I had to make a decision at the start of 2001 - where did I want to go to really get away from it all, and to really have an adventure? I narrowed it down to Mt. Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu. "Kili" lost out because it was just too damn expensive to get there! So off to Peru I went!

I travelled down on my own and joined up with a G.A.P. Adventures tour in La Paz, Bolivia. There were 13 of us in our group of intrepid travellers, including our guide Katia - and did we ever cover the full spectrum of nationalities, accents and personalities! We had our Aussie (Tony), our Kiwi (Lisa), our Brits (Michaela & Ian), our Scot (Gena), our Yanks (Priscilla & Jay), a Swiss (Lis), a transplanted Frenchie (Patricia) and 3 Canucks (Frank, Corie & Myself). But even us Canucks had different accents - Frank's was Czech's, Corie's was French, and me - well, just plain old Canuck!

Our trip started in La Paz, Bolivia and ended in Lima, Peru.

My first few hours in La Paz where memorable and educational to say the least. Here I was, a gringo, all on her own with barely a word of Spanish and surrounded by one of the busiest, craziest, fantastic cities in the world! It was culture shock at it's best and I wasn't comfortable at all. I got up my courage to walk around outside soon after I got there - mostly because I was starving and I really didn't want to waste my time hanging out in my hotel room all on my own....so off I went!

What I remember most about La Paz were definitely the people - women dressed in traditional costume sitting on the street selling cheese, bread, trinkets - just about anything you could think of and more; the children, all grubby-faced with sparkly eyes....I definitely enjoyed looking around more after I met up with my group and hooked up with Priscilla & Corie who, thankfully, could speak espanol! In fact, my time in Bolivia was so nuts that I don't have any of my own pictures to show (OK...not the truth, but I'd already stuck them into my album by the time I got around to scanning everything...) so I'm just going to put in some pictures of the ruins at Tihuanaco....one of the most important and ancient archaelogical sites in South America.

The Puerto Del Sol, or the "Gateway to the Sun" is constructed from a single peice of gray andesite rock.

We spent that night with a local family on Amantani Island. The little girl from the family that Katia and I stayed with was only 13, but made us three complete meals - and some of the best soup I've ever tasted! The accomodations were basic, but quite homey and comfortable. We were even able to attend a night of dancing at the local "community hall".

From Puno, we travelled by bus through Copocabana to Cusco.