and Italy. But, as the sources of water changed and companies such as Coca Cola and Nestle entered the game, bottled water spilled over from simply posh to popular.

Too popular, according to nonprofit groups and environmental organizations. Americans spend a combined $11.7 billion annually on bottled water. The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that every person in the U.S. tosses 160 plastic bottles in the trash each year – or 8 out of every 10 bottles purchased. Given the preciousness of oil in the current economic climate, it’s also important to note that CRI says it takes 15 million barrels of oil per year to make plastic bottles for America’s bottled water addiction.

The Cost of Convenience

The convenience of bottled water has certainly added to its popularity. Think of Little League games, public events, road trips and that handy bottle at your desk. But now, as people become more aware of the environmental downsides of plastic containers and the questionable value of bottled water compared to tap water or filtered tap water, the tide may be turning.

A number of cities have ceased the once popular practice of providing bottled water for employees. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom observed World Water Day in 2007 by canceling all the city’s bottled water contracts. Chicago and Salt Lake City followed suit. The popular Austin City Limits Music Festival stopped providing bottled water to its legion of volunteers and rewarded patrons who recycled bottles with a special T-shirt.

The world renown Chez Panisse in Berkeley calculated the carbon footprint of the bottles of sparkling water it imported from Italy and removed the bubbly from the menu. And, in Canada, a movement is sweeping the land. Students in colleges and high schools are protesting contracts with Coca-Cola and Pepsi for their bottled waters. The students are lapping up free, fresh water from school drinking fountains instead.

Questions of Quality

As bottled waters attract increased scrutiny, public water systems are measured against them for both cost and water quality. The cost factor is extremely compelling. A bottle of water costs a dollar and often more, depending upon the brand. Water from the tap costs about $0.00002 per ounce. If a city’s tap water is unpalatable due to chlorine treatment or other sanitizing chemicals, even the addition of a water filter to a faucet gets gallons of water for pennies a day.

Water quality is also variable in both bottled waters and public water supplies. According to the EPA, bottled water is not necessarily safer than water that flows from the tap. In fact, some bottled water is no more than treated (or untreated) tap water. Consumers are advised to read the label on bottled waters to learn the source and the method of treatment. More in-depth questions have to be addressed to the manufacturer. In contrast, specific information about public water systems, water quality and treatment are publicly available on the EPA’s website. The Environmental Working Group also has a tap water database where people can look up water quality and content by zip code.

Well Into the Future

But, the most compelling concern about water in plastic bottles is environmental. The Container Recycling institute says the amount of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles being recycled reached 1,170 million pounds in 2005 while the amount of PET bottles ending up in landfills reached 3,900 million pounds. That number includes some other beverages in PET containers but the institute says water bottles are the biggest problem. Many states offer no redemption incentives on water bottles and the plain, usually sugarless drink is just so popular.

Plastic water bottles in landfills do not rest in peace. They drift or are blown into other areas such as the Pacific Ocean where, according to CRI, they form a messy, toxic mass that is twice the size of Texas. It takes about 1,000 years for a plastic bottle to degrade into tiny pieces that, to fish and birds, often look like food. There is also increasing evidence that PET bottles and other plastic bottles may be a threat to human health.

Consumer Choice

So, what is a water-lover to do? First, the EPA and other experts advise giving your tap water a try. Some municipal systems, such as the one serving San Francisco, pour forth with crystal clear water from the High Sierra. Other communities, where there is heavy agricultural or industrial activity, may not be so fortunate. When contaminants and lead might be present, public systems use a variety of techniques to make drinking water safe. They are regulated by the EPA and frequent testing is federally mandated. That is to say the tap water is safe, but may not be taste tempting.

There are many effective filtering products on the market from faucet mounted filters to pitchers and filtered water dispensers. These devices remove contaminants and pollutants while improving the taste of water. They are quite affordable and provide families with assurance about the quality of water they use for drinking and cooking.

Once the source issue is solved, people will still want the convenience of portability. There is an increasing marketplace of containers for water, from personal water bottles made of reusable aluminum, stainless steel, ceramic and traditional glass. As awareness of the health dangers and environmental downside of plastic bottles spreads, a market-driven demand will result in even more choices for people who want fresh water at their side, wherever they may roam.

• ISBN13: 9781581570496
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
Great Destinations™ puts the “guide” back in “guidebook.”

“Consistently rated the best guides to the regions covered…Readable, tasteful, appealingly designed. Strong on dining, lodging, culture, and history.”—National Geographic Traveler. “A crisp and critical approach for travelers who want to live like locals.”—USA Today. Distinctive for their accuracy, simplicity, and conversational tone, the diverse travel guides in our Great Destinations series meet the conflicting demands of the modern traveler. They’re packed full of up-to-date information to help plan the perfect getaway. And they’re compact and light enough to come along for the ride. A tool you’ll turn to before, during, and after your trip, these guides include:
• Chapters on lodging, dining, transportation, history, shopping, recreation, and more!
• A section packed with practical information, such as lists of banks, hospitals, post offices, laundry mats, numbers for police, fire, and rescue, and other relevant information.
• Maps of regions and locales.

A top tier convention and recreational destination, the towns and cities of northern Utah are home to world-class skiing resorts, hiking trails, fly fishing excursions, art and history museums, and the Sundance Film Festival! Salt Lake City, Park City, Provo & Utah’s High Country Resorts: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide