Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Been to the jungle and back
Just got back from a trip to the jungle, will post photos once I find a machine with USB.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tiahuanaco
About an hours drive from La Paz is a town called Tiwanaku. This town is the site of the ruins of an ancient civilisation called "The Tiwanakun People" according to the guy sitting next to me who has just looked it up.
In keeping with the current theme of the trip this town is about 3,800 meters above sea level...
This is us standing on top of the burried pyramid.
There´s not a great deal to see of the pyramid, but some of the other temples have been uncovered and reconstructed.
Also from the pyramid you get quite a nice view of the modern town with it´s church and main square.
The underground temple contains some interesting walls with a large collection of heads:
The above ground temple seems to be all to do with the solstices - various statues, doors and walls line up with the sun at different times of the year.
Translation of the sign: "Come back soon!"
Back in La Paz again, wondering what to do next...
In keeping with the current theme of the trip this town is about 3,800 meters above sea level...
This is us standing on top of the burried pyramid.
There´s not a great deal to see of the pyramid, but some of the other temples have been uncovered and reconstructed.
Also from the pyramid you get quite a nice view of the modern town with it´s church and main square.
The underground temple contains some interesting walls with a large collection of heads:
The above ground temple seems to be all to do with the solstices - various statues, doors and walls line up with the sun at different times of the year.
Translation of the sign: "Come back soon!"
Back in La Paz again, wondering what to do next...
Back in Copa and on the way to La Paz
Back on the mainland we checked into a hostel and went out in search of food and drink with our new found friends - this included a 60 year old guy who had escaped from China during the cultural revolution by trekking for 3 days and then swimming to an island just off Hong Kong! The people you meet travelling...
As this is quite a touristic town we had no problem finding ourselves a nice italian place, and after a bottle of wine, a bar serving cocktails with live music.
Next morning with heads slightly hurting we got up to catch the bus to La Paz.
Half way through the journey we had to disembark and watch our bus (with all our luggage) float off over the lake.
Luckily there were boats to take us as well and we were quickly reunited with the bus and carried on the journey. Finally arrived in La Paz around lunch time and spent the rest of the time searching for banks and money changers.
As this is quite a touristic town we had no problem finding ourselves a nice italian place, and after a bottle of wine, a bar serving cocktails with live music.
Next morning with heads slightly hurting we got up to catch the bus to La Paz.
Half way through the journey we had to disembark and watch our bus (with all our luggage) float off over the lake.
Luckily there were boats to take us as well and we were quickly reunited with the bus and carried on the journey. Finally arrived in La Paz around lunch time and spent the rest of the time searching for banks and money changers.
Isla Del Sol
So, we caught the boat after lunch to Isla Del Sol. Uneventful boat trip, nothing exciting to report. Once on the island we found a local guide
who took us on a hour long hike over some mountains to the ruins on the south of the island.
These seem to be run by some local women who collected the usual gringo tax to view the buildings.
Lots of crazy little kids around, all of whom assume that you have chocolate in you backpack.
You have to keep feeding them though, otherwise they get quite grumpy.
Finally, the boat turned up to take those people who were returning to Copacabana off the island.
Luckily we´re staying the night and after a long hike back to the town we settled into our hostel to catch the sunset on the mountains near La Paz.
The next day was a bright and early start, we hiked to the northen end of the island to take a look at some more ruins. On the way we bumped into a particularly unfriendly Llama - this one took great exception to me and decided to spit in my face...
Our route took us along most of the peaks of the island stopping off at the odd ruin here and there.
And another obligatory gringo tax - quite fortunate that we actually found this place as we had lost the train slightly and were going cross country.
After a long walk - about 3 hours or so
we came to the sight of the ruins. This rock apparently looks like a puma from the right angle - one can´t help thinking that perhaps the ancients were chewing one too many coca leaves.
Caught sight of a few eagles (?) near the ruins and managed to capture a couple of shots:
Then it was a quick walk to one of the southern villages, only to find that we´d missed the boat - we´d been told that it left at a variety of times, unfortunately it left at a completely different time.
Luckily we were able to get passage with a local guy on his boat and caught up with the boat back to Copacabana and made it safely back to the mainland.
who took us on a hour long hike over some mountains to the ruins on the south of the island.
These seem to be run by some local women who collected the usual gringo tax to view the buildings.
Lots of crazy little kids around, all of whom assume that you have chocolate in you backpack.
You have to keep feeding them though, otherwise they get quite grumpy.
Finally, the boat turned up to take those people who were returning to Copacabana off the island.
Luckily we´re staying the night and after a long hike back to the town we settled into our hostel to catch the sunset on the mountains near La Paz.
The next day was a bright and early start, we hiked to the northen end of the island to take a look at some more ruins. On the way we bumped into a particularly unfriendly Llama - this one took great exception to me and decided to spit in my face...
Our route took us along most of the peaks of the island stopping off at the odd ruin here and there.
And another obligatory gringo tax - quite fortunate that we actually found this place as we had lost the train slightly and were going cross country.
After a long walk - about 3 hours or so
we came to the sight of the ruins. This rock apparently looks like a puma from the right angle - one can´t help thinking that perhaps the ancients were chewing one too many coca leaves.
Caught sight of a few eagles (?) near the ruins and managed to capture a couple of shots:
Then it was a quick walk to one of the southern villages, only to find that we´d missed the boat - we´d been told that it left at a variety of times, unfortunately it left at a completely different time.
Luckily we were able to get passage with a local guy on his boat and caught up with the boat back to Copacabana and made it safely back to the mainland.
Bolivia - Copacabana
Crossed into Boliva. Slightly crazy border crossing, but nothing too serious, lots of stamps to get and different buildings to go to.
Here´s a handy map of Copacabana if you ever go there.
We´re only staying for a spot of lunch and quick game of pool (nice setting, shame about the pool table´s quality).
Here´s a handy map of Copacabana if you ever go there.
We´re only staying for a spot of lunch and quick game of pool (nice setting, shame about the pool table´s quality).
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