Tiwanaku is about 50 miles west of La Paz and near the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco or Tihuanacu) has the Pre - Columbian ruins which were the capital of the state for over 500 years and are in the process of being excavated. The city dates back as far as 1500BC but it is between 300BC and 300AD that Tiwanaku is thought to have been a religious pilgrimage centre. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site administered by the Bolivian government. Prior to this there have been a number of archaeological investigations, some more sensitive than others.

We travelled through the Andean plateau area which is quite a poor farming area and the farms were mud brick buildings with a few llama or sheep and the crops were very limited. It is pretty well subsistence farming. There were a number of road blocks on the road stopping people going to La Paz as there was a big pro government demonstration there; because of this we had to take a side road which was unpaved and very much un-made. This was very interesting as it took us through the real countryside area and the road was extremely uneven, at times it disappeared downwards in a dramatic fashion and we went very slowly down through the shallow river and climbed out again. I give credit to our driver who got us there safely with no damage to the bus.

The other museum holds relics found at Tiwanaku and told the story of the development through the ages in this area. At one time Tiwanaku was near Lake Titicaca and as the water level in the lake fell then the city became less important; possibly because it became harder to continue the agrarian way of life that the city depended upon. If you are interested in more history about Tiwanaku then these sites are quite interesting and the first one has some older drawings of the site: http://www.jqjacobs.net/andes/tiwanaku.html
http://www.archaeology.org/int eractive/tiwanaku/

We were told that the sun gate had been moved from its original position but I'm not sure I misunderstood, perhaps she was just saying that it had been repaired as it did have a huge crack in it . It was originally astronomically aligned so the sun shone through onto the centre of the pyramid but if it has been re aligned, its new position it was still regarded as important. On mid summer's day there is a big celebration of local people which unfortunately being more modern, usually requires alcohol and sometimes parts of the ancient ruins are damaged in this revelry.

It is a work in progress and as the museums are only 4 years old there is plenty of opportunity for this site to become better known as more is unearthed in the next few years. There is some discussion between archaeologists as to whether some of the reconstruction has been rather over enthusiastic and is not as authentic as it might have been so it hard to know what parts of what we saw is reconstructed and what is merely rebuilt.

We had a packed lunch provided by our hotel at Huatahata ( the one that offered eggs fo breakfast and than didn't bring them) . It was all packed in a box a bit like a Happy Meal only not so brightly coloured. One of thelocal eateries allowed us to eat our boxed lunch in their premisis so long as we bought something to drink. we also used their toilet for the price of the same drink.