Leaving La Paz for Lake Titicaca

It is with a heavy heart that I have to say 'See you later Bolivia' (definitely not Goodbye).

We arrived in Cusco on Wednesday morning at 2:30am - although the bus driver let us sleep in the bus until 5:30 when he had to take it somewhere else. The last couple of days in La Paz involved a bit of rest while sampling the La Paz nightlife over the weekend.

I would have to say that La Paz would be very close to Rio de Janeiro as my favourite city. What it lacks in flambuoyancy (flambuoyant colours but not personalities) it makes up for in intrigue and natural wonders. The city itself is built in a valley shaped like a giant crater, with a second more poverty stricken side that spills over the edge and flows southward. Photos aren't capable of capturing the full width of the city, which is required to appreciate it's lego-like appearance of terracotta blocks cascading down the steep sides of the crater.

We caught a bus to Copacabana on lake Titicaca on Sunday afternoon and the following day caught an extremely slow barge across to the Isla del Sol (for those who remember your 'Amazing Lost Cities of Gold'). A 6km hike along the spine of the island gave us some stunning views of Lake Titicaca (the highest lake in the world) before another superb trout lunch and a barge back to Copacabana (a misplaced ticket meant we had to sneak aboard a different boat).

On Tuesday afternoon we caught a bus to Cusco with a 5 hour stop in Puno giving us enough time to take a trip across to the floating islands of Uros - a race of people who existed pre-Incan and built the entirity of their little civilisation out of reeds - floating on Lake Titicaca.

We have been baulking at doing the Inca trail due to the extreme expense (about US$200) and the fact it takes 4 days when we would rather do it in two or three (which would be feasible given the altitude rarely goes above 3000m, quite low after 3 weeks of acclimatising to 4000m and higher). So today we booked ourselves in for a slightly cheaper alternative. Mountain biking from 5000m down to 1000m then hike to Aguas Calientes at the bottom of Macchu Picchu and the up to the ruins the following day. Had a rest day today and then off on the bike/trek tomorrow (Friday) morning.


Photos from Titicaca will be in the Bolivia Album when they go up, and the rest will be in the Peru Album....will put up a link when they're ready.