The day dawned bright with a few clouds and we waited till 11am for our pickup (late and an indication of what was to follow - we are now on Bolivian time where 15mins actually means 50 or even longer). There were 3 others on the tour with us, a Bolivian from La Paz and a very nice young German couple who translated for us, we had a lot of fun with them. First stop is the train graveyard just out of town and now that the snow has gone we see the countryside in all it's rubbish. Wind blown litter surrounds most towns on the Bolivian altiplano. These trains once took minerals from the mines until the 1940's when it all ended. Back along the road to La Paz we come to the salt producing ... read more

Tuesday On the overnight bus, we roasted in the heating and when the bus stopped in Juliaca, the other town affected by the strikes, an American girl had her bag swiped from under her seat by another passenger. She didn´t notice until too late and spent the next hour crying and talking to her dad....3am, poor dad. The hotel in Puno graciously allowed us to use a room for free in the hour we had to prepare for the lake trip....like Machu Picchu we had to live out of our day packs. This time we even slept in our clothes. Unlike Machu Picchu it was far less comfortable. The 2 day boat trip, at a very leisurely pace took us first to the floating reed islands (about 60) where 4000 Uros people live with cattle, pigs ... read more

Tuesday and Wednesday The flight went via Juliaca near Lake Titicaca. The country is semi-arid and very rugged, with volcanoes and lakes. Juliaca is located in a very wide flay valley surrounded by low mountains (sedimentary rock turned on end) a deep purple brown colour. The houses are boxes of the same colour as many are built of mud bricks. As we neared Cusco, the Andes rose up in sharp snow-capped peaks and glaciers. We arrived in Cusco during festival, part of Inti Raymi (festival of the sun). Some of the streets of Cusco were closed for the parades which started mid-morning and were still going at 8pm. 3 TV stations were broad-casting live. Every day there is music, dancing and parades somewhere in the city. All very colourful and noisy. We have learnt a new ... read more

We left Huacachina an hour late on a Cruz del Sur bus...what luxury! Seats recline way back and there are leg rests. We were upstairs in economy, second from front and on the ocean side so I had a very good view of the edge of the road literally at the edge of the cliff 100m above the crashing waves....must be why we travel at night....can´t see the dangers. We were served dinner and breakfast, a la airlines and in flight entertainment included music, DVD on destination and surrounds and movie (with English subtitles) Our speed was displayed above the big front window and beeped if it went over 90kph (that happened about 6 times, lasting a couple of minutes, maximum, on the 10 hour journey) Generally we averaged 40-50kph, dropping to 25 and sometimes staying ... read more

A 3am start to arrive for the Isla Ballestas trip at 8am! The staff in our hotel were kind enought to get breakfast for us, including fried eggs. A lot of farming can be seen on the way down the coast...all irrigated. They raise chooks on the beach. The towns are untidy and dusty and many of the buildings sprout long lengths of reo. (This was a very common sight in our travels) A fast boat takes us out to Isla Ballestas, rocky islands with caves, birds, penguins and seals. On the way out we see some old carvings in the hard slopes about 180m long and 50cms deep...been there well over 150 yrs but no one knows what they are or who did them. Because it NEVER rains, marks last a long time. Water comes ... read more