Tupiza, Triathlons, and Tyre Changes Tupiza lay at the end of another shabby bus journey, highlighted by pick-axe assisted tyre changes, and unknown tinkering with the chassis, but did serve to introduce us to Ed and Nicky, future jeepmates. Tupiza is not much of a town but is set in a rainbow-rock landscape, where tourism is on the increase, as an alternative to the more popular (but pig-ugly) Uyuni. As yet, though, there are few concessions to tourists - findi...

Down, Down, Deeper and Down The road to Potosi, the "highest city in the world" at 4800m, was on a small, shonky, bus - none of the luxury cama-buses of Peru, here. Rather, it was jam-packed jalopy with whole families squeezed into 2 seats, breastfeeding in the aisle, and a young lad relieving himself though the window of the moving vehicle (fortunately, our window was closed so there was no re-entry!) Potosi is famous for one thing, and has been for ...

Sucre Our La Paz host, Ruben, at Arthy's guesthouse rushed out into the morning traffic to flag us down a taxi and negotiate a fare to the airport. The flagged vehicle was a clapped out green rust bucket that blocked the traffic to shove our stuff into the boot. After a quick handshake with Ruben, we dived in the back and we were off before R had his second leg in and the door was shut. The journey to El Alto was characterised by rapid acceleration, coasting wit...

Nuestra Senora de la Paz (Our Lady of Peace) As our bus climbed the hills outside Copacabana, we passed a collection of vehicles spread-eagled along the verge and down into a ditch. Somewhat inevitably, one of the cars was bedecked in garlands from a recent blessing. The journey was, as usual, picturesque. However, just as we were settling down to enjoy the snowy peaks of the Cordillera Real rising from the altiplano, our bus pulled up in the town of Tiquina fo...

Lake Titicaca It is not certain what the name Titicaca means but it has been translated as 'Rock Puma', supposedly because it resembles the shape of a puma hunting a rabbit and also, more prosaically, as 'Crag of Lead'. In any case, at 3812m it is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. This was a two centre stop. One in Puno in Peru and one in Copacabana in Bolivia. Puno We took the bus from Cusco across a 4800m pass. Stark altiplano with tow...