I flew from Santa Cruz to La Paz on Saturday (16th) at 7.45am. Got a window seat but turned out to be the wrong side for flying right by the massive mountain Illumani, but there were still some nice views, of the other snow- capped mountains and of La Paz as we flew in to the airport of El Alto, the highest airport in the world at 4100m! You can see the city of La Paz surrounded by all the mountains. I got a taxi straight to where the bus goes to Copacabana as I had decided I would go there first to visit Lake Titicaca. I'm glad I went to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca as originally I hadn't planned to go as I had been to the Peruvian side in 2009.

It took about 3 hours to get there and there were some good views on the way as for some of the journey the road follows the lake. I found a place to stay, very cheap, at £1.80, but was not the nicest place to stay so ended up moving the next day to a much nicer place, which was double the price (so still under £4!) but had own bathroom, TV and wi-fi (yes wi-fi, the first time in ages I have had it in the place I have been staying :-)!!) ; a bargain, but really cold at night as Copacabana is at 3,800m. After a nice trout lunch by the lake, walking by the beach and watching some car blessings (where cars are decorated with flowers and have some beer poured on them as part of the blessing) I went to the most expensive internet place of Bolivia so far where it cost nearly £1 an hour! Then after being on there a while and walking up the road I saw lots of cafes had wi-fi, typical! I planned to go on the Sunday to Isla del Sol but after a bad night's sleep and not feeling that great, due to the altitude I think, I decided to delay my island visit by a day to allow my body a bit longer to get used to the high altitude. This turned out to be a good thing as in the evening I bumped into Anjali who had been at my language school in Sucre so I had dinner with her and her friends.

I was hoping to do some hiking on the island but wasn't sure if I would manage it since the combination of high altitude, my poor level of fitness and asthma are never a good combination. Based on the fact I was getting breathless just walking up the small hill/slope from the lake I decided to go and just see what I could manage so I got the boat at 8.30 (on the Monday) with a couple of possible options. The boat arrived at the northern end of the island and you can walk to the ruins, which I did first. Some lovely views on the way and after an hour I was wandering around the ruins. Decided to go for it and do the walk from north to south and I'm pleased to say I managed to do it, although I am not sure how! I was walking for a total of 5 hours and the main part took me 4, which wasn't bad considering they say it takes about 3 hours. To start with I really regretted it as it was hard going, with lots of uphill, and at 4000m, it's really hard work, and I had to stop a lot! After about 2 hours I started to enjoy it a bit more as it was more flat or downhill. The views were great and it was so peaceful, worth doing, but I was really tired by the end of it! I had planned to stay overnight, so found a place to stay and then went to a restaurant with a view for the sunset and later on had dinner. I went to bed to read at 7.30, as it was so cold! I wore lots of layers and my hat (ha ha) to try and keep warm- I really wish there was some kind of heating at these high altitudes!

In the morning I woke up in time to see sunrise, which was nice, then went to have breakfast at the same restaurant- lovely breakfast with a lovely view! I headed downhill to wait for the boat at 10.30- given how many steps down there were I almost think walking the path across the island is easier than walking up the steps from the boat so I was glad I had done that hike instead of getting the boat to the south and having to walk up to the village! In the afternoon it was time to watch the 3rd England group match against Ukraine, which we won, so that was good. Having heard that there would be the winter solstice ceremony at the ruins of Tiwanaku (near la Paz) I changed my plans and decided to head back to La Paz on Wednesday.

(Finally able to upload my own photo again and it took only about 10 seconds! Can tell I am back in Chile!)