By Andrew Enever in La Paz

The clouds were slow lifting off Mount Chacaltaya as the La Paz Scottish Dancing group prepared to set a new world record by dancing at 5,260 metres (17,358 feet) above sea level.

With the Bolivian and Scottish flags in place and the first bars of highland music floating off into the Andean valleys below, 12 dancers, including six Bolivians, paraded onto the terrace to perform.

The members defied the thin, cold air to dance and leap their way through... Cadgers in the Cannongate and the Burns Hornpipe

The group only needed to complete a Dalkeith Strathspeys - a slow dance - to smash the previous record of 4,200m held by the Colorado Scottish dancing group.

But having passed the mark, the members defied the thin, cold air to dance and leap their way through two more energetic jigs, Cadgers in the Cannongate and the Burns Hornpipe.

As the group began the third dance, the clouds cleared to reveal the stunning landscape of Bolivia's Andean mountain range, the Cordillera Real.

Looking way down from our vantage point to the capital La Paz it was clear that this was a record that would not easily be broken.

Bolivian inspiration

The idea to dance on Chacaltaya had been floating around since the early 1990s, when the La Paz Scottish Dancing Club was still primarily an expatriates' social group.

"Every Saturday we would meet and say 'we must do Chacaltaya'," explained one of the club's longest serving members, John Cooper.

But it was not until a recruitment campaign brought a number of new Bolivians into the group that the idea became a reality.

The idea to get more Bolivians dancing was put forward by Valerie Black, the leader of the club and the main dance instructor.

Trying to find common ground between two such distant countries as Scotland and Bolivia sounds quite a task.

But Valerie, through her work with altiplano communities, was convinced there was something to build on.

"The highlands of Bolivia are very similar to those in Scotland," she said.

"The political and social organisation of the Andean communities is also reminiscent of the old clan system in Scotland from the way communities share surnames to the level of solidarity.

"There's a lot of social and economic support."

Sharing Scottish culture

Valerie set up weekend workshops where they taught dancing but where they also taught about the history and traditions of Scottish culture.

"I went to a few sessions and it was good fun," said Diego Bacarreza, a Bolivian who, according to Valerie, is now one of the best dancers in the group.

The dance club is now half-Bolivian

"Then we were invited to a ceilidh [Scottish party] where we danced and got to try haggis."

Another Bolivian member, Elizabeth Carrasco, was drawn in by the music.

"I've always liked Celtic music but in Bolivia there is nowhere to go and listen to it," she said.

"For us to dance to Latin music is easy, but in Scottish dancing there is a level of discipline.

"It is a style of dancing that doesn't have a leader but if one fails it affects the group so everybody has to take responsibility."

The members never thought they would be setting records when they joined the group.

The La Paz Scottish Dancing group could be in the record books for years.

"There are very few places in the world where you could so easily get to 5,200m," said John Cooper.

Dancing back to Scotland

And now with this achievement under their belts the world's highest Scottish dancers are setting their sights on a trip to the homeland.

Bolivia's soaring highlands put the dancers to the test

"We always told the Bolivians stories about highland gatherings, where you can see hundreds of bagpipes out there in the mountains and it has caught their imagination," explained Valerie.

"It was never really a concrete idea until we decided to go to Chacaltaya but now we are thinking that if we're capable of doing this we're capable of getting ourselves over to Scotland."

And, if all goes well, by June 2003 the world altitude Scottish dancing record holders will be doing a tour of the highlands.

"We'd love to have a chance to show the Scots what we can do," said Elizabeth Carrasco.