La Paz, Bolivia

At 3660m, La Paz is the highest administative capital in the world. Ok, that's all the knowledge stuff you get. We spent 4 nights in La Paz. Two of them at a very nice two bedroom apartmentment where I caught up on movie watching, indulging in foods I hadn't had for ages, like real cheese (not the fresh squeeky stuff), and uploading photos. There was also a very nice French run restaurant down stairs where I had a fabulous onion soup and pork belly with mashed potatoes, apple and devine gravy. Yes it is true I am a tad obsessed with food at the moment. Looking forward to some good kiwi tucker.

Our bus making its way across Lake Titicaca on our way to La Paz.

Our fantastic apartment's kitchen. I made mac 'n' cheese there.

My abode

Check out the cheese oozing down the side of the onion soup. Yum!

Typical street in La Paz.

See how the city continues up the hill in the background, it's massive.

The beginning of the witches market.

There are normal stalls and then there are the ones with dead things and animal bits.

Multi tasking - selling fruit and spinning wool.

A dead things stall.
There were also piles of dried llama fetuses which are placed under the cornerstone of new houses for good luck. Supposedly dried toucan beaks keep away bad spirits. Who would have thought.

Next stop Sucre. In 29 days I'll be on a plane heading back to New Zealand!

Cocacabana & Isle del Sol, Bolivia

Our first stop in Bolivia was on Isla del Sol (Sun Island) the largest island on Lake Titicaca.

After a very slow, windy, and bumpy boat ride from Copacabana to Isla del Sol there was a slow climb up a lot of steps to get to the accommodation area.

There was other traffic we needed to give way to on the way up.

We stayed on the south end of the island and I had a very scenic two hour walk to the north end.

There were some traffic hold ups along the way...

but the scenery was fantastic.

The north end of the island where I had lunch.

The walk home was an unexpected three and a half hours over the top of the island.

First stop, the labyrinth, Inca ruins full of passageways.

This lady was my sugar fix hero. She had her little shop just before all of the hills.

The view from the sugar fix shop. Great marketing plan.

Copacabana

View from our hostel

The happiest pudding ever - chocolae fondue.

Market street in Copacabana.

Lake Titicaca from Copacabana.

Puno, Peru

Our last stop in Peru. Puno is an ugly town, which I took no photos of, but we did find a fantastic restaurant so that was a bonus. I had the best fillet mignon for a whopping NZ$10.

Another thing Puno has going for it is that it's on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We did a day boat trip on the lake.

Floating Reed Islands (Uros)

The reed tied at the top shows the depth of the island.


Locals showing us what the base of the island is made of and how there criss cross the reeds in layers onto of the base.

Getting the stalls ready for the tourists.

More stalls.

Local craft

Their clothes aren't the most flatering and I can't figure out how they keep their hats from falling off.

Six people sleep in this 'house'.

The lady that made my cushion cover, showed me her house and dressed me up.

Farewells

A reed boat like this transported us to the main island.

The smallest island I saw.

More crafts

Taquile Island

Who needs a clothesline?

There were a lot of stairs to climb to reach the town at the top of the island.

It was worth it for the views.

Looking down from the top.

Wool spinning

Another handy use for tyre shoes.

A lot of the guys walked around knitting.

If you look closely this guy is knitting a hat.

View from our lunch spot