Hola again.

Hope everyone is well and not suffering too much in the cold (It´s pretty damn cold here as we have spent th last 2 weeks at about 3500m and didn´t realise the closer you get to God the colder it gets. I always thought heaven would be warm, but now I remember that´s the other place...).

We finally made it out of La Paz when I managed to drag myself away from the bathroom. A particularly pleasant stay for Betty as the room we were in only had a curtain to seperate the bedroom from the ensuite. Apologies but the devil is in the detail...

We caught the 8 o´clock bus I think, difficult to remember as it left about 10 but we made it to Copacabana sometime early afternoon. Copacabana is a small town on the shores of Lake Titiicaca and not the beach place in Brazil. Hmmm.....Apparently the latter is named after the former but....Lake Titicaca is huge and borders Bolivia and Peru. It´s difficult to work out from the map but it looks about 150k long and 50 wide. It´s at over 3500m above sea level whicjh is really hard to get your head around (and your lungs).

Copacabana is a really nice town and much more manageable in size after La Paz. On the day we arrived quite a lot was closed because the 4 day booze/water throwing fiesta was still ongoing. We had a coffee watching the fun and walked along the beach. When it´s cloudy it does look a little like a mini semi-derelict Blackpool complete with pedalos, rubbish fairground rides and near dead horses to ride, but the view out to sea is quite spectacular and the town itself far more charming. The hostel was a little dissapointing as when somewhere claims to have hot water but only one tap in the shower you should rightly be sceptical. Dinner was a bit of a challenge with lots of places closed so we had to settle for the set menu at the worst restaurant in the world (as did many other people, our Spanish being insufficient to warn them as they came in). However, we survived and returned to our freezing cold hostel. It was better than it sounds but these are the facts ;)

The next morning we had booked a tour to the Isla del Sol on the Bolivian side of Titicaca. The journey takes forever at about 3km a hour (2 1/2 hour for 12km!). Hmm..maths.. but when we arrived the rain had stopped and it looked like a beautiful day. There are no cars on the Isla and a path lets you walk across the top in an afternoon as it´s only about 9km long. We spent a fantastic 4 hours walking through/above the island looking at ancient Inca terraces and lovely little bays with the vastness of the lake and mountains in the distance. It really is a remarkable place, kind of like I´d imagine a smaller Sicily or Crete in the sky. Surprisingly green and lush we found a fantastic picnic spot, saw some local wildlife and had our first exercise for some time. Far better than the city.

Made it back to see Liverpool beating Barcelona (!!) (had to say that) and had moved hostel in serach of agua caliente. Everything had now opened and Av 9 de Augosto which is the main gringo street was buzzing with colour and life. We spent the evening enjoying a 5 course meal for about 1.10 GBP at the best restaurant in the world. Listened to funky live Spanish style folk music and dashed home in a gap in the evening rains. Fantastic day.

Off to Peru in search of buried treasure.

Take care

love Paul and Betty.