Peru, Bolivia, Brazil Tues 16 Sept 08

Peru, Bolivia, Brazil Tues 16 Sept 08
Left Copacabana 9.30am, into bus for long drive around Lake Titicaca. Bolivian Guide Antonio (who took us around Copacabana and Cathedral yesterday) excellent, very knowledgable, almost intelectual, very good english. Told us about Tiano culture which was pre-inca and existed for many centuries, high altitude potatos, and uv rays 3x stronger in this area having very damaging effects on plankton in the lake and tourists, and the highest yaght club in the world.

There had been a snowstorm last night, still some snow along sides of road, fresh snow on mountains.

Bolivia gained independance from Spain 183 years ago since when there has been some democratically elected leaders but also lots of dictatorships, military and otherwise. However they have just celebrated 25 years of uninterupted democracy, a record since independance.

Learned more about fish in lake. Kingfish, a bass-like fish, was also introduced. These were even more agressive than the trout, consuming local varieties and trout alike. Hence all trout in lake are now in farms, penned in hundreds of square enclosures and well organised.
Also in the lake are giant frogs, discovered by Jaques Cousteau who became famous decades ago for his underwater filming. These frogs live very deep, are blind and no longer amphibeous, having lost the function of their lungs. Apparently 3 french gastronomic companies got very excited about these giant frogs and wanted to eat them, as the french do. However, being blind, the reproductive cycle is very long, with these frogs spending a lot of time trying to find each other in the deep water to mate, so the supply would quickly dry up and the french abandoned their project.

The lowest temperature recorded in the lake this winter was minus 13 degrees centigrade in July. However the lake never freezes due to evaporation causing a mist over the water.
There are thousands of kilometers of terraces around the lake, but most are no longer worked due to the high labour requirement and better prospects in the growing cities and the tourist business. Productivity has also fallen, presumably due to reduced inputs of labour, nutrients and management of water. The incas used complex systems including capiliarity and osmosis, and were getting 36 tonnes per hectare according to records, this is not much less than in some modern advanced countries. But now around the lake they are only averaging 7 tonnes.

There is a very special island called Sun Island where there are remains of temples built 600 - 400 BC. The Tianco civilisation disappeared around 12th century AD, no-one quite knows why.

The Andes stretch from Alaska to Anarctica. The are 2 arms of the mountain range just here and we drove through the valley between them, an awesome experience.

Crossed the lake at its narrowest point between the big and little lakes, on a passenger ferry which was a very basic boat with just enough room for the 17 of us and lots of water sloshing around under the floor. The bus went across on a pontoon just big enough on a chain pulley system looking very odd sitting barely above the water line in the lake. We all got across safely.

Arrived La Paz which was created in 1548 following a 3 year spat between rival spanish factions after which mother spain ordered that a new city be built called Our Lady of The Peace = La Paz. There were 8 million? streams running into the valley chosen for the city, and the spanish soon noticed the local indians were finding gold in them. This made the new city very popular among spanish tourists of the day. The population today is 1.2 million and it is full, being surrounded by steep hills and mountains. A new extension of the city has grown on top of the surrounding hills whose people are seeking independance from the old city government.
There are 2 main cultures in La Paz, Andean and ex-European, but also asian (mainly japanese and indian) and african. The japanese grow rice and export lots of it, and the asian indians control the digital/photo/stereo sector. A cosmopolitan city, very crowded and busy, La Paz is also the seat of national government. The President is based here.

Walked through part of the city this afternoon, in a group led by Claudia. Visited an ATM and shopping centre. Got bored and came back to hotel with part of group to update blog. Not supposed to go out on my own, even in daytime, so can`t just wander about as I like to do sometimes. 6pm now, dinner at 7.30, one couple leaving tomorrow so will be farewells after 18 days.
Take care everybody, All the Best,
John