On our way to Bolivia we got to the Peruvian-Bolivian border and had to get off the coach and walk across. It was all quite confusing to we thought we'd ask PC plod who proceeded to take us into his office. We started to get the feeling we were just about to be done by a dodgy officer and be relieved of all our money as he looked at our passports for ages: one stank of alcohol, another asked if we had any drugs and one sniffed our money belts (he was brave!) but to our surprise and relief they just let us go eventually. How bizarre. We then strolled into Bolivia doing the usual tourist photo of being half in Peru and half in Bolivia (very original) and got back on the coach (after another passport check!). We eventually arrived in Copacabana and had a look round before having to travel again on the boat. We saw people queuing up for gas (?! apparently there had been a shortage?) and then looked round the church which was unbelievably quiet. We then wondered round the streets and bought some popcorn for the boat ride (it is not popcorn as we know it - it's much more fluffy and sweeter in a more natural way!). We made our way back to the harbour to meet our guide and group - it was rather small as it was just us! I was also secretly pleased that our guide did not speak English - this would be a test for my Spanish!

Our hospedaje on the Isla des Sol had a fantastic view of a peninsula that looked like a massive crocodile. We had a walk around then wondered back to the hospedaje to watch the sun set over our friendly crocodile. The sun set the mountains on fire - maybe it was the lack of modern gadgets and noise but eveything seemed purer and more fantastic here. We sat and ate by candlelight with our guide as electricity is never a given here and had a cold shower. It was not that nice, true, but we felt grateful for everything we had and even more so when next morning some awful stuck-up English woman was moaning about having a cold shower that morning - did she realize that mod cons were a luxury here and she was lucky to have water at all??!! What an embarassing example of the English - I actually felt the colour rise in my cheeks to know we came from the same country. An then she had the audacity to light up a cigarette in the breakfast room which was obviously not welcome to the Peruvians who ran it but they were too polite to moan..pity she couldn't learn from their example!!

We learned a lot about the island and sat in a natural seat in the rocks which looks at the stars and all sorts of weird and wonderful things about the Isla del Sol and soon our time was up on this beautiful island. We said our adios' to the crocodile and headed back to Copacabana. There, I upset a woman by taking an arty photo of her sheep and some locals by making Dave take a photo of them in a lunch hall- bloomin' tourists. After upsetting a few characters we headed back to Puno. We had our last cena at quart's place and then went to the bus station where my lasting memory is the word burned on my brain there 'Arequip-Arequipa! This was the repeated cry from the bus wolves - people trying to sell seats on buses to anyone who'd listen.. After the 50th repetition Dave dared me to go and ask if they sold tickets to Arequipa. SO I went and asked and I had to supress a giggle when with a straight face they said yes, not seeming to wonder why I asked when I had been sitting next to them for the last 10 minutes and obviously wasn't deaf..English humour or something.

Next stop: back to Cusco.