MUSEUM 2 was dedicated to showing ancient children (their bodies still frozen and preserved.) The Incas believed mountains were gods or ‘apus’ who protected nearby communities and therefore they built structures on mountains for rituals (many of which were built in Salta.) The children had been dead but preserved in freezing temperatures after having had rituals performed on their bodies and having been sacrificed to the Gods. One of the ‘sacred’ mountains where children were found on was Mount Llullaillaco. Archaeological digs and expeditons are being carried out all the time and more and more objects from the Incas are still being discovered.We got to see many recent expeditions on video tapes. MOUNT LLULLAILLACO Mount Llullaillaco is an inactive volcano located between Chile and Argentina. It is 6.739 metres high and used to mark the border ... read more

PART ONE I soon became high on oxygen after suddenly hitting the lowlands after spending two weeks at high altitude. I felt as fit as a fiddle, and had plenty of energy from early morning to night even though it was hot here, and I was thirsty. I thought that I would head straight to the museums where there was least danger - unless a dinosaur fell on me or a mummy came alive and wrapped me up in it s bandages like mummies do to the cartoon character Scooby Doo when the team go to creepy museums. I reassured myself that this was a cartoon and was unlikely to happen to me, I felt today would be much luckier than yesterday. I had only been to one museum in Bolivia so now I had an ... read more

I went to check in for my flight. I put my passport and walkman on the desk as I had just finished listening to it, when the man at the desk exclaimed in an amazed tone: ‘is that a Discman!?’ Wow I haven’t seen one of those in years.’ In defence of my poor walkman and with very little idea of what to say to such a comment even though I had been asked it several times, I said ‘Yes , it’s jogproof too’ The man was overjoyed. Without further ado, both my ''discman'' and I got safely through passport control, through security and to the departure gate where it rested safely in my hands for the best part of an hour until we both boarded the flight together. The first flight went like a dream. ... read more

I had an interesting conversation with the taxi driver who drove me to the airport El Alto in La Paz. I found out a lot about his family life, the story about his 8 year old son and how he had never married his son's mother. It was during Carnavales that she had got pregnant because they had had unprotected sex only the one time but they were never officially together. The taxi ride only took 20 minutes but it was amazing that in that time he divulged so much information about his family situation and how his son came to be. Throughout this whole trip I've found it amazing how willing people are to talk about their sex lives without being asked. It’s expected to get on to the subject at some point during a ... read more

From about 10am, in the main square there was a tango concert starring tango singers, in preparation for the end of 'Carnaval.' Today is the last day of Carnaval in La Paz and this afternoon from midday, according to the local people in the market was the 'burial of the cucumber' in the cemetery. Intrigued I went down to the cemetery to investigate. It was yet another carnival, with the red and green cucumbers dancing around and children spraying water and foam everywhere. It took place outside the cemetery and I believe that they may have buried the cucumber there unless 'the burial of the cucumber' is just a title for the ending of Carnaval. The cemetery was interesting. Again like the cemeteries I've visited in other South American countries, they have tombs of different designs. ... read more