Bolivia to Peru

Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) is on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. There are ruins from an ancient civilisation called the Incas who lived over 500 years ago and ruled a lot of South America, including Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and parts of Chile. It was very beautiful, with a big Incan staircase and ruins on the edge of the island.

On the Peruvian side I went to Islas de Los Uros which were floating islands made entirely of reeds. It really was incredible, the people who live on them use the reeds for everything, even builidng their houses (see photo). They travel on boats that look like viking ships. The people there do weaving with wool and make beautiful crafts.

After Los Uros I went to Taquile Island. There I met the family of a friend of my mum´s. You can see them above in their traditional dress. The men on the island knit and the women weave and they make beautiful textiles. All the men wear hats and if their hat is red, they are married, if it is red and white they are single! I spent a night on Taquile Island which is very different to home, no cars and not a lot of electricity so people use candles and torches. There was a big thunder and lightening storm that night but we were all safe!

I have spent the last few days in the city of Arequipa which is very pretty with many buildings built by the Spanish hundreds of years ago. I went to a museum and saw a mummy that was 500 years old. The mummy was a 12 year old girl, who they called Juanita. She had been a part of the Inca´s and she was a sacrifice the Incas made to their Gods. She died on the top of a mountain and then was covered in ice for 500 years. The ice melted when a nearby volcano had a volcanic eruption and she was found soon after. It was very interesting.

My next stop is the city of Cusco where I will begin my journey on the so-called Inca Trail where you trek for 3 days to the Incan site of Machu Pichhu, an ancient city that was discovered high up in the mountains. It will be a tough trek but I am very excited!

Chile to Bolivia

La Serena was a lovely wee town on the coast. I stayed there for a few days, including New Year which I spent watching fireworks on the beach, very different to the cold Edinburgh New Year!

Then I travelled to San Pedro de Atacama which is in the Atacama desert of Chile. It was a small town with lots of interesting things to do. I visited a lake called Lago Tebinquinche, which had so much salt you could float easily, without even trying, even on your tummy! I also went to valley of the Moon where the land has been shaped by the wind and the rain over many years to look like craters on the moon and big dinosaur skeletons.

My jouney then took me through the salt flats of Uyuni in Bolivia, or the Salar de Uyuni. This is a huge lake of salt, over 12,000km squared. You can walk and even drive on the salt as it is 35m deep. It is very beautiful. There was an island in the middle, created in a volcanic eruption many years ago, it was covered in cactus plants! Really tall ones, over 3m (photo). I also the árbol de piedra´(see photo)which means tree made of stone, it was created by an ancient volcanic eruption.

I then went to the capital of Bolivia, La Paz, highest capital city in the world, it is a big, bustling, hectic and interesting city. As it is so high above sea level there is less oxygen in the air so you can get out of breath quite easily. There were demonstrations as there will be a political election here and people are unhappy with their government.

Now I have made it to a wee town called Copacabana which is on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. Half of the Lake is in Bolivia and the other half is in Peru. Tomorrow I go to an island on it called Isla del Sol. Soon I will cross the border into Peru and head to the town of Cusco to climb the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu.