I had planned a museum-fest in the 3 hours between opening time and our departure to Uyuni at lunchtime, but Independence Day sees all museums closed and replaced by a parade in front of the presidential palace - all high goose-stepping and brass band pomp. Apparently El Presidente was in Sucre, but we were still treated to awning-ed dignitaries and military men taking the salute while the square filled with watchers and food vendors intent on making a day of i...

The phone rang at 05.00 and a disembodied voice told Sarah that our pick up time had been moved forward from 07.30 to 06.00, but breakfast would be ready at 05.30. Well, that's alright then! We set a new world record for packing, breakfasting and checking out with personal bests for not leaving anything behind to boot! True to their word the Vicuña Tour coach hove into view at 06.00 and we stumbled aboard, taking the front row, thinking 'this is a big bus fo...

After an interminable wait in cusco airport of a seemingly never-arriving amazonas plane it arrived, scooped us up, dipped into Arequipa and pushed east to La Paz. 4050m above sea level is 4045m above our usual home altitude, but I expect we will adjust quickly. The taxis (plural) picked us and our luggage off the floor and sordid from El Alto to La Paz. La Paz is a sprawling half built city of 1.4M souls - and our hotel is smack dab in the middle! Traffic is m...