Copacabana

The 4 hour bus journey was a piece of cheese (I dont like cake), it felt like a 20 minute ride as the road's were paved and the driver was speedy, apparently the scenery was stunning Mishee tells me but I was knocked out! We had to get off for 30 mins to get a little boat across a lake and then jumped back on, for once we arrived when the company said we would!

We arrived in Copacabana and hunted for a hostel, we looked at 3 different ones and found a gorgeous little hostel called Leyenda for £10, our room here was spacious with Bolivian decorations with 5duvet's with lama's on to keep us warm at this high town of 3800 metres.

Copacabana is nestled between two hills on the southern shore of lake Titicaca, for centuries this town was a site for religious pilgrimage. A sweet little town to walk around and like all the Bolivian places we have been you can buy beautiful clothes and jewelry for next to nothing.

After an amazing siesta (most sleep we have had for a while), Mish and I climbed the hill Cerro Calvario, it took about 30 mins to walk up, but it was dam hard work, so out of breath in was unreal and we struggled even though I like to think we are both quite fit! Altitude is a killer. At the top of the hill, 4,000 metres, the views of the town and Lake Titicaca were awesome! It is a great place to watch the sun go down. After an easier decent from the hill we got a bite to eat at Copacabana coffee house, it has a cool jungle decor and a very slanted floor, one of the best meals in Bolivia here. During our meal we got sang to by a duo from Buenos Aires and a Peruvian flute band, the music from the flute band was especially good, really up beat and made the whole restaurant buzz, there was also a cute little kid dancing with his mum, he came and gave Mish and I a kiss, lovely evening.

The night time was not as good because I swear the air gets thinner at night and Mish and I both woke up constantly gasping for air, panicking slightly. Also in the night we had a very impressive thunder storm which shock the glass window of our room, it absolutely chucked it down all night, its rained most nights in Bolivia.

The next morning after a bread roll for brekkie, and a nice coffee at our hostel, we took our laundry to a local women and her poor house had really suffered from the rain, her whole living area was deep under water but she still managed to give us a smile 8kg of washing for £7 not bad! Then we hunted for a cash machine, no luck massive tourist town, no cash point, stupid, this was bad news as we had no Bolivianos left, we had some US dollars to change but the money exchange places are so fussy that if the note has a little damage or crease in it they wont take it and throw it back in a rude fashion. Not happy bunnies at this point and everything else seemed to be closed, fuming!!!

Mish had an idea of checking an upmarket hotel and it paid off the guy at reception didn't really like the condition of the notes but he changed them anyway with a smile and let us use the WIFI for free!
What a legend, this put us in a good mood again, love kind people like this guy, he didn't have to do this as he makes no money on the transaction he just wanted to help us out. So travelers make sure you have cash before getting to Copa as you could be screwed for money and be stuck!

A sad point of the day we were just having lunch down by the lake and this very old women with no shoes came up to us almost in tears begging and really upset us, must be so hard to survive for the elderly people who cannot work. No pensions here.

They are celebrating carnival here, its crazy crazy, people dance all day and night in the streets having the best time. The traditional women dress up in beautiful outfits and the men in crazy costumes! In the day people get dressed up in scary outfits and march around town going mental in massive groups with a band, soaking people with foam and water, Mish and I were hiding round walls trying not to get got! They love to party the locals here and why not ah?! The mad thing is the adults leave the kids to look after the stalls at night so often we bought stuff from kids as young as 7, doesn't seem right, but that's the way of life here. I Cant imagine working that young, so we are very lucky.

The second night in Copa I had a real funny turn felt dizzy and sick again but had some aspirin and a cheese and ham sandwich which sorted me out. We booked our Isla del sol trip.

Another sleepless night and I was starting to worry about Mish as she could hardly breathe at 3 O' clock in the morning, she had developed a cold as our room is freezing. I also had a bad tummy and had to make 7 visits to the toilet, we just want some sleep, god damit!

We were in 2 minds whether to do on our Isla del sol trip because I couldn't get my ass off the toilet, I thought to myself man up Ads and threw a couple of imodium down me and were on lake Titicaca on the way to Isla del sol ,(island of the sun) a smooth boat ride drove by a teenager who used his foot to steer all the way, Mish had the cutest old man next to her, he kept saying buenos dias (good morning) and munching on his bread! Isla Del Sol is a legendary Inca creation site and the birth place for Inca mythology. The island has no roads or cars, the transportation is all walking or donkey!

Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people lived on the island as far back as the third millennium BCE. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among the ruins on the island are the Sacred Rock, a labyrinth-like building called Chicana, Kasa Pata, and Pilco Kaima. In the religion of the Inca's, it was believed that the Sun God was born here.
The main economic activity of the approximately 8000 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy.

It took about an hour and a half to get to the south of the island and we grabbed a bit of brekkie at a local house, cheese sandwich, not very tasty at all to be honest but the coffee rocked and was very cheap. After this we headed up the famous Inca stairway (Escalera del inca) to the top of the hill, again so so out of breath, we took a right and headed around the island about an 1 hours walk on the way we passed a cute donkey who Mish befriended! The island is beautiful with amazing views of lake Titicaca, with terrace fields with crops growing in them. We got to a Inca ruin building Pilko kaina, greeted by a smiley man who we paid 5 Bolivano's to (50p) we had a look around and in the cool building.

We kept walking and found a relaxing place next to the lake, the sun came out it was a peaceful spot and we watched two men built some sort of small harbour using huge boulders and moving them with their bare hands. After this we walked back to the port and was off back to Copa, this boat was silly slow, could of swam faster, we kept it to ourselves, not like this older Canadian women on the boat moaning every 5 minutes, that got to me! I am losing my patience a bit more than normal must be all the transportation getting to me aaahhhhh!! We were Hank Marvin starving when we got back at 6pm as we hadn't eaten since 10 and that was only a minging sandwich, so went to a nice pizza joint, where the waiter gave us first class service. A quiet night as tomorrow we are off to Peru! Another new country!

Ads and Mish

xxxxxx