Last Day in La Paz......... Maybe

Hi Folks:
First let me correct my spelling.......... again! I am told by Joy that Ivor`s partners name is Ivonne not Yvonne. I am so sorry.
Yesterday we were off to a great display of watercolours on the characters of the up-coming Carnivale. Quite exceptional, as was the display of the masks of these various entities. This was all at the National Museum of ethnography and folklore. After, we went to find the place where we will catch the bus to Sorata tomorrow. It didn`t seem far on the map and is up the hill past the Witches Market by the cemetary. It seems much harder hiking up the hills here with no pack, than the hills of Virginia with 40 lbs on your back. Once again I swear to get back into shape. We were puffing by the time we got up there and it looks like it will be a crowded minibus for 3 hours tomorrow. On the way down we shopped! You should see Joy bargain, which the women seem to enjoy! She should be made Minister of the Budget when we get home!
Today we visited Tiahuanico, an early (about 1000 years before Macchu Picchu) temple complex near the shore of Lake Titicaca. I was embarassed the other day when I had to confess to Ivor that I hadn`t been there. The site is not the spectacular mountain/river valley of MP, but the middle of a gentle valley on the Alto Plano at about 4,000m in altitude. The excavation is really just in it`s early stages, but the work seems to be proceeding quickly. The temples are partially constructed or dug out and re-constructed and the monolyths are really quite huge and special. The tour was worth it and, in addition, we were there on a Sunday and knew that the market was in the town square that day. Our tour guide didn`t want us to go into the town, but rather to go to the scheduled lunch (I am pretty certain that there is a commission involved), but Joy insisted and we were given 30 minutes. After the sprint to town we saw the church built in the 1500s, partially of stone from the temples. The square was filled with Cholitas in trasitional dress and Joy went wild. We then sprinted back to find out that the group had barely given their orders.
We came back to town to a big meal and ice cream (Pasas Ron is exceptional here......... oh yea Rum and Raisin) and now to pack. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we will be in Sorata, chilling for a week until we figure out how we will get to Sao Paulo, Brazil for the flight home. Joy has some paint boxes for the kids of Sorata and she hopes to do some serious painting.
Jim