Missed the last ruins at Tiwanaku

After we finished our guided tour of the Tiwanaku ruins this afternoon, our guide told us that there was one more little section left for us to see, if we wanted to have a look at it. But we had to hurry, because it was 4:30pm, and all the ruins closed at 5pm. So Chris and myself (Pascale elected instead to sit and smoke) went to check them out. However, even at 4:40pm, we were too late — already shut. Closing earlier than advertised is a popular pastime, here in Bolivia.

The early closing of the ruins wasn't so weird; but what was really weird, was that when a group of three local boys walked past us, and saw us standing outside the closed ruins, they suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. More stark raving mad locals in this country. I have no idea what they found so funny: but when we asked them "are the ruins shut already?", they simply could not help themselves. They abso-bloody-lutely lost it. Rolling round in the dirt laughing, pointing and shouting at us. Apparently, there's something about us gringos — it seems that we just have so little idea about how things work (or don't work) in Bolivia, that they find it hilarious.