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La Paz 16th Nov - 20th Nov (Day 257 - Day 261)
Hi all,After Arequipa our next destination was La Paz in Bolivia. This was a two day journey....Arequipa to Puno on day one and then Puno to La Paz on day two. We had already travelled the Arequipa to Puno road before so there was not too much new to see, although one notable mention was that we passed a Coca Cola van which had somehow managed to shed its whole load of glass bottles all over the road . It was absolute carnage, glass everywhere. We had to stop for a short time while all the glass was cleared, at this point our driver got out to help clear the mess...that was what we thought anyway...it soon appeared this was not the case as he reappeared a minute later with a few bottles of Coca Cola under his arm...clearly an opportunist.The jouney to La Paz on the second day took us on a route all the way around Lake Titicaca, this was great as we were once again treated to some spectacular views and scenery. After three hours we reached the Bolivian border, entry into Bolivia all went without issue and then we were back on the bus. Our next stop was a small town on the banks of Lake Titicaca called Copacobana...we had an hours break here to take a few pictures before we got on a different bus to get to La Paz.The most exciting part of this journey was when we had to get of our bus in order to travel across Lake Titicaca. We all had to get a passanger boat across while our bus travelled across on what looked like a very rickety barge. It was quite a bizarre experience to overtake our own bus whilst floating across Lake Titicaca.After the lake crossing it took us around three more hours to reach El Alto, which is the city immediably above La Paz on the Andean Plateau. El Alto is a dusty sprawling city and not very pictuesque. Once we had travelled through El Alto our bus began to decend into the canyon which is home to the city of La Paz. It was at this point we were presented with amazing views of La Paz...made up of thousands of red roofs at the bottom of the canyon and then climbing up the sides, making the city look like a huge red bowl.Once we had checked into our hotel we quickly headed out onto the streets of La Paz. We had been planning our first visit in La Paz for a few weeks and we were eager to get going. I would love to say we were off to see an amazing Cathedral or colonial building....but no....we were off to the Star of India, a British run curry house in La Paz! Due to our growing boredom with the food in South America the prospect of a good curry was to much to resist. The curry was not quite what we would get at home and certainly no PSK (my dad) but it was good enough and a very welcome change to the usual fare.We spent the next few days taking in the sights of La Paz and taking in the delights of the curry house for a second time. The sights in La Paz are pretty limited and it is not the prettiest place we have ever been to but we enjoyed our time all the same. We also had the opportunity to buy sleeping bags and other supplies for trips we have lined up for later in South America.At the moment we are currently in our hostel waiting to catch a night bus to Uyuni in Southern Bolivia...we will then be visiting the salt flats near Uyuni on a 3 day tour in a jeep. We are really looking forward to it...although maybe not the 12 hour bus journey tonight! Take Care x x x
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