One last day in La Paz. Primarily because of a long journey yesterday and a long journey tomorrow, so I left a day in between. Not because there’s loads of touristy things to do here – we’ve pretty much exhausted that list. We planned to have a lie-in but the police put paid to that idea when they arrive at our door at 8 am to check our passports. This morning we start at the Coca Museum which charts the history of the coca leaf, its role in Bolivian culture and uses as a drug, both legal and illegal. It’s more interesting that I’d anticipated. They even have a café where you can buy coca cocktails and original recipe Coca Cola. We continue to St Francis church with its beautifully carved façade and ornate interior (lots ... read more

All the travelling with food poisoning and then a cold have taken their toll so I’m taking a ‘duvet day’. So while the old man sets off on a boat ride to an island full of steps, I take a stroll along the lake, then return via reception, borrow a Judy Finnigan from the library and settle in my deckchair overlooking the lake. I have a pleasant day reading and watching the many hummingbirds in action. In the evening we go to dinner. As we pass the resident llamas I point and say “and you can f*** off too” not realising that I’m actually pointing at a lady in a hammock. Luckily she sees the funny side and when we bump into her in the restaurant 2 hours later, she’s still laughing at me. We return ... read more

Our last day in La Paz so we start with some culture; the Calle Jean museums; one ticket gives you access to 3 museums on an old colonial street. Google Maps says it’s an 11 minute ‘mostly flat’ walk from the hotel. Google maps doesn’t mention the flights of stairs. I’d challenge anyone from Google Maps to walk 0.6 miles, including 100 stairs at 4000m altitude in 11 minutes. We reach our first museum and they ask for ID. Someone is going to have to walk back to the hotel and get our passports. I’m not sure who. Neither of us can breath. We convince them to accept a photo from my phone, which is a relief. We visit the Museo Costumbrista which tells the history of La Paz in costumes and dioramas. It’s actually really ... read more

Today, the high altitude portion of our trip begins. I’m not really looking forward to it - I’m not sure I’m designed for altitude. To make matters worse, I have a stinking cold. We reach the airport 2 hours before our flight. The airline recommends a minimum of 3, which seems excessive in the middle of the night. But we’ve left it very tight. After check in comes immigration. The queue is enormous and it takes 30 minutes to almost reach the front. Then the computers crash and what little action there was grinds to a halt. We finally reach our gate 8 minutes before boarding commences. We are flying to La Paz. The airport is 4080 metres above sea level. It’s craziness. I wouldn’t want to live 4080 metres from the sea horizontally, let alone ... read more

Today we’re sightseeing in Santiago. We’ve passed though it underground 3 times but not surfaced yet. We start with a tour of the Palacio de la Moneda (the seat of the President) where we visit the ground floor; courtyards, the press room, state rooms and the chapel. Then on to the main plaza and the cathedral, finishing at the hillside park of Cerro Santa Lucia. Here you climb several hundred steps through various gardens to a turreted lookout, where we are confronted by the rather surreal scene of a family taking their cat on an outing, while a man plays the soundtrack to Grease on a harmonica. The afternoon consists mainly of chores; I do 12 days worth of laundry while the old man gets a haircut and buys a new belt (following a rather embarrassing ... read more