Copacabana and Isla del Sol

Copacabana ...
Fish! Trout for dinner at the sea front and sunset on the Lake Titicaca for the background. I found a very affordable and decent accommodation.

In the morning I go by boat to Isla del Sol. I left almost three-quarters of the backpack at the hostel. I feel light.

La Paz and Coroico

When we get to La Paz we just can rest. We do a little walk and that’s all. It’s freezing…
I download the second and third book of the trilogy of Stieg Larsson in English and epub format, and together with Calibre program you have an Ebook in your computer.

In the following day, after breakfast we go to walk La Paz. We go to Plaza Murillo and then we split to go to the lookout of Killi Killi. I’m going walking and the Ana’s try to go by bus.
The views of the lookout are spectaculars. I don’t see the Ana’s anywhere... theoretically they should arrive before by bus than walking...



I wait twenty minutes and then I keep going to visit the city. I love Calle Jaen!
Narrows streets with houses and museums that make this area very quiet and relaxing.

Rurrenabaque and The Pampas

The path to Rurre is long way unsalted. This goes on a side of rivers and lagoons, crossing the savanna and parts of the jungle.

At the bus I start to read hardly the book in English “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, the first volume of the trilogy of Stieg Larsson. I started few weeks ago but I didn’t read more than a chapter.

It’s dark when we arrive at Rurre, we find the accommodation Alojamiento Japón, that for 25B per person we have a room with private bathroom.

Puerto Villaroel, Santa Cruz, Samaipata and Trinidad

From Cochabamba to Puerto Villaroel we see a really radical change of the landscape. We pass from almost no vegetation to a tropical forest in only two hours.

The great Final we watched at Ivirgarsama, a village 20 minutes by car to Puerto Villaroel.
It was unbelievable how Barcelona take over Manchester United... great match!



Once we are the Champions of Europe, we go to Puerto and we try to get the information of the options to go up on the river till Trinidad. The river is in a really low tide and the boats that go direct to Trinidad (4-5 days) are not running. The only option is to go with a fishing boat to the half way and then take another boat to Trinidad.

Cochabamba and Torotoro

At Cochabamba we arrive very early morning, at 5:30AM. We want to try to go straight to Torotoro where there is the Parque Nacional de Torotoro. We ask at the Touristic Information at the bus station that is open at this time (unbelievable). They inform us (wrongly) that there is a bus that leaves at 6AM from the other side of the town.
Taxi to there. But we don’t see any sign of any bus to Torotoro. Buses to everywhere except to where we want to go.
We finally the bus office that goes there. Is close and there is a note on the door with the new timetable, 6PM...
So we have 12 hours for Cochabamba. First of all we wait that the office open to buy the tickets and to leave the backpacks there.

So, how to get to Torotoro and where to stay? http://wikitravel.org/en/Torotoro_National_Park#Get_in  where you can find timetables of all the companies that run this route.

After this we go to the centre to have breakfast, walk, take some information of the national Park and try to get Anna Vaccine.
The Vaccine will have to wait. Only till 11AM

Sucre and surroundings

We arrive at Sucre when is already dark, we look after accommodation in the centre, we find a cheap place. It’s not perfect, but we wanted to stay only one night in Sucre and go at the surrounding areas of Sucre to do a trek of some days.

We have dinner at the Market, is a sure bet in Bolivia. A big dish of rice, fried potatoes, some meat and a bit of salad for 10 Bolivians (1€). We drink a maracuya juice that prepares a woman on the other side of the market, and the woman that serves us the food makes a loud notice to the other to have tree glasses for us.

Potosí

We arrive at the highest city in the world (4070m) after midnight. We take a taxi to the Hostal La Casona that we have been recommended. A colonial house with tree back yards and plenty of rooms. Our room for tree people cost 45 Bolivians per person with breakfast. There are more cheap options, but after the tour and the bus ride, we deserve a little bit more comfort, no?
In the morning we walk the city, its Sunday and there is a lot of activity. We saw on the street a kids from one school that are preparing a street dance for the next weekend with live music along the streets.

4x4 Tour from Tupiza to Uyuni

We start the tour in Tupiza at 8 in the morning. In Our Land Cruise we are Ismael (the driver and theoretically the guide), Fortunata (the chef), Simon (Londoner half Spanish) with his partner Jacky (Irland), Tristan, Anna and me.
The past night has been raining a little bit, and half an hour after we start the trip start to rain lightly again. Is that lightly that end up to become snow!!!
All the peaks of the mountains are with snow at the top and the formation of El Sillar is surrounded by a very big clouds.

Tupiza

After crossing the border to Bolivia walking, we arrive at Villazón where we exchange money and look after transportation to Tupiza. There is a radical change with the people on the streets, shops and prices.
We find a mini bus for 15 Bolivianos (1,5€) for a trip of one hour and a half.
And we descent from 3400m of Villazón to 2950 of Tupiza through valleys much more greens every time and more agriculture.
At Tupiza we find cheap and good accommodation very fast (25b, around 2,5€ for bed) next to an agency that we will finally take the tour to Uyuni with them.
We go to discover this small city. First of all, we withdraw money from the bank because there are no ATM’s. We walk through the black market where you can find everything that you can imagine. We also visit the main market and we are also asking some agencies about what they offer and prices. Generally they all offer the same with very similar price.
When we go back at the accommodation, we contract the tour with the agency “El Grano de Oro” for 1100 Bolivians plus tree hours of horse ride for free near Tupiza.
We have dinner at the hostel and straight to the bed.
In the Morning we do the tree hours horse ride through Puerta del Diablo (Devil Gate), the Valle de los Machos and el Cañon del Inca. The guide (about 15 years old) leave the horses to their way, and we end up going very fast through the landscapes very similar to the ones we’ve seen in the movies of far west. Very Impressive experience and very hard physical exercise.