Quick facts: UNESCO site; GPS: -16.557655, -68.676141; GMT-4; Altitude: 12675′
Tiahuanacu – I woke up and had breakfast and coffee up on the roof of the building. It had a nice view of the city and some mountains. After eating I got ready and walked to the central cemetery where I had read I could catch the bus to my destination, Tiwanaku. Google said it was only 15 minutes or so but what it didn’t tell me was it was all up hill. Fortunately I have been in higher altitudes for the last several days and it wasn’t so bad. I got to the cemetery and found the so called bus station. This really is just a gaggle of minivans that display their destination on a sign on the front window.
I walked around until I found one with Tiwanaku on it and got a ticket which cost 15 bolivianos. The only other people people waiting were a German couple and we talked a little bit while we waited for more people to show up as the driver wanted 10 people before he would leave. This was about 10:00 and had I been there an hour or two before it probably wouldn’t have been a very long wait. After some time we all decided to just pay the difference so we could go which turned out to maybe less than $15USD for me to get there. More than I was planning on paying but still not much considering I didn’t want to waste all morning waiting for no one possibly.
The drive out of the city was about the same as it was in and it look us almost an hour just to get out back up to the altiplano. Another 30-45 minutes later we finally arrived at the ruins. Turning off the highway we drove past Pumu Pumku on the left as the driver headed to the center. Upon getting dropped off we all headed to the ticket window and got tickets. The ticket includes all of the ruins and museums. While the weather was nice and sunny I decided to get right to it and headed for the ruins while the German couple went to the museum.
I spent the next couple hours walking around the pyramid, the ruins before it started to get cloudy and then rain a little. I didn’t want to miss Pumu Punku so while the rain picked up I hurriedly made my way back over there. By the time I got there it was coming down more and quite windy. I started to walk around the area, taking pictures and then the lightning started. I got some pictures of the “H” blocks I had seen on Ancient Aliens and figured that was enough. I headed back as it started to hail a little and went to see the museums inside where it was dry. After going through both of the museums it was clearing up again and the sun was coming out.
By this time the site center was almost dead I was a little concerned that every had bailed and it would hard to get a ride back into La Paz. I grabbed a coke and waited for one of those vans to come by. Before too long I flagged one down and got a seat. He told me we was going to wait for more passengers and that I had more time to see things. He showed me a shortcut back to Pumu Punku so I went back.
This time it took 1/3 of the time and I walked the site again more leisurely taking more pictures and also got to see the rest of the area I thought I was going to miss the first time around. I got lucky and I’m glad I had a second chance. There wasn’t a ton more to see there but I got to look at the “H” blocks more closely and that was cool. It’s amazing to me that those people could do such precise work with limited tools in the time they built this complex. I’m no expert but do have a limited knowledge of manufacturing and I’m not sure how I would do it today with modern tools easily.
After walking back to the center and waiting a little while longer he collected enough people and we were on our way back to the city. Being as it was later in the day, by the time we got close there was already even more traffic and the driver suggested to those of us wanting to get back into the center of town to take the Teleferico, or cable car, as it would be quicker. He dropped us off at the station and for 3 bolivianos I got a ticket. Two quick stops later and I was back in the center. This cable car system they have here is pretty cool, and I’ll get to see more tomorrow as I have a tour of the city on it.
Back in town I grabbed a car to the restaurant I found online, La Casona, for dinner. Here I ordered one of the local specials although I don’t remember what it was called it was really good. It was a cut of pork with some fat, potatoes, and a half cobb of the large corn they have down here. The corn by itself was filling but the pork was delicious!
After dinner I walked back to the hotel and called it a night. I don’t have an early morning tomorrow but its been go go go and its been exhausting!