Framedlight

We set off on a trip to Tiwanaku, an ancient site that is around 45 miles out of La Paz near the south eastern shore of Lake Titicaca. To get there the mini van had to drive through El Alto a large settlement which is now part of the La Paz municipality. It  has grown up on the hills around the airport, overlooking La Paz. El Alto is occupied by Aymara people who have come in from the countryside in order to find work and  has the largest population of native Americans anywhere in the world. In La Paz the best housing is in the valley around the city, poorer people build higher up where the ground is less stable. As this is Bolivia the area is subject to strikes and road blocks as people protest about their conditions. I will start with a few pictures taken driving through El Alto. As we drove in to the countryside the land became very flat, dusty and monotonous, although we could still see the mountains in the background. In truth, once we ha...

We left Sorata by minibus at 6.30am bound for Nuestra Senora de La Paz, Our Lady of Peace or the City of La Paz. Well I say 6.30am as that was the advertised time but it was nearly 7.00 before the driver deemed his van was sufficiently full to be worth the journey. Coming out of Sorata we climbed up over the rim of the surrounding hills, and at this time of the morning the valley was full of cloud. I managed to get a couple of shots as the van was forced to slow to get round the switchback corners. Similarly I managed to get a shot of the moon as we stopped along the way. It must have taken around 3 hours to get to Le Paz and as we got closer the traffic got heavier and traffic jams developed. We came through some 'suburban' areas and in one place an enormous street market was taking place.  The city sits  in a bowl spreading out up the hills underneath Mount Illimani. It is not the judicial capital of Bolivia, that is Sucre,...