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Published: November 12th 2005
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Amazing views at Lake Titicaca
Snow capped mountains, sparkling water - beautiful Rick provids the intro, whilst Becky has written the longer more boring stuff!
Hola from Rick:
Again thanks for all your comments on the previous blog, and yes the sights and sounds of south america are nothing on the joys of spotting a burberry cap and a silky shell suit flash past in a souped up escort xri with the sweet sound of loud bassy R&B.
Well everything we have done recently has been at the highest in the world. Highest and largest navicable lakein the world (surely all lakes are navicable?), Lake Titicaca (fnar fnar), highest capital city in the world (La Paz), played the highest golf course in the world and maybe most expensive relative to the Bolivian GDP, where I was particulary rubbish (maybe due to a rather large drinking event the night before which resulted in about 4 hours sleep before teeing off), the highest city in the world (Potosi) where I visited the highest mine (silver) in the world which was particularly murderous (where over 8 million people have died since the 1500´s which was nice!). We just visited the Uyuni salt flats, which surprising are the highest and largest in the world, where
Becky shrunk somewhat (see pics). Again played some locals at footie on the salt flats and although I felt I was going to to cough up a lung after 5 mins due to the altitude and in the middle of a stinking flu our superiour technique shone thorugh!
Toadfish Rebecki´s Depth;
This entry covers what we´ve been up to for the last 2 weeks or so since we left Cuzco.
Nursing wicked hangovers we left Cuzco for Puno, a little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which is the first of our "highest ever" series - the highest navicable lake in the world. The lake is so huge, it looks pretty much like a sea, and spans both Peru and Bolivia. The water in the lake is completely clean and blue, and as the air is so thin and clean at this altutitude (about 3,500 metres) the sun reflects off the lake so that it shimmers as far as the eye can see - really beautiful, especially with snow capped mountains in the distance.
As we got to Puno late we just stayed over then set off for th Bolivian border crossing. The next day
we crossed into Bolivia, and spent two days at Copacabana, on the shores of the lake. It was boiling in the day but freezing when the sun went down, so during the day at least it was a bit like being on the Med. We visited the Isle of the Sun, outon the lake, where the Incas believed the first Inca was born, and trekked across in the midday sun, which was v v hot. In typical Brit on holiday style we got wasted the second night there and one of us may have been a bit sick.
Leaving Copacabana with monster hangover, we drove to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world (3,660 metres). As we came into the city we got an amazing view of the gorge in which the city has grown to cover every available piece of land, even up to the tops of the mountains. We did a city tour where we found out some absolutely bonkers things about the country, like how the corrupt government tried to privatise all water in the country, even the rain, so that people would have to pay about a quarter of their monthly wage (which
Bullet holes in La Paz main square
These were only made in like 2003. Sobering thought. in total for well off peeps is only about 200 US dollars) on water, even the rain they might catch in water barrels. They have had lots of demonstrations by the populace (not surprising), with a shutdown of La Paz as recently as August this year. In the main square you can still see bullet holes from where the military tried to take out the police force in 1993. Serious stuff.
Also went to see the Valley of the Moon, an area outside the city where rain has washed the ground into crazy stalegtite shapes.
We left La Paz and then travelled to Potosi, where Rick visited the famous silver mines where over 8 million slaves were killed by the Bolivians. Nice.
Then on to Uyuni where we visited a locomotive graveyard - about 40 engines abandoned at about 3,600 metres above sea level. Very strange but we got some numbers down. No doubt it is the highest locomotive graveyard in the world!
Then we went out for a jeep trip across the highest and largest salt plains in the world. Lots of our table salt comes from here. It looks just like a desert as
The valley of the Moon
Just outside La Paz - structures are formed by the clay and stuff in the soil and the rain. Rick had to clout a drive over here when he played golf. far as the eye and see and in addition to AMAZING views we had great fun playing with perspective - see pics!
We´re now in Tupiza, where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ended their days in a big shoot out. It looks just like the wild west, so very appropriate. However a bit backward and we were all poisoned last night at the "restaurant" so dodgy tummies all round, and the interweb facilities ain't too hot either. We´ve just listened to the England vs Argentina game via BBC We arrive in Argentina tomorrow and we´ve just won 3-2 will make sure to wear England shirts and do some gloating!
Ciao for now amigos!
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Mark O
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World's Highest
Does that me that if you jump up, you are at that point in time the world's highest person, or summat?