Titicaca and the Amazon

I'm not sure what I can say about Lake Titicaca other than it's big, it's high and it's beautiful.
We stayed on the Bolivian side in Copacabana and went for a day trip to Isla del Sol where we enjoyed the beautiful vistas and the Inca ruins. Unfortunately the trip was slightly marred by a case of Bolivia belly but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
After Titicaca we headed to Rurrenabaque which is the stopover town for those wanting to do tours of the Amazon Basin. The safest way to get there is on a slightly too small for comfort propeller plane from La Paz... However the 40 minute journey passed snow capped mountains and the incredibly lush Yacuma river was well worth all the nail biting.
We opted for a sadly short tour of the pampas (wetlands) for 2 days and 1 night - we set off at 9am on the bumpiest 3 hour jeep journey to get to the rivers edge where we meet our awesome guide, Taz. Taz managed to save face for all the (too many!) unfriendly Bolivians we had met with his openness and seemingly endless patience with ever arriving packs of ignorant and irritating tourists (some of which we had the pleasure of dealing with in our group). We hopped on a boat and he took us along the river to our jungle camp, stopping along the way whenever he spotted any wildlife. Unfortunately we didn't see as much as we could have had we stayed longer but to be honest the awesome setting alone would have made the tour worthwhile. The calm river's surface reflects every piece of sky, flora and fauna giving you an incredible double landscape broken only by the wake of the small boats. At night it seemed as though we were navigating along the sky, with the stars twinkling as brightly from the river as they were from space and I found that nothing quite matches the feeling of being sat on a wooden balcony with a bottle of wine and the night sky spread both above and below you.
We were still quite spoilt for wildlife, spotting monkeys, birds, dolphins, alligators, caimans, lizards and turtles. One particularly curious dolphin swam right up to my feet and took a dive in front of me to show off his tail.
Our second day in the pampas consisted of following Taz into thigh deep alligator infested waters in search of anacondas... We didn't manage to find any as it is difficult in the wet season but we did find a shed load of mosquitoes which happily feasted on our legs, arms and arses and consequently caused levels of itchiness that prevented us from feeling any form of comfort for the next couple of days... At least we didn't run into any green mambas which Taz happily informed us have a venomous bite that could kill you in less than 2 minutes. Of course he could save your life by instantly amputating the affected limb, so I did feel a somewhat small comfort wading behind him hacking away at tree branches with his machete...
We survived relatively unscathed, and although we may have lost a couple of pints of blood to the helicopters they call bugs, I would highly recommend the experience to anyone.

Key info, Copacabana:
How we got here and away: 4 hour bus ride from and to La Paz (including an interesting boat trip across the lake where the bus followed us on a dodgy looking barge).
Where we stayed: Hotel Utami - decent bedroom and ok bathrooms, good location.

Key info, Rurrenabaque:
How we got here and away: 40 minute plane ride from and to La Paz with TAM airlines.
Where we stayed: Hostal Curichal - cheap, decent room with a fan, cold showers (though it was bloody hot anyway), helpful staff and the location was fine.
Jungle tour: Fluvial Tours - Great guide, good food and sturdy jungle accommodation.
www.fluvialtoursbolivia.com

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Sucre and La Paz

The picturesque, white-washed city of Sucre was a welcome discovery after the dusty, fume-filled streets of Potosí. Sucre, originally named La Plata, was the capital of Bolivia in colonial times. It is here where 'Alto Peru' declared independence from the Spanish after years of bloody wars and the city still has an obvious sense of pride in the part it played in history, recognising itself as the place where the new republic of Bolivia was born. In Tarabuco there is a very graphic monument in tribute to the indigenous warriors who fought in these wars. The statue depicts a warrior stood over the body of a Spanish soldier whose heart he holds in his hand and whose blood pours out of his mouth... Apparently eating the heart of your enemy was the done thing when celebrating a victory.
Tarabuco is a small indigenous market town a couple of hours from Sucre. While we were there, they were celebrating Pulljay, which is their most important festival. The locals wear there finest traditional gear, complete with tiny cymbals on their feet and dance around the town. In a field nearby they construct a giant tower where they place offerings. Again, not quite Rio Carnaval, but it was interesting to watch and the market stalls provided a good opportunity to stock up on souvenirs.
On our last night in Sucre we met a couple of Bolivian men who had sat on our table and surprisingly started chatting to us. I say surprisingly because so far we had found most Bolivians to be very closed and almost unfriendly - and although we have met some locals who have been very friendly and helpful, on more than one occasion eye contact was out of the question and being told the price of something in a shop seemed like the biggest of favours.
When I asked them about this they said that some of the indigenous Bolivians were anti-gringo. Due to their bloody colonial past, some still believe that Westerners are here to take advantage of them rather than to spend their money and boost the economy via tourism. In fact, since Bolivia elected its first indigenous president, the country has suffered economically, with trade links to the US being completely severed... Apart from in the case of cocaine. Bolivia is now the World's largest exporter of cocaine and the government is seemingly deeply involved in the trade, with the head of Bolivia's police, who always stated publicly that he was anti-drugs, being caught in the United States facilitating deals. Note that most of the things I say on this blog are regurgitated from conversations I have had with locals so apologies if you spot inaccuracies in anything I write... So if you do read anything on here that you'd like to bring up at a dinner party I suggest you Google it first to ensure accuracy!

From the historic capital we moved on to the current capital. La Paz leaves a striking image when you first arrive from the roads surrounding the valley that it engulfs. Buildings consume the hillsides like overgrown moss and the impressive snowy Mount Illamani in the backdrop makes the mass of brown bricks take on a unique beauty. The city itself is on the ugly side of the scale when not viewed as a whole, but there are interesting nooks and crannies with cute cafes and shops selling all the artisanal souvenirs you could ever want or need. Needless to say the shopaholic in me broke loose and I may have bought more than I can carry... If you happen to be in Bolivia right now and see a European girl selling stuff out of her backpack, that will probably be me...
Not many exciting pictures this time as we've been spoiled with stunning landscapes the past couple of weeks and the imagery of the cities have become somewhat underwhelming. Lake Titicaca and the Amazon jungle are coming up next though so I'll be trigger happy once more!

Key info, Sucre
How we got here: 4 hour bus from Potosí.
Hostel: KulturCafe Berlin - Hard to say anything helpful about this one as the owners had double booked our beds so they let us stay in their own spare room - which was great! The bar was a good place to hang out and the location was central.

Key info, La Paz
How we got here: 14 hour bus cama from Sucre.
Hotel: Hotel Fuentes - Ensuite twin room with awesome hot showers - right in the middle of the nicer tourist area with 10,000 shops at your doorstep.