More pics around Lake Titicaca

Here's a few more.

Forgot to mention the huge parade on Sunday morning.

Lake Titicaca

Arriving in Copacabana on the southern Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca was a bit like going to the seaside - sunshine, beach, boats and a good handful of tourists, but all at 3800 metres. We spent one day visiting the islands of the sun and moon, with a long time on the ferries and a few Inca remains, but the scenery was lovely.

The Saturday we stayed in town, visited a couple of small Inca sites then went to the cathedral where we arrived as a wedding was finishing, and also a bizarre ceremony of blessing cars - Bolivian road safety! Lunch was fish and chips Lake Titicaca style. Copacabana is as romantic as it sounds! And a great end to our stay in Bolivia

Then on to Puno, just across the border in Peru. Most tourists come here to visit the floating islands but we went to the ancient pre-Inka and Inka burial site of Sillustani where the burials were in towers.  Tomorrow an all-day bus ride to Cusco.

La Paz

It's cooler here and the air's thinner but then it's thickened by the pollution!  But we're walking around and visiting museums (most of which don't allow photos) in between cafés. The city is in a hollow about 400m deep and  there are houses up all the surrounding hills up onto the altoplano and there's a network of cable-cars linking the various areas. Today we went out of La Paz on a trip to Tiwanaku, a centre of pre-Inka civilization. Tomorrow we're heading north to Lake Titicaca and then into Peru.

Sucre and around

We flew to Sucre to avoid a 10-hour overnight minibus ride - much more civilized! Spent our first day wandering around the " White City" visiting museums and generally seeing what was what. The historic centre is smaller than we expected and the suburbs sprawled for miles with lots of new buildings.

We've just got back from a two-day trek to the Managua crater through stunning scenery, and all at over 3000 metres. Quite tiring but worth it. Off to La Paz now.

Second part of Bolivia

Our third day we walked alone in the hills behind Samaipata, great views then passing a refuge for abandoned or injured animals on the way back.

The next morning back to Santa Cruz for 24 hours to wait for our flight to Sucre. The plane is not ours but was forced to land when full of contraband. We're next to the main market and the area is full of Mennonites who have come to sell their produce. A bit like the Amish in the USA.

Arrival in Bolivia

We're in Samaipata in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes after having spent two good days in Madrid before flying to Santa Cruz. Not a lot to see there but a pleasant introduction.

Samaipata is a cosmopolitan small town - it seems visitors come and stay and there's quite a hippie feel.

First day we trekked in the Amboro National Park to see the giant tree ferns in the cloud forest at about 2500m.

Today we visited El Fuerte, a pre-Inca fortress whose centrepiece is an enormous carved rock.

First impressions of Bolivia are that the people are friendly, accommodation is not cheap but food and transport are. And it's surprisingly clean.