Next step of our adventure

Tomorrow is the next step of our adventure and the most challenging. Lake Titicaca is very remote, being in Peru but sandwiched between Chile and Bolivia. See www.unesco.org/water/wwap/case_studies/titicaca_lake/img/detailed_titicaca.gif for its location. Picture are at www.worldtravelerjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/LakeTiticaca.jpg and at studentwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~a_lunceford/pm-2%20Lake%20Titicaca.jpg

The first step will be a 9-hour bus journey way up into the Andes that should be pretty spectacular. Titicaca is at 12,507 ft and is the highest navigable lake in the world. There is more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca Unlikely to be any more blog updates or emails until we get back to Lima in five days or so.

Sadly, Dave and Becky will not be with us as Dave has had a myriad of health problems and they made the wise decision to return to the US tomorrow where he can be treated. Poor Dave did not even get to do the Inca Trail or even see Machu Picchu. They have been great travelling companions and we will really miss them both.

I have thought more about the preservation of Machu Picchu and have decided in my own mind that the Peruvians should “ring fence” the whole complex and only allow access to bone fide archaeologists. Tourists could then view it from designated walkways on the outskirts. They have already done that at many World Heritage sites such as Stonehenge, Mesa Verde etc. etc. Yet another Japanese study says that it will slip away down the mountain anyway at some point in the future.

There is also the issue of all the artifacts that Hiram Bingham (the “American “discoverer”) purloined and sent back to Yale. Of course governments have very stong claims to their national treasures but having seen what happened to the Lagos museum (all the Benin bronzes pilfered) and the Baghdad national museum (admittedly thanks to George W. Bush), I do believe that some collections in seriously protected environments are appropriate.