La Paz is the business centre of Bolivia - the biggest and most modern city in the country (though it's not the capital city). I arrived there in early afternoon and grabbed a quick set lunch before walking around town. The central square, Plaza Pedro D Murillo, was swarming with pigeons and surrounded by some impressive buildings - the Presidential Palace, the Legislative Palace and the Cathedral. The shoe-shine boys that solicit business around there were a bit...

I spent a night in Copacabana, a small touristy town on the shore of Lake Titicaca and my first stop in Bolivia. We hopped across the border from Peru into Bolivia at Kasani (strangely also the name of the border town between Zambia and Zimbabwe). The Candlemas celebrations were still going and there were stalls, a band playing and people dancing and drinking in the street, the smell of chica filled the air and there were a lot of very drunk people! There was al...

Puno is a town on the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca and it was our base either side of a homestay at a rural village on the lake, Llachón. This is another blog entry that was lost when my BlackBerry wiped my messages so unfortunately I don't have many details... We took a boat trip out on the lake and visited the small island of Taquile. After exploring for a while we had lunch there and some local people talked to us about their traditional clothing and th...

The pretty little town of Ollantaytambo was our starting point for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. The night before the trek I had good chicken fajitas for dinner at Hearts café in the main square - it is run by a 76 year old English woman and it funds projects for women and children in the local villages. We set off from Ollantaytambo at 7:30am to start the four-day trek at the 82km marker. It is necessary to show your passport at the beginning of the trail an...

As the nearest big city to the renowned Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, Cusco was my base while doing the Inca Trail. I had a free day to acclimatise and pick up last minute supplies before setting off on the four-day trek. My blog entry for Cusco was one of a few that were lost when my BlackBerry randomly decided to wipe all my messages so I don't have many details beyond what is in the photos... I pottered around town and stumbled upon a market of sorts taking p...