The Highest Capital City In The World

Leaving Cuzco was sad becuase I liked it so much there. But our next stop was Bolivia and we didn't want to put it off any longer.

On our way to the boarder we drove past Lake Titicaca - the highest lake in the world. Saw it at sunrise and it was pretty beautiful. It is so big, it looked like a sea. We crossed the boarder - another stamp in my passport - and had to wait for a couple of hours in Copacabana. Saw the lake a little but Amina wasn't feeling well that day so we just sat in the shade waiting for the bus.

sunrise over lake Titicaca

Now we arrived in La Paz on a Sunday. For those of you unfamiliar with Latin America, Sunday is the day where everything stops. There are so much less cars on the roads and less shops are open, and you will never find an open bank. So we arrived and saw a few cars but didn't think La Paz was as crazy as we had been told. Spent that evening with some other Project Trust volunteers that happened to be staying in the same hostel as us. We went out to an English pub and I had my first deep fried mars bar! I'd been told that I wasn't really Scottish until I'd had one. It was alright.

Full day one in La Paz and it was very crazy. So many cars and minibuses on the street. I'm pretty sure we spent most of the day getting lost and looking around the markets. We bought some cosy alpaca jumpers and we saw the Witches market. Saw all the llama foetuses. Felt a bit better about them when we learned that they didn't kill llama babies. When a llama is pregnant they have 6 or 7 babies, but they can only carry one to full term. So they get the others as they fall out of the mother, and they are burnt and used as an offering to Pachamama. (Mother Earth to the indigenous people of the Andes.)

 Llama foetuses

Another day we went to the Tiwanaku ruins. They were a civilisation older than the Incas. The capital city was called Tiwanaku. There's not a huge amount of ruins uncovered yet. Coming from Machu Picchu where everything is pretty much in perfect condition it was a little less impressive. But it was still interesting to see. Had a great buffet lunch and talked to a couple from Holland.

 the puerta del sol

 there were over 150 heads carved into the underground temple

Draco Malfoy with his cronies

 

Spent another day going round the markets again. I like La Paz because you can just step outside and find something to do. We went for a fruit drink, actually found the main plaza this time and watched a band playing Bolivian floklorica music. It was really good.

the main plaza and cathedral

 

We were supposed to be moving onto Cochabamba after a couple of days but we wanted more time in La Paz so we're not going anymore. One day, we went to a little village about 3 hours away from La Paz to go on a zipline. It was actually three ziplines that go over rivers, coco plantations etc. It was really fun. I was a little scared to start with but it didn't last long. You had to hold onto handles as you were going down, then as you approach the end you have to apply the break. The first time I was too frozen to move my hand to apply the break, so I ended up crashing into the big pillow. But the second and third times I was fine :) The climate down there was so different to La Paz. Saw mango and banana trees and some really pretty bitterflies.

Us after the zipline, thankfully still alive

We spent another day talking to people in the hostel and sending stuff off in the mail. I spent ages wrapping up a big package in sellotape, got to the counter, and the lady said she had to see inside! So I have to unwrap it all. Our last day, we spent the morning packing our stuff, then met up with one volunteer Ollie, who was still in La Paz. We introduced him to fruit drinks then went to check out this absailing thing. You could absail down this really tall building (and 5 star hotel). We went up to look but decided it was too scary (on my part) and too expensive (Ollie and Amina's view) to do. But we did enjoy the view of La Paz and the hotel was really fancy. Had lunch in a nice cafe. Ever since Danay made me that HUGE lemon pie for my birthday I've been so addicted to it, so I had some at the cafe. Mmmm. We said goodbye to Ollie and went to take the bus to Sucre.

 La Paz

Really enjoyed my time in La Paz. It's such an interesting city. Every day we said we would go to a museum... but somehow that just never happened. I feel I should point out the problem with this blog title. Sucre is technically the capital city of Bolivia. Congress etc. moved to La Paz after the civil war between the two cities  making it the political capital of Bolivia. But Sucre still holds the official title as capital of the country and the people won't let you get confused!