We realised we'd probably made the right decision only to have a few days in La Paz because, whilst it is interesting in terms of its altitude and ethnic character, it really is a base from which to explore the surrounding areas. For us, there weren't an awful lot of attractions so the two full days remaining in La Paz were probably about right. Monday was a continuation of the public holiday and the city was unusually quiet. However, we stumbled upon the excellent Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in a 19th century mansion designed by Gustav Eiffel, which contained an excellent collection of paintings and sculptures by modern Bolivian artists. We found it just as the rain came on and we spent a very enjoyable couple of hours browsing through the work of artists such as Mamani Mamani, an example of whose work we saw last week in Fiona and Steve's house. We were particularly impressed by the wonderful bronze statues by Richard Hallier. Che Guevara features quite highly in Bolivia and many artists still produce paintings of his well-known face - one which drew a smile was made out of dominoes! Although La Paz still has some original buildings from Colonial times very few remain and only one street, Calle Jaen, is complete in this respect. It also houses a number of museums but as La Paz celebrates the traditional long lunch they were all closed when we were there. On our last day we took a tour to Tiwanaku. One of Bolivia's most important historical sites, it was the centre of the major Tiwanaku civilisation - a people who predated the Incas. The site consists of the remains of a base of a huge pyramid and a number of temples. As it was substantially looted and destroyed by the Spanish much of what we saw was reconstructed. But there were still a number of original artifacts including the impressive 7 metre high monolith of Pachama (Mother Earth), one of the three main gods of the Tiwanaku people. There are a number of theories as to the demise of the civilisation but the most likely is that they were affected by climate change in 1300's which forced them to move in search of water. Although it's not nearly as impressive as Inca sites in Peru nonetheless it provides an important insight into Bolivian people and their history. While on the subject of peoples, Bolivians seemed to us to be very different from Peruvians. They are undoubtedly poorer and, outwardly at least, appear less happy - although many we spoke to were very friendly and ready to chat and give us a smile. The big thing we noticed was the large number of people wearing their traditional ethnic clothes for going about their day to day life and business, and with no hint of tourism in mind. One group that fascinated us was the Highland Indian women who wear layers of bright petticoats and bowler hats (bombins) that perch precariously on the top of their heads - how they keep them in place we do not know!Some folk we bumped into again were the Australian couple we first met in La Serena (and we've come across a few times since), and it was also good to meet into Bjorn and Cybile who we met on the Amazon trip. E & M xxx