Far off the main roads, tourism here is even sparser than the route from Lushoto to Mtae, but the violet-covered hills and butterfly-filled cloud forests do lure some visitors, who can access the park independently or through a tour.

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On the mainland, the glacier-covered cone of the Cerro Macau volcano peeked above the cloud and the straggly fishing port of Puerto Montt came into view.

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But walking in Bolivia is also an experience in diversity: one day you can be in snow-covered mountains and the next you might descend through moss-strewn cloud forests to jungle lowlands.

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People linger delightedly at the Hotel Habitat by Enric Ruiz-Geli with Cloud 9 Acconci Studio and Ruy Ohtake, a miniature simulacrum of a proposed four-star hotel for Barcelona covered with a web of 5, 000 winking light-emitting diodes, or LEDS, powered by solar cells for a nighttime display of glowing colors.

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