Wed 20th- It took longer to get back to La Paz then I thought so by the time I got there it was 4pm. I sorted out my trip for the next day and then had dinner with Sandra and Hannes, an Austrian couple I had met in Tupiza and again in Sucre, which was nice and good to catch up.

Thursday 21st was an early start, ready for 4am departure to the ruins of Tiwanaku. I got picked up at 4.30am and once everyone was collected we drove to Tiwanaku. It was really, really cold on the bus and for the first few hours at the ruins, despite layers and thermals! I think we arrived just before 7am and didn't have long to get into the ruins are ready to see the sunrise. Our group, being a big group of foreigners I guess, was allowed straight through despite the big queue of locals, not very fair on them. Not sure how many people there were but there were definitely hundreds and hundreds (previous figures have been as high as 5,000 so might be more like thousands!) waiting to take the sun's energy as it rose, so people were all holding their hands up to the sun- there was something special about seeing so many people holding their hands up like that. The winter solstice marks the start of the Aymara New Year so people were wishing each other 'Feliz Ano Nuevo' (Happy New Year).

I thought we would get to see more of the ceremony at the ruins but we didn't - I'm not sure why, maybe because there were so many people there. However later on we did have our own private ceremony with a witch doctor which was very interesting. He made the fire which they make as part of the New Year tradition, just on a smaller scale. It is for seeing in the New Year and asking wishing for luck in the New Year. There were many layers in preparation for the fire- it included symbols representing money, luck, happiness and a llama foetus, coca leaves and pouring alcohol on. We could each add 12 coca leaves making our wishes for the New Year and all had a turn at adding the alcohol. The fire was then lit and the witch doctor continued with the rituals of the tradition. Anyway this took place in the afternoon but after the sunrise we had breakfast then once they opened the ruins again we went back in for a guided tour which was interesting and much more comprehensive than I thought it would be as the tour agency were not sure when I had asked if we would get a guided visit. It was funny how our group of 30 kept getting bigger as more and more people joined in to listen to the explanations! We then visited the museums then had lunch before heading back to la Paz via the ceremony with the witch doctor. It was good to have the opportunity to experience this since it happens only once a year- right place at the right time :-)