Al and Jo do Peru

Monday, 19 January 2009

On the island

Very springy underfoot. No good for playing tennis though.

Reed Islands - Lake Titicaca again

Having had enough of defying death in Bolivia we bussed back to Puno in Peru for a quick look around the reed islands. They make mats of reeds about a metre thick and tie them together to form islands. Their trade is now mainly tourism so in many respects this trip was a fairly tawdry affair with lots of 'home made' tat to buy which looked surprisingly similar to all the other tat on sale in Peru and Bolivia. The people were friendly enough but didn't take to kindly to smoking.

Chacaltaya again

But this time from Luna Park. The tour took as all the way to the other side of the city thereby setting the absolute limit on how long I can sit still in a tiny minu-bus.

Al goes to the moon

Or Luna Park to be more precise. This picture about says it all really.

Just one more

Then turn around

This is the view looking the other way, not so pretty, but probably more representative of much of Bolivia

But worth the terror...

...for these views of La Paz

And then we had to go back down

I have nothing more to say about this.

The Ski Lodge

Looks lovely from a distance but up close is more like the hotel from 'The Shining'. I looked closely at these pictures expecting to see Jack Nicholson's face at one of the windows. Officially qualifies as one of the strangest places I've ever been. Even more so than New Zealand.

Our Trusty Steed

The world's hardest working van. Toyota should use this as an advert.

Chacaltya - The World's highest ski resort

This was also the highest point of our trip, something like 17,500ft. I think skiing would have been beyond me, toboganning maybe.

More dirt roads!

This trip up to the highest mountain overlooking La Paz was definitely a test of nerve. 15 up in an old Toyota Hiace van with bald tyres, permanently on the rev limiter and sliding round the corners was beyond exciting.

El Alto - La Paz

Our first glimpse of La Paz from the city of El Alto which encompasses the overspill from the capital along the rim of the basin. Lots of dirt tracks and crazy switchback roads made us realise just how different Bolivia is from Peru.