Last day in Bolivia (30-31/3/2007)

We returned from Peru early Wednesday (29th) morning to find we'd just missed the start of more blockades in Cochabamba, this time all public transport was stopped. We said goodbye to everyone onThursday, visiting the Orphanage. We had a nice last meal with the Timmer family, appreciating all their care and work in having us. This photo is infront of 'the Hacienda', the guesthouse where we stayed, and the two girls with us, Ayla and Julia who we really enjoyed spending time with.

We then flew to Santa Cruz, another part of Bolivia, to visit a great project working with street children. We only spent a day there and then left early Saturday morning for Ecuador.

Reed Islands, Peru (27/3/2007)

We took another coach to Peru, and had some interesting incidents at the border with our friends’ visas. After holding the coach up for about an hour we set off and arrived in Peru. The part we visited, Puno, looked pretty similar to Bolivia, they had a different mode of transportation though. These taxi bikes were everywhere and were good fun, a cheap and easy way of getting around.

We went to visit the ‘Reed Islands’ of Lake Titicaca which were amazing. Everything was made of reeds, including the actual floor that we were walking on. People still live there, but now mainly for tourism. It is listed in the ‘things to see before you die’ book, and was definitely worth seeing.

Lake Titicaca (25/3/2007)

We had an amazing opportunity to go on a short trip to Peru. Our friends had to get their visas stamped so we gladly accompanied them. We took a coach during night for 8 hours to La Paz, which is the capital of Bolivia. It is also the highest capital in the world set in the mountains, it was very beautiful. Like the rest of Bolivia the road systems are crazy and we saw some more blockades.

We then took another coach to Lake Titicaca which is a huge lake, part of it is in Peru and half in Bolivia. Part of the coach journey involved a boat ride across the lake. It was a long journey so we were so glad when we arrived.

We spent a couple of nights first on the Bolivia side in a back-packers type hotel, it was really nice but freezing as it’s so high up. It is apparently the highest navigable lake in the world. The scenery was stunning wherever we were on the lake, but especially when we went to visit the ‘Isla del Sol’. The combination of mountains surrounding water while standing on a beautiful little Island was amazing. There were also lots of lamas and donkeys, and the local people had leant how to make a good wage off the tourists by posing for photos and then holding out their hands.