Potosi and the mines of Cerro Rico

Potosi is a mining town in central Bolivia. I liked the town far more than I thought it would and we even ate good food! We only stayed a day and did a half day tour of the working mines of Candelaria. The tour guides are all ex-miners and they kit you up with a helmet, head lamp and protective clothing. It's probably the most uncomfortable I've been in my life. Something like 8 million miners have died down these mines over the last few hundred years. Originally silver mines they also have a lot of zinc and tin. Potosi used to be a prosperous city but never recovered from the tin price collapse of the 1980's. I have a new respect for the miners. They work in horrible cramped, dark and hot conditions all day to earn about 8 US dollars a day. They only live to about 40 years old. The dust down the mines is incredible. I hated every second of it. The weird looking scare crow like thing is the god that they worship by giving offerings such as coca leaves and a 90% alcohol (yes we tried it too) as they believe this "TIO" will protect them. 100's of children also work down the mines. It was incredibly sad and will definitely make me think again the next time I try to be any silver!

Rurrenabaque and Las Pampas

We flew from La Paz to Rurre on the tiniest plane. I've never been scared of flying but I have to say I was a little apprehensive. We had some of the nicest food in Rurre and it was a far nicer jungle town than the ones I'd seen earlier at the Tri border - Leticia, Tabatinga and Santa Rosa. I actually quite liked the place. We arrived with a terrible hangover having actually felt well enough to party the night before in La Paz.

We went on a 3 day trip to Las Pampas and saw squirrel monkeys and an anaconda which were things I'd missed in the Pantanal so I was happy.

Valle de la Luna and Tiwanaku, near La Paz, Bolivia

Two separate day trips took us to Tiwanaku, ancient pre-Inca ruins and Valle de la Luna, interesting rock formations. Neither was an unmissable event, but both fairly interesting.

The most interesting thing about La Paz which I don't have any photos of as you are not allowed is San Pedro Prison, right in the heart of La Paz, in a prime real estate area. If you haven't read Marching Powder by Rusty Young then I recommend it. He is an Australian backpacker who visited an inmate there in the 1990's. The corruption is just incredible. The 4 of us went on a tour there....believe it or not. You pay 400 bolivianos (£40) to the guards to get in and then tip 50 bolivianos to our guide and bodyguard. The prison is relatively safe during the day as women and children live in their with their criminal husbands / dads. When we first walked in you arrive in a courtyard with plenty of men hanging around waiting for their visitors as we went on a Sunday which is one of 2 visiting days. It seems like any other square in La Paz. Visiting the prison is illegal, but a lucrative business for the guards and the inmates who are guides. Inside the prison you (the inmates) pay for everything. You buy your own cell, food, TV - they even have cable. It is just like society on the outside, except possibly more corrupt. It is really sad seeing the children live there. They go to school on the outside but really allowing them in is the only way of keeping a family together as they can't afford to live in two separate houses. The whole system is so weird I'm still getting my head around it. We were there for a good few hours and I couldn't quite believe our guide was a criminal. He was quite charming really, and spoke good English. He was in there for drugs as are 80% of the inmates. Others include murderers and rapists, but I got the impression that they didn't last long. I was quite nervous before I went in, but it's definitely the best thing that I did in La Paz.

La Paz, Bolivia

Cholitas wrestling up in El Alto is a sort of take on Mexican wrestling but a far poorer show. The most boring thing I've ever seen.

The Church of San Francisco, my bus stop.

This is a fine example of Bolivian cuisine.

This T-Shirt just made me smile.

This is the cemetery in la Paz. An enormous place where bodies are placed 3 high and some are even in apartment like buildings.

This man just made me smile too.

I seem to have been ill most of the time I've been in Peru and Bolivia but La Paz really was the worst. Between the four of us (me, Erik, Heather and Jessica) I don't think we all managed to be out together for a whole day, one of us was always sick! We coined the term waterfalls, Inka waterfalls as each day at least one of us was rushing to the bathroom with severe diarrea. One day I was so sick I couldn't get out of bed so the next day I decided finally to go to the doctors. Where I was actually sent was a hospital. I mentioned about a tick bite that I got in Brazil that I thought I'd removed that seemed a bit swollen. 5 minutes later I was laying on a bed with anethestic and they were removing some tick remains. The girl in the bed next to me had cut her ankle to the bone and there was blood EVERYWHERE. On my way out I saw a wheelbarrow of axes. I'm not sure if it was related. I had to go back the next day for blood tests and a chest xray. Heather and Erik kindly came with me. I was told that I had a lung infection (and I thought I couldn't breathe due to the altitude) and salmonella. Still not convinced (as I wanted a Lymes disease test due to the tick) I went to another medical centre where they made me do a stool sample saying that the results didn't show salmonella but a possible parasite. I obliged and they gave me the results within the hour. I had giardia. A lot of medication and 10 days later I felt much better and signed up to the "Death Road Bike Ride".

Copacabana and the Isla del Sol

These first two pictures are the church in Copacabana and our bus which took us to La Paz on a very dodgy looking water crossing. I was so glad they made us get off it. The first and last safety precaution I've encountered in Bolivia.

Whilst still touristy the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca seemed much more beautiful and genuine. We met up with Heather and Erik again in Copacabana but they headed onto La Paz whilst we went to the Isla del Sol. It was quite a hike from one end of the island to the other and I can officially say that Jessica and I were hiked out, but it really was beautiful.

Puno and the Islas Flotantes, Peru

Puno is said to be a horrible town, but Jessica and I quite liked it. Cheap not too horrible food, nice people, hot water and quite a lively centre. We were only there 1 night and then in the morning headed to the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca - the largest high altitude lake in the world or something. The Islas Flotantes are weird. And the trip there is disneyland like touristy but it was interesting none the less. Apparantly people (Amayara people) have lived there for 100s of years and they build the "land" from reedst that grow in the lake. Half a day was definitely enough, especially when they started singing English nursery rhymes to us! Onto Bolivia we quickly thought....

Arequipa and Colca Canyon, Peru

The main plaza in Arequipa.

These are pics of the inside of the huge convent.

Jessica and I had a couple of days rest back in Cusco before getting the nightbus to Arequipa. A sort of niceish town with a frozen Inca girl and a convent but what it's most known for is being close to the Colca Canyon where you can trek in and out in 2 or 3 days. It is supposedly bigger than the Gran Canyon but many said it's not as impressive. It was pretty but getting down was a bitch it has to be said and my knees were in a bad way. A really kind Italian guy who wasn't even in our group lent me his walking sticks. The guide suggested that I get a mule to get back up but there was seriously no way I was going to do that. There are plenty of crosses on the way up marking the deaths of people whos mules had gone over the side. Actually going up was fine as it doesn't hurt the knees so much. We managed it in 2 hrs 45 mins which is pretty good going as most people take over 3. We celebrated in style that night at a nice Mexican restaurant with lots and lots of tequila shots and then onto Puno in the morning.