Finally on Sunday September 4th I made it out of Cusco alive and was aiming for the fourth country on my list Bolivia. Before I came over I heard from a few people that Bolivia was one of their favourite countries. If I am been honest I am struggling to see why. Yes it is the cheapest country in South America but I think it lacks in the beauty of Colombia and the friendliness of Peru.

Our first stop was at the worlds highest navigable lake - Lake Titicaca (3811m). There is a tiny town called Copacabana right on the shore of the lake and its main function is acting as a port to get to Isla Del Sol. As with many beliefs in Peru/Bolivia this is another sacred part of the ancient Inca empire. However as tourism as grown massively in the past few years the island is now full of hostels and about fifty pizza restaurants. There is an interesting business concept in Bolivia, basically if one guy starts providing a service for tourists and is making money you will be guaranteed that several others will pick up the plan too. As such, this has led to an over run of services with very low standard of customer services/facilities.

Saying that we still jumped upon the tourist train eager to see all that it has to offer. We landed at the north shore of the island and hiked to the south side where we would pick up the returning boat the following afternoon. The views from the top of the lake are amazing, it so big you think that you are looking out to sea! Huge glacial mountains in the background. After a long and hot hike it was time to go for a swim. It may have not been the best idea -i have never swam in waters that cold. When I dived in my body got such a shock I could hardly breath. Suffice to say I didn't stay in long. That night it was time for dinner - pizza no doubt. However the first place we happened upon the woman/chef was busy putting up a wall (made from mud blocks) to the exterior of her house so we decided that it may not have been the most hygienic place to fill up.Note Bolivia does not have the greatest standards of food hygiene in the world. Sometimes you get lucky other times you just get sick!

Next stop was La Paz. In short it is a big, hectic and somewhat dirty city. Like anyplace there are some nice parts but on a whole level I was not overly impressed. Plus walking around in the altitude makes it that bit tougher. Despite this we still managed to stay there for a week! During this week I cycled the "worlds most dangerous road". It is a long gravel path that winds down a mountain side with 200-300 meter drops off the side. Its totally up to you how fast you want to go and sure most of the bends have lil guard rails up now so unless you are acting the complete arse you are going to be fine. I had a great time on the road and the bikes were pretty sweet so no fear there. Emma, I swear it was fine!

La Paz is the start off point for several pampas/jungle tours further up north and we had to dose up on malaria pills before going up there. Why we couldn't have taken them earlier god only knows. It must be the fact that a backpacker has so many other thing on their mind...

Pete and I had booked our Pampas trip to Rurrenbaque for Wednesday 14th September. We decided to fly up (thirty five mins) as the bus was to take eighteen plus hours on a gravel road. The main draw of the trip is to go hunting for anacondas. Plus you get to see a whole load of caiman's, toucans, howler monkeys and about a dozen other types of birds. It was a great break sitting in a little boat going up the river in some thirty five + degree heat. As this is dry season the river is quite low but during the wet season the river rises about two meters and floods an entire plain on the right had side! All in all it was a very welcome break from La Paz. On the second morning we went hunting for anaconda which consisted of putting on a pair of wellys and walking through a swamp. You find them by seeing them moving in the water or else just standing on them. Snakes are probably not my favourite pet but unfortunately or maybe fortunately I didnt get to see any. Still the trip on a whole was a great success.

So that is me up to date for the minute. We are now in Uyuni and are heading on the Salt flats tour tomorrow morning (see blog post pic) Its a three days trip and we get to see some different coloured lagoons too. Plus a lot of other stuff but the woman was speaking spanish so I was only getting about half the info. I picked up some nasty stomach bug on the night bus here last night so hopefully ill be right as rain tomorrow. That or Pete will have to put up with my moaning for the next few days...

Catch you soon..