Blogs from La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 235

So we managed to escape Puno by getting a boat across Lake Titicaca to the border of Bolivia where we caught a collectivo to the very touristy lakeside town of Copacabana. We got the boat at 7am and the captain only had one eye. Marvelous. It was 8 hours to Bolivia and it was stunning weather all the way. Laura severely burnt her nose and I spent most of the time practicing my Spanish verbs and taking in the scenery. Every hour or so a guy who worked on the boat had to take up the floor boards and scoop out water coming in from the bottom of the boat. Very reassuring. So I decided to spend most of my time on the roof. That way I didn’t have to see how much water they needed ... read more

We're on our last leg of our great adventure. Last time we were heading to the Isle del Sol. What an absolutely beautiful place. Sorry no pictures this time you'll have to wait in suspence to see the rest of the pictures. Inca legend states that the Sun was born there. My sunburn proves it (ha, ha). We stayed at this beautiful place called the Eco Lodge. The lodge over looks the pre incan terraces, Lake Titicaca, and the Cordiellia Real Mountains. Breath-taking!!!! The Eco Lodge is an environmentally friendly lodge. Each adobe style cottage consists of a traditional thatched roof and solar panels for heating and water, and down duvets. At 4000 meters down duvets were a blessing. We were sad to leave, but we had to continue on with our travels. We met a ... read more

This weekend we went to Coroico, a small town 50 miles from the (notional) capital of Bolivia, La Paz. Coroico is famous for two things, being a nice chilled out place to stay on top of a hill with fantastic views all around, and for the “most dangerous road in the world”. So named because it is a thin dirt track clinging to the side of precipitous cliffs with no satefy barriers and a lot of impatient heavy large overcrowded traffic... and a lot of this traffic falls off the side. However the road is the only way yo Coroico while they build a fancy new two lane blacktop along a safer mountain. This was acutually well in progress last time we travelled the road in 1997, and doesnt seem to have opened yet, although reports ... read more

This trip i did with a Danish fellow named Nils. We climbed 5400m Hati Khollu and then hiked 2 days down the Asiru Marka Valley to a little town called Unduavi. Some of the most impressive terrain I have seen in a long time. I was looking forward to a beer in Unduavi, but realized that it was nothing more than a desserted town, population 1. The only guy in town was some old native fellow wielding a machete! The bus ride back to La Paz was along the WMDR (Worlds most Dangerous road), where a vehicle is lost every 2 weeks into the oblivian below. We saw an accident that day, but fortunately the vehicle went into the ditch rather than over the cliff!!! ... read more

After reluctantly leaving the beautiful city of Cusco behind, I made my way to the far less charming city of Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. There's very little to see or do in Puno - its basically a base to explore Titicaca, th highst navigable lake in the world at around 4,000m. I think the locals must have sensed my sadness in leaving Cusco and the Sacred Valley behind and gone to extra lengths to throw out the welcome mat. You see, someone (my guess is the town Mayor) arranged for the restaurant we ate in on our first night to play some homegrown music: a bit of Jet and then a Missy Higgins remix. Of all the places I might have thought it possible to hear some Missy in South America, a tiny ... read more