Witches markets and floating islands

After a bumpy overnight journey to La Paz that had us on the verge of throwing up multiple times (even on our luxury bus, no amount of cushioning could overcome the road conditions), we were dying for a decent place to crash out for a couple of days. To our surprise, La Paz turned out to be an attractive, engaging and interesting city that we didn't mind spending a few days exploring. All around our hotel we found countless streets of market stalls crammed with busy locals selling everything - clothes, bananas, half-plucked chickens, roast chickens, lacy lingerie, building materials, school books and bags, you name it - plus lanes of tourist stalls selling typical Andean souvenirs, and a creepy section known as the 'Witches' Market', where you could buy alien-like mummified llama foetuses to ward off evil spirits!

Even with all the semi-chaos of the markets, the place didn't feel especially dangerous or over-touristy, and we found it very enjoyable just wandering around not getting harassed or pressured to buy or do anything. Plus the presence of so many stout old women in their typical dress (which included their much-prized but seemingly pointless little bowl hats) trotting around with bright pink baby-toting slings on their backs gave the city a totally authentic Bolivian feel.


After a couple of enjoyable days lounging in La Paz, we headed off for Copacabana, a little town on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca - the largest lake in South America and at 3821m, one of the highest in the world. Apart from loading up on Andean souvenirs (the cheapest we've come across) and sampling the delicious local trout at every opportunity, we also headed out to Isla del Sol (island of the sun) on a day trip. Inca legend says that Viracocha, the bearded god who created the universe, emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca and created the sun here.
While the island obviously has some interesting history and the views are pretty nice, its appeal gradually waned as the day went on, as the archeological highlights didn't seem very ancient or authentic (they looked suspiciously like much of the local construction), you had to walk a long way uphill to see anything, and also our mode of transport was the slowest boat in nautical history (we were actually overtaken by ducks).
Next stop on the lake was a visit to the Peruvian side and the Uros islands, a collection of floating islands made of a 3m layer of reeds, and home to the Uros (pre-Incan peoples). Supposedly the islands were constructed for defensive purposes - if a threat arose they could just move away - but we found it ironic that being made of highly flammable reeds, anyone could just set their islands on fire anyway.


Our visit included a stop on Chumi island where we got an interesting introduction and overview from the island president, a ride on one of their reed boats, and then a visit to the main island, complete with restaurant, minimarket, and post office. While the people on the islands still maintain some traditional customs like fishing, bird hunting and bartering for food, a lot have moved to the mainland, and many of the islands are fitted out with solar power, radio, tv and even internet, which was an odd contrast.

Once in Peru we found ourselves well and truly on the gringo stomping path, and our next stop of Cusco is clearly the Peruvian (if not South American) capital for all things touristic - some interesting tales on that to come...