Nigel: Following on from the border crossing from Peru to Bolivia, we had another boat trip planned with Peru/Bolivia hop. The trip was again on Lake Titicaca but as the border is situated in the middle of the lake, this time we would be on the Bolivia side. First though we had to stop in the town of Copacabana and have lunch, which we had over looking the lake. We didn't manage to see much of the place but it was a very touristy area. After lunch we set off for around 45-60 minutes to an island called Isla Del Sol (or The Sun Island) and it gets its name from the sun gate which is situated on the island. With no roads on the island, all travel is done by foot or some animal kind. Our tour consisted of a walk from one part of the island, where the boat dropped us off, to the other side of the island where the boat was waiting for us. During the walk we passed through a small indigenous community which are inhabitants of the island, several Inca ruins which still remain, and children with Llamas asking if we wanted to have a picture with them both. The fee for the picture was fixed and they were ruthless in collecting the money if a picture was taken and no payment had been made. Their cute exterior was soon lost when their business was under threat!! The walk lasted around 40 minutes on a steady incline but even this was a little tough when you are so high. With a quick stop at the bottom of the hill to admire the views of the snow capped mountains, which were in the distance, we were back on the boat. After another quick stop for food back in Copacabana, we set off for La Paz the capital of Bolivia.

There was one last hurdle which we had to get over.....how to get a large coach over the water with no bridge to cross over. The answer is to take all the people off the coach and put them on a small boat and then load the coach on to a barge and send it across to the other side. On occasions (bad weather) and after a certain time each day, the local army will stop all crossings and you have to wait for it to reopen. Due to the barges only having a motor on one side, they have to manually turn the barge around until they are facing in the right direction to switch the engine on. To achieve this, one person will push the barge, loaded with coach, with a long wooden paddle, until it turns the 180 degrees or so, to face the other side. When we entered La Paz we had a great view of the city and as we were arriving late at night, the view was of thousands of lights scattered across the city. We were glad to arrive at the hostel.