Back in alphabetical order, we were on to our third country in South America, Bolivia.
Bolivia isn't a rich country if we're talking money, although there was a big mining boom for silver at one point. But, this place is pretty rich in various geographies. You can visit the Andes Mountains, the Amazon Rainforest, high-altitude desserts, salt-flats and savannas in this country somewhere between the size of Texas and Alaska.
It also has one of the world's lowest population densities. Living in Florida, we find that appealing! And most of that population, something like 60 percent is of pure Native American ancestry. It is the most indigenous country in the Americas.
The country was named after some guy (whose name is REALLY long, but part of it is 'Bolivar') who kept several Latin American countries out of the hands of Spanish Conquistadors.
Bolivia has two capital cities, La Paz (administrative) and Sucre (judicial). La Paz is the highest capital city in the whole world (at 11,910 feet above sea level). It's so high clouds can fill living rooms!
Getting there can be tricky though. Taking a car you'll have to go on what they call the 'Highway of Death', which is responsible for over 300 deaths every year.
Bolivia is also home to the highest navigable lake in the world, Lake Titicaca which was our landmark today. In the Andes, and straddling the line between Peru and Bolivia, it is one of South America's largest lakes. Called the 'birthplace of the Inca's' the water there is famously bright and reflective.
You can also find some pretty awesome salt flats in Bolivia. Among them is the Salar de Uyuni (the Uyuni Salt Flats). It looks like a white desert, but it is actually the world's largest inland deposit of salt. During the rainy season it becomes a giant mirror of the sky.
The boys made their Bolivia postcards.
Calib made his 'Bolivia' postcard with two capital 'B's to remember the two capital cities.
Peyton had a car flying off the Highway of Death.
And Hayden put a llama in his!
For dinner we had Pique a lo Macho. I can't find the exact recipe we used, but this one is close. Basically, Bolivia is like the original meat and potatoes country (a country after my own heart). So this is basically a meat dish served on top of french fries. FRENCH FRIES! It's like the South American version of poutine! I took a couple pictures along the way, because I wasn't sure how it would look plated. Here is our topping. (We used some of the meat from the roast we had last night, since it was a big cut we knew we could use it for both nights, and some of the chicken sausages Sprouts had on sale this week).
You're supposed to top the dish with hard boiled egg, and then 'smother it in ketchup and mayo'. I knew none of that was going to work for Peyton. He despises soggy fries, but gags at the thought of mayo. And usually, I don't worry about what the boys will eat, but some thing I know they aren't into, I try and help them out, especially since they have been so good about trying things. So here is Peyton's deconstructed Pique lo Macho (which he did very much enjoy).
Here is the dish all put together.
Calib skipped the mayo and the ketchup, he just didn't think it sounded like it fit. I just went for it, because that's how it is meant to be eaten, and Hayden will jump on any reason to 'smother' anything in any condiments.
Asa on the other hand put it on part of his Pique a lo Macho. He was convinced it was going to ruin a really awesome dinner. But, surprisingly, the ketchup and the mayo totally worked. He eventually put it on the whole thing.
We had our choice of like a million different fruits, since Bolivia grows all kinds of stuff, but we finished up our 69 cents a pound grapes we got at Sprouts.
This dinner, in case you couldn't guess earned 5 spoons up.
We all agreed we wished there was more of it. Our only complaint it was a tiny bit on the salty side. But, I guess that fits in.
We were a little behind on our scratch off map, so we got caught up on that.
And then we played a game of Incan Gold to help the boys remember the birthplace of the Incas. Although we said we should rename it to 'Incan Silver' for Bolivia Day!
40 countries down, only 153 to go!
Next Up: Bosnia & Herzegovina
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