The bus from Cusco to Puno (on Lake Titicacca) is a tour bus, making it a nine-hour trip, including the stop-offs. After a 7.30am start we first stop off at a church. It's in a small square and even early morning the street vendors are there with the same old 'local' arts and crafts that have probably been churned out in a sweat shop in China. Although the church is quite impressive we don't really to get tuned in to the talk by the tour guide who is alternating between Spanish and English as our interest in every little church is waning.

The next stop is an archeological site where ruins of Inca temples and residential buildings remain. After witnessing the wonders of Macchu Picchu it is difficult to get excited. However, their idea of using stones and boulders as a foundation to the base of each pillar is a testament to some good engineering ideas, as these withstood major earthquakes in the region while everything around crumbled.

A couple more hours on the bus and we stop at the highest point which is at 4,410 metres above sea level. The scenery is beautiful, but the wind is bitterly cold. We have a buffet lunch in a large restuarant that can be described as mediocre, at best. We are on the bus with some odd people so keep to ourselves and out of their way.

Our last stop is a tiny indigenous museum that is full of everything we've seen before. The best part of this bus journey is the scenery of mountains and valleys, and the small villages we pass through. We don't feel like we are tiring of this yet, just all the other bits in between.

We arrive in our hostal, which is freezing cold. There is no central heating system to counter the lack of mastic sealant around the half-inch gap between the windows and walls, and being at high altitude means we are in for very cold nights.

Puno is not an attractive town and so we relax for the most part and catch up on blogs, phone calls, photo downloads etc.

From here we catch the bus to La Paz, Bolivia. It takes approximately four hours to reach the border and after obtaining our exit stamp from Peru we have to walk up the hill to the Bolivian border. There's a bit of a wait as usual, but nothing exciting to report. We continue the journey but now by the side of Lake Titicacca and are rewarded with some outstanding views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. We stop to change buses in Copacabana (not the one Barry Manilow sings about!), a pleasant town by the lakeside. We have lunch on a roof terrace overlooking the lake, which is very picturesque. There are lots of boats bobbing about in the water, but suprisingly there isn't much action on there.

We then get on the Bolivian bus which is shabby to say the least. At one stage we have to cross the deep blue lake and we need to get off the bus and onto a small boat where 25 of us are crammed in. The sides of the boat are almost in the water and we feel nervous as we notice there are seven life-jackets between us. We then see the bus on what can best be described as a raft making it's way, low in the water next to us. We're sure everyone, like us, is thinking about their bags on the bus and how much they would have to lose if they went under. Thankfully, on terra firma on the other side, we watch as one man with long poles struggles to manouver the raft to meet the narrow slip so the bus driver can drive off.

We leave the lake behind as we continue through the hilly countryside and are surprised at some of the big houses under construction out here in the sticks. There are large houses with ostentatious columns, windows and solar panels, all in large grounds. We are surprised that Bolivia appears to be this affluent, as it's a far call from the small houses and tin roofs that we saw in the rural areas of Peru. We see children walking home from schools that are several miles from the next village. As we near La Paz we see many women of traditional dress that consists of a large tiered skirt with bulky peticoats underneath, long socks and cardigans and blankets over their shoulders. They all have long plaited hair of two plaits and topped with a bowler hat that defies the rules of gravity, perched on the very crown of their head. We notice a woman on a farm, who has such weathered features, knee deep treading some kind of fruit. Maybe it's the start of a bottle of red that's heading our way. Donkeys are replacing the llamas and kids play with old tyres and buckets. They all have a stray dog close by maybe keeping a watch over them. It's a shame that due to the glare from the window we are unable to capture any of this on camera. As we get closer to the city the streets are full of people, the roads full of traffic and the air full of fumes. Welcome to La Paz.