I made it back to La Paz in 18.5 hours on the bus. I’m afraid with Peru being a larger country geographically I am going to have to get used to long bus rides. I am a little happy to be back in La Paz because I don’t have to figure everything out for the first time. I knew where the hostel was and where good places to eat are. The first day back here I didn’t do a whole lot because I was tired from the bus ride.

Yesterday I went to Tiwanaku which is another area of Inca ruins that is about 1.5 hours outside of La Paz. I found them really interesting because there are still in the process of excavating the ruins and discovering the lost inca town. It was not quite as glamorous as somewhere such as Machu Picchu because very little of it has been reconstructed to look as it would have in its time, but it was really neat to see people digging up new blocks and to see massive slabs of rock that are certain to have been significant to the structure be partially underground. If I was to go back there in 10 years it would be amazing to see all the changes.

Today was not quite as structured and I took a local bus with someone from the hostel to the Valley of the Moon, i wasn’t sure what to expect but was up for some exploring. The bus ride itself was half the fun. The valley of the Moon ended up being an area with just a unique landscape due to erosion, plate movement and weathering. It looked like the inside of a cave, but we were out in the open. (a picture would be helpful here). The bus also took us through a really nice part of town that I didn’t know existed. I think I could spend a month in this city and still not discover all of it.

I think I will do a city tour (a little backwards, i know) tomorrow, and then head towards Peru on Sunday. There is one more town called Copacabana that I want to see before going into Peru.