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Showing posts with the label Tiwanaku

29th April - Tiwanaku, a Pre Incan Archaeological Site

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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 had got to