Lake Titicaca & a bit of Bolivia

We capped off a great time in Peru with a stop in Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We visited a few of the floating islands which are made of layers of bundled reeds and loosely anchored in place. The "Uros" people were welcoming, even singing to us and showing us around their little islands.

 

 

 We were warmly welcomed to Bolivia (by llamas) and captured this classic family photo to commemorate the occasion, on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.

In La Paz we reunited with the Belgians, Britt & Flo, for a little shopping, biking and solstice celebrating! Jody & Flo decided to conquer the "Death Road" by bike while Britt and I (cowardly) opted out to take advantage of the cheap artisan markets. Jody had a great day on the scenic 70km downhill ride and I did a little damage at the markets, evidence of which is now in a 4kg box hopefully en route to Ontario. We also visited San Pedro prison (made famous by the book "Marching Powder") but unfortunately the guards no longer accept bribes for prison tours, so we just peaked in the front doors to the courtyard before being asked to leave!

We were convinced to partake in the Aymara New Year / Winter Solstice - an all-night festivity at the Tiwanaku Ruins before the sunrise ceremony. Ten thousand people flocked to Tiwanaku in the -15C frigid night and the only way to stay warm, apparently, was by lighting the field next to the ruins on fire... this worked for a while but around 4:30am we gave in to the cold and headed for our warm beds back in La Paz.

 

From La Paz we flew to the Amazon which I'll blog about in a separate post, but on our drive back into the city after the tour we stopped to take in the view at around 3,800m in altitude. After La Paz we visited Sucre where we climbed up to another great city view and ate heaping bowls full of fresh fruit salad at the market. We went to Potosi next, one of the 'highest' cities in the world and also home to the Potosi mines - the movie "The Devil's Miner" offers a sad but eye-opening perspective of these dangerous mines.

View over La Paz

View over Sucre

 Next up, the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia.