Cusco - The Centre of the Inca Empire

In total we spent just over two weeks in Bolivia and after a sunny couple of days on Lake Titicaca it was time to board a night bus bound for Cusco in Peru. Copacabana is less than 15 minutes drive from Bolivia’s border with Peru and for the first time in South America we had a supervised border crossing by the hostess on our bus, this meant we were herded like sheep from one immigration office to the next. The Peruvian immigration office looked in need of some renovation but we were very excited to be in Peru. So many travellers had raved to us about Peru and we couldn't wait to explore.

"Welcome to Peru!"

The Other Copacabana

Our final stop in Bolivia was Copacabana, where unlike it’s famous Brazilian namesake this Copacabana sits on the banks of Lake Titicaca, one of the world’s highest lakes at 3,812m ASL. This lakeside town is only a four hour drive north of La Paz and less than 30 minutes from the Bolivia and Peru border making it a popular traveller spot. Our bus ride to Copacabana started in the rather rough Cementario neighbourhood of La Paz with an unpleasant breakfast of bread filled with cheesy, lumpy milk. Note to Sticky: Just because the locals are eating it doesn’t mean you will like it too! 

A Long Weekend In La Paz

La Paz couldn’t be more different in appearances to Sucre, its all chunky grey buildings, noisy traffic and busy people packed tightly into the base and steep sides of its crater like setting. The city is edged with beautiful mountains and sits at an average height of 3,600m ASL making it the highest capital city in the world. Travellers have mixed opinions on La Paz but like any capital its dirty, noisy and smelly so its a love it or hate it kind of place. We approached it with an open mind and were looking forward to somewhere with bustle and hustle.

Happily Stranded In Sucre

We spent just one night In Uyuni recovering from our Salt Flats tour before making the bus journey to Sucre via Potosi. There had been daily protests and road blockades over the past week so we were relieved that we could actually travel. First we took a bus for about four hours to the silver mining town of Potosi which is also the highest town in the world at 4,440m ASL. We would have loved to have stayed and visited the mines here which are notoriously dangerous places to work but as the miners were mid-strike we decided to pass straight through to Sucre in a shared taxi for just 40 BOB (£4) per person.

Touring The Worlds Biggest Salt Flats

We began our adventure to the Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia’s huge salt flat desert in a quaint little town called Tupiza just an hour north of the countries border with Argentina. Walking the streets of Tupiza we felt like we’d been transported back in time to another era, almost all the women were wearing traditional Bolivian dress and they looked fantastic. From head to toe they each wore a small black bowler hat, their long hair braided in two pigtails, a knitted cardigan over a waist length lace blouse, a huge calf length A-line skirt with hoops for essential hip enhancement (to impress the men!), woolly orange tights and open toe sandals. This is the Aymara women’s signature style and they never stray from it.

Photo Credit: Luchalibrabol.com

Horseriding With Gauchos In Salta

Our next destination after wonderful Cafayate was Salta which was a meagre four hour journey north by bus through the Quebrada De Las Conchas (aka. those rocks again). The main reason for heading to Salta was to go whitewater rafting on the Rio Juramento, we’d loved our rafting experience in Bali so much and were very keen to try it again. We even emailed the only agency in town to check it was available and of course they said "yes, no problem" but when we went to the office there was of course 'a problem’ and we couldn’t go.

Exploring Cafayate A Wine Lover’s Paradise

Cafayate is a tiny town famous for producing Torrentes wine and its quite tricky to reach when you’re heading north so not many travellers venture here which made it even more appealing to us. From Mendoza we took an overnight bus of 15 hours to Tucaman and this bus was by far the worst we’d travelled on so far, inside it was very dated and scruffy with no service but it did stop a lot so we were able to grab some food and use a cleaner bathroom along the way.