Second time in Chile, second time in Bolivia...

We have reached Cusco, Peru, after a second visit to Chile then Bolivia. From San Pedro de Atacama we crossed the driest desert on earth to get to Arica, on the west coast, northern Chile (meeting once again with the Pacific ocean). We spent a few days there, in the mist, admiring in the meantime a church built by frenchman Eiffel. Then we got onto a minibus with a guide (no other participants meant we had our own private tour - very nice!) who took us to the Bolivian border, stopping en route to show us some "geoglyphs" (large drawings on the side of hills, used as a means of communications by the local Aymara indians), deep and arid canyons covered in "candelabre" cacti (they flower once a year over a 24 hour period, but we weren't there at the right time...) with lush irrigated valleys at the bottom, small stone and whitewashed villages where people stare with suspicion at tourists, snow capped volcanoes reflecting in altitude lakes, and a few animals too : vizcachas, vicuñas, and also guanacos, and we were lucky enough to spot our first condors!
From there we hopped on a bus to La Paz, Bolivia, where we arrived as the night was falling, offering a fantastic panorama of this incredible city, with its cubic brick buildings covering the slopes of a valley, with snowy mount Illamani in the background. We spent two days there, strolling along the very lively and colorful streets choked by traffic and lined with all sorts of stalls ; we ate set lunches at the market for 9 bolivianos per head (roughly 80 p for a drink a salad and a plateful of rice, plantain bananas, egg, sausage, potatoes and steack... we got the calories in!) and observed the lucky charms displayed at the witches' market, including amulets, dried llama foetuses (!) and flamingo wings. There were women in their party outfits, with matching pleated skirt and shawl, bowler hat and long plaited hair, children as young as 6 or 7 shining shoes, and group taxis doing 1 mile an hour with the door open and an attendant screaming out the direction and the price to attract more passengers ("El Alto dos bolivianos, dos bolivianos, el alto dos bolivianos...")
Then we left the noise, the pollution and the lively atmosphere of the capital for the tranquility of lake Titicaca and the small town of Copacabana (the lesser known Bolivian version). There we sampled the local trout (delicious) and had a day trip to nearby Isla del Sol, where the Incas believed the sun was born. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for a few times when people appeared out of nowhere, requesting that we buy a ticket granting us the right to walk through their village!
From Copacabana we took a bus to Peru, with a stop of a few hours in Puno, on the Peruvian side of the lake, where we visited a floating village made of reeds, before taking the night bus to Cusco, that we reached yesterday.
We are still at altitude, and have gotten into the habit of drinking "mate de coca", which is an infusion of the leaf of the plant from which is derived cocaine, but rest assured, it doesn't really have the same effects! It just helps a bit with the headaches and breathlessness that one gets at around 3500 metres above sea level.
Tomorrow we are off on a five day trek ending in Machu Picchu, so you will hear from us when we get back!