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La Paz, capital of Bolivia and I belive the highest capital of the world at 3600m. That is where I have arrived now. This afternoon I have walked arund the small centre and explored the narrow streets which climb steeply up the sides of the small valley which hold the city.
On the way here from Cusco I made astop at Cocacabana a small town on the banks of lake Titicaca. The famous beach in Rio de Janeiro is actually named after this town because it houses a famous Virgin Mary statue which is the centre of an important pilgrimage cite. I met up with two guys from the bus who I have travelled with untill L Paz. I Cocacabana we saw the cathedral with the statue and walked the pilgrims trail up a nearby maountain to see the sunset over lake Titicaca. The next morning we caugth an early boat out to the north end of the Isle of the Sun in lake Titicaca, which was very sacred to the Incas and was regarded as the birthplace of the sun and the first Inca emperor.
We hiked the island from north to south to see the ruins there (which turned out to be very unimpressive) and enjoy the beautiful landscapes. In some ways the landscapes on the island and around the lake were wery similar of the ladscapes around mediteranian sea even though the conditions are very different. We had decided to stay the night on the island to relax and enjoy the fantastic views and the relaxing quit because there were no cars and little electricity on the island. In the evening we had a fantastic dinner of local trout from the lke served at a tiny restaurant which did not have electricity so there was nothing to distract one from enjoying the view and the gloe of the candle lights. The food were superb because it was cooked by gourmet chef who had formerly woirked in La Paz before returning to the island of his birth tyo open this simple little restaurant.
The next morning we took the boat back to cocacabana and found thet we were lucky and arrived in the middle of a smallk festival for the virgin In which the pbolivian navy carried the Virgin statue in a pocession doen to the havbour, sailed her a trip out on the lake before arrying her back to the cathedral. It was interesting to see the many officers in official uniform acrrying the statue of the virgin which for the ocasion seemded to have been enrolled in the navy because she were vearing an officers cap. We also passed by the cathedral square where we encountered another Bolivian custom when people had come there with their cars heavily decorated by flowers so that the cars ould be blessed by a monk from the cathedral.
Then we took the bus to La Paz. It was a beautiful trip first along the mountains with views over lake Titicaca and subsequently over the Altiplano high platau with snowcovered peaks on one side and row upon row of mountain ranges on the other. The trip also included a rough trip in small motor boats when we had to cross an arm of lake Titicaca. However we were still glad that all passengers were taken in the motor boats when we saw the very unstable flat barges that were used to ferry the busses across, they looked like they could tip over any minute.
Finally we arrived in La Paz at nightfall and checked into Adventure Brew House, one of the more entertaining hostels in La Paz. The hostel includes a brewery and the cahrege for staying there includes a free beer every day. The dinner served at the hostel was ready just at the moment we stepped in the door and we took this as a good sign and ate there before going to the roof top bar which had fantastic wiews over the City and several bright wood fires to keep us warm. After a few beers we followed the crowd out into the nightlife of La Paz and ended up cmming hopme at 6 in the morning. So after thus seeing La Paz by night I got a rather late start on seing it by day tis afternoon.
Well now it is almost dinner time again so I will make my way back to the hostel to relax a bit tonight.
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