So we left the tragedy of Potosi behind us and set off in our posh 4x4 with Williams and Raoul, our driver for the next 4 days. After a couple of hours driving across the dry altiplano with volcanoes all around, we stopped at a lagoon filled with flamingoes. It was totally silent apart from us and the reflection of the sky in the water was gorgeous. Pulacayo was our next stop - a ghost town now at the site of a 19th century mine. It also has the old train robbed...

So Sucre, the second of Bolivia's capitals and constitutionally, the official one. I have to say that given that capital number one (La Paz), wasn't really to my liking, I wasn't too sure what number two would have in store for us. Granted it was a flying visit re La Paz, but on sight I could see it was a city that required more energy than I had left at this point in our trip. Anyway... Given that our trip in Bolivia from this point forward would be in the hand...

As G said in his last blog, the Andean Explorer between Cusco and Puno is described as one of the best train journeys in the world, and we did it! We settled into our comfy arm chairs for the 10 hr journey leaving the Sacred Valley of the Incas behind and heading up further onto the Altiplano which will be our "domain" for a week or so. The train was a lovely old fashioned carriage with little tables and lamps. There was a bar and observatory carriage at the back...