The Death Train!!!

Hmmm have i posted this before, anyway nehmind, finally got to la paz! The highest capital city in the world! Although technically sucre is the proper capital la paz is just the centre of government.
Anyway its a crazy city, the place is 3600m above sea level and is in a kind of bowl. the rim of the bowl is 4000m high and the city is literally overflowing from its 'bowl' onto the Andean plains above!
Anyway crazy city, lots and lots of traffic all tooting their horns, went to the main church and had a guided tour and saw a demonstration by miners from the roof and tower, was a great place. Then visited the witches market where they sell llama feotuses for sacrifice!! Scary stuff but its where most people presents have come from!!!
Then the other day we went to the ancient city of Tiwanaku. Its not properly excavated yet but there are three monuments, one to the heavens which was once a big pyramid with a pool on top shaped like the southern cross where they observed the stars! The second temple is one to earth whcih is precisely aligned to the soltices and has the real life star gate!!! Then the third is underground and is the temple to the dead and there are all these carved heads in the walls and some people say that some look like aliens!! Wierd stuff. But they were predecesors of the inca and the city was built about the same time as ancient greece and rome!! They even had the same calender as us! 7 days, 12 months!!! Amazing!
Today we went up a real Andeee....he he...a 4800m mountain. We drove most of the way up a really scary dirt track!! Then we gave an offering to pacha mama. This place used to be a ski resort 20 years ago but now the glacier is practically non existant! Crazy, so they all know about global warming here!
Secondly today we went to the moon valley which were these wierd turmite mound type hills that created this really amazing landscape! The indians used to beleive that they represented the souls of people and the continuation of life....but unfortunaly they;ve managed to build over most of the formations because they are really soft.

Anyway tomorrow we head to copacabana on lake titicaca....will post pics when i can.....

Okay well i managed to upload the video, cool eh? bearing in mind it was raining on the surface its still pretty clear is the video...ooh just been told a joke apparently...how many stars are there in the sky...cinquenta...apparently its a spanish ´joke´??
anyway here are some pics of the pantanal. from bonito managed to visit an authentic indeginous indian village. it wasnt mud huts unfortunatly but the people gave me and django some v funny looks...then i saw a building dated 193....i reckon these people only becamse "exploited" by the white man within the last 100yrs! Crazy.
Anyway in the pantanal we saw lots of annimals. stopped off on the way at this roadside restaurant where the owner told us to visit the tourist attraction. bearing in mind it was dark i walked down with my head torch on and almost immediatly saw three glinting eyes looking at me. then round the corner i saw about 20 more eyes! There were all alligators looking at us!! was amazing, counted about 0 eyes altogether..bearing in mind that you can only see one side of thier heads thats a lot of crocs!!
Anyway yeh the pantanal, wel lots of mossies and loads and loads of birds. they were so tame, got quite close up to some of them! Here are some pics....
In Bolivia now as i mentioned below...i think.....breakfast time for me....think its bank holiday there at home, have a good one....

Well here are a few pics of Iguazu and Bonito. Need i say more about the falls???? Anyway i´m trying to upload a video of Bonito where we snorkelled down the Rio da Prata which is a pure spring that produces crystal clear water! We went with a group of five German rockers who were failry amusing and softies at heartm we all got kitted out with wetsuits and walked throught eh jungle. Unfortunatly half way through and the heavens opened and we were in the middle of a tropical rain storm....but we were going to get wet anyway. We then found the river, as soon as you get in and put your head underwater there are loads of fish, plus its like swimming in a goldfish bowl, its sooo clear! you then simply let the current take you along the river, it got a bit hairy at times with the sharp rocks and shallow water and there was one bit where the current was really strong and you had to literally go with the flow and hope that you didnt hit any rocks!! was increadible, just like a computer game or something, you went really fast trying to keep yourself as flat as possible while the current twisted you round all the rocks then up and over into a crystal clear pool or 23 degree water!! was amazing! Anyway if the vid uploads you can see for yourself....prividing its the right video and not the one of me videoing when i didnt know how to work the camera! From there it was onto the Pantanal....i´ll haveto upload those pics later...just deciding at the moment whther to head to la paz or to sucre in bolivia...any suggestions....i think this time tomorrow i may have some signs of altitude sickness...hmmmm.....

Floripa to Iguazu

Its taking ages to upload pics on this thing so unfortunatly no pics of getting stranded at the lake. Anyway finally headed to IGUAZU...Stayed the first night with our freind crazy holly in a bit of a rubbish place called pousada laura. But in the afternoon we headed to the brazillian side of the falls.....wow...we first all saw all these trickles of water falling down this very jurassic loking landscape. i expected to see dinasaurs emerging from the trees and eating everyone. But we folllowed the path along and then head the thunder of the falls so we thought something was good around the corner. Little did we know how good it was...a MASSIVE gorge of waterfall at the end of the river valley with steam and spray shooting high into the air..it was amazing!!!!! The next day we all went to the argentine side of the falls. and after suze got on a bus that drove off from the border crossing without us it was just me holly and some americans than entered argentina!! Finally tracked down suze and the impatient bus driver had set off into argentina without us, plusi had her passport.
I really liked puerto iguazu and made me want to stay in argentina for a bit longer. Unlike the brazilian side the town had grown up a,ongst its native trees and not choppped them all down for cattle farming! Plus the actually feel and dare i say it...urban design of the place felt much better.
Anyway didnt do much that day but then in the evening we all went for our first visit to the argenitinian side of the falls....at 10pm!!! Yes under a full moon!!! We got the bus there, on a long straight road amongst rainforest then got dropped off at the park entracne. It was a bit like dinseyland but we were so excited to go see the falls under the moon. We walked along all these gangplanks over really calm, clear water with the moon reflecting in the water. Then we heard the roar of the falls, and saw the moon become a bit hazy due to the mist. Then we saw the lip of the falls and as we got closer it just tumbled into darkness below. i even saw a moon rainbow!!! the moon was so bright it created a monotone rainbow!! WOW! Next day went back to the park and Holly tried skinny dipping on the only river beach in the park, a story to tell the grandkids she said! See why i call her crazy holly!!! he he
Anyway my pics still havent uploaded so you may have to get all these in one go....hmmm. After iguazu it was time to head north again to meet django and dani in the Pantanal, the worlds largest wetlands and a haven for spotting wildlife.....