291218: Tiahuanaco

We never intended to spend much time in La Paz but have found ourselves here for a full week.   So this morning we had a look at what else we could see given we had visited the centre and El Alto already.  There are a couple of geological formations to explore at the edge of the city but both guidebooks warn about foreigners being mugged there.

One place we had never heard of was Tiahuanaco or Tiwanaku.  On the way out to Lago Titicaca it is the ruins of an ancient civilisation that started 1,500 BC and which since seems to have entirely disappeared.  It was not that far away so we asked Camila to recommend a decent taxi company and booked a car.

Our driver wound his way up the steep sides of La Paz's valley.  The houses are terraced and being carved into the side of the steep slopes.  At the top, was El Alto.  It was crazy and jammed with cars.  The streets were blocked off with huge markets.  Manoeuvring through the streets is like a huge dodgems ride, inching ahead a bit at a time.  At one roundabout cars were going round both ways.  Buses, cars and taxis stop without warning to drop off and pick up.  The use of indicators, it seems, is optional.

After an hour and a half we eventually left the city behind and headed through scrubby countryside to Tiahuanaco.  By the entrance to the archaeological site there is an old train station which seemingly hosts a tourist train every month.

The guidebook says there is little in the way of interpretation at the site and advises the hiring of a guide.  An old gentleman approached us and said he spoke English.  Indeed he did but with a quiet voice and strong accent, we both struggled to follow what he said.

The main part of the site is a pyramid that was originally seven layers of rock high.  The blocks are perfectly cut as if by a machine, with right angles.  The four sides of the pyramid make a cross which lines up with the two equinoxes and two solstices.  There are standing stones that are magnetic and the compass changes poles as it gets near.

From the top of the pyramid, you can see some fields being cultivated in the same way it was when the city was populated. A complex drainage - sukakullos - system helped the ancient residents to produce yields of up to eight times more than is done with today's farming techniques.

There was also a subterranean temple with carved faces sticking out of the walls.  Some are human, some are animals and one looks like an alien.

Many of the faces had bandages around their heads and it is hypothesised that the people who lived here bound their heads with stones to create elongated skulls in a type of cranial deformation.

There were also some standing stones carved in human shape with elaborate patterns.  It is believed these would have been originally inlaid with precious metals and stones.  The largest one is kept in the adjacent museum but you can not photograph it.

On midsummer's day and other significant times, people still come and sacrifice llamas on the altars there.

Like many ancient structures, it is believed that the complex is a kind of calendar with gateways designed to let in the sun at certain times. 

A stone trumpet.

Our guide took us on a whistlestop tour of the two museums there and to a further site not far away where another much smaller pyramid was once located. Seemingly the site was deserted around a thousand years ago when a prolonged drought hit the Altiplano.

Raided over the centuries by the Spanish and then locals for its stone, the site seems surprisingly unprotected.

Heading back to La Paz the skies were furious ahead.  When we reached El Alto there was snow on the ground and some streets were flooding.

For dinner we went to Cyclid - a restaurant recommended by Camila.  Boasting an authentic international menu, it included British Classics Fish and Chips and Prawns and Chips.  We were famished and ordered some nachos.

Being veggie, we do not often get to taste local specialities like llama steak but Joan spotted a dish called Quesumacha.  It came and looked like a pumpkin soup with added broad beans, maize, potatoes and queso fresco. Initially it tasted gorgeous, but then heat kicked in.  It was possibly the hottest thing Joan had eaten in years as she normally does not cook spicy food as Kevin reacts badly.

Slowly, with sweats and burning lips, most of it was consumed.  It felt like a Man Vs. Food challenge.

Kevin also struggled with Gorgonzola Gnocchi which was extraordinarily pungent.

It was an early bed as we have an early start the next day.