La Paz to me, in my own words is a VORTEX!! Its that plain and simple. I dont know how many days I spent there, but it was one too many if my liver and body had anything to say about it. I had some great times though, 'socialising' as you do. It was even the place where my latest catchphrase was coined, "NO WAY". There was even one night where the catchphrase was the only sound that could be heard in the bar at Wild Rover, a inebriated Scott Bowley just yelling it for no particular reason NO WAY... NO WAY... NO WAY! Obviously there had to be some quiet nights where we wouldnt be adding to our already large bar bills, so Shane, Emma and I went to see the Great Gatsby at the cinema, subtitled and all that. Now, I would sit through any type of muck on the screen and say that, even at the lowest, it was alright. The music was catchy and the costumes were cool but NOT.... when your at the flicks with Coyler. At the end of the film as the credits are rolling, he turns to me, still with the icecream stick in his mouth, "well that was the greatest load of s***e I've ever seen" as he got up to leave the cinema chair! Your brutal honesty Shane, I feckin love it! Another one was when I first met him over in South America, I had brought out a new pair of boots with me, bright blue in colour, knowing Shane likes his colourful kicks to which he replies to this question, "What do you think of me new shoes, do ya like them", which he answered, "no, not particularly"! Fair f***s to ya Coyler!

We had enough of La Paz at this stage, we need to get out of the vortex and the only answer to that was a pristine high altitude lake a few hours north of us, called Lake Titicaca. We say our goodbyes to our very good friends we have just made and leave the destrucable capabilities of Wild Rover. A short taxi ride to a cemetery we get out and then back into a combi, not a combineharvester, but a minibus that was put under Rick Moranis's ray gun, so we now had a situation where, Honey, I shrunk the minibus. The journey north to the border where the lake lay was three hours or so away, where at one point we had to get out altogether and get a small ferry across to the other side that was basically made of timer railway sleepers, hauling the minibus across. The scenery at this stage has become simply beautiful in the afternoon sun. It was great to leave the chaos and dirt of La Paz and eventually see the real beauty of what Bolivia had to offer. On to road leading into Copacabana, the small town on the Bolivian side of the lake, it really hit me that I was now high in the sky. Having been so long at altitude, my chest had stopped heaving with everything I did, so I became complacent to the heights that I was at. It wasnt until we were driving around the edges of the lake that I realised how low the clouds were in the sky, somewhere around 4,000masl, Titicaca is the highest lake it the world and it showed.

We arrive in Copacabana around 5pm in the afternoon. Its getting cold as the sun dips behind the mountains so we head to find so lodging for the night. Copa is a town that lies on the edge of the lake, soley focused on tourism it seems but badly done so from what we could see. The town is also full of crusties, they were everywhere, smelling up the place, singing songs to you that you didnt want to entertain, and getting by everyday with pennies that they'd find in the street. What is it about dirt, dreadlocks, circus pants, bowler hats, kerosene and juggling equipment? What do their mother say to them when they come home for the Christmas dinner? Come on Carlos, cant ya get a real job?

We found a hotel of sorts at the lakefront, looked fairly dapper but sher you know with everything in Bolivia its porbably supported from re-bar alone, so dapper me arse! I wasnt up to much that first night in Copa, the demons of La Paz finally were finally leaving the system, so bad so, that I wasnt able to roll from the bed to watch the cracking sunset that burst through the curtains of the room. At some stage, we had to go out and get some grub. Lake Titicaca is famous for its 'trucha' or trout and when cooked properly it was delicious! One of the main attractions at the lake, apart from going out of the clapped out peddal swans, is to take the boat to the main island on the lake called Isla de Sol or Island of the Sun. The reason its so highly regarded is that the island was one of the most important religious sites in the Andean world during the sixteenth century, reserved as the place where the sun (isla de sol) and moon (isla de luna) were created and where the Inca dynasty was born. We decided to head to Isla de Sol for a night and do some hiking there. After we had breakfast in an Irish-Bolivian cafe that was owned by a guy who was a ringer for Ciaran Fitzgerald (former Irish rugby captain), the breakfast, which was delicious, we took the boat ride took two and a half hours to get to the northern shore of the island where this small village called Ch'allapampa was situated. Its a lot quieter than the southern part and cheaper too as not too many tourist want to go the extra bit further north but it was fine with us, give us a bed for the night and we'll be grand. The children of Bolivia are always seen at work and this was no different here, as a few young kids badgered us to take a room in their house over another neighbours closeby. We settled with this young girl, no more that seven years of age and for the price of €1.75 each, we had a warm bed and room for the night. There wasnt much to do at that stage of the evening other than watch the sunset, so we walk 10mins from the small village of Ch'allpampa along this tiny road where cows, pigs and donkeys are worked daily to where the shore meets th sea. We pass fields with local women and men who are hunched over severly tending to the fields. Their small frames buckled in the most awful way from years and years of fiddling through the dirt with small sticks for potatoes ripe enough to pick. We walk along a cliff edge and sit high in the grass overlooking the lake, so huge it looks like an ocean, with no one around but ourselves to watch the sun set over the lake. It was a smashing sunset, one that I will never forget thanks to some cracking photos that I got on the day.

The following morning, we're up and cockcrow to watch the sun rise, however it was a small bit cloudy so it was nowhere near impressive that the actions we saw the night before. It was still early and the crust was already wiped from our eyes, so instead of heading back to the cot we decide to start our trek to the southern part of the island to a town called Yumani from where the boat departs. The sun broke as we started our hike and the colours of the island erupted as we walked. The further we climbed, the more blue the lake to our left became and greener the forests and fields to our right. We passed through small villages and fields, one main one called Ch'alla where bought men and women slogged all day for food for supper and something to sell on the mainland. The poverty is clear in these parts, they dont have a pot to piss in and neither two coins to rub together. Their hands and feet are filthy yet they have smiles on their faces and their clothes are whiter than white. Their amazing people that find happiness and solace from the most simplest of things. Whether western society will ever get to that stage we will never know, though probably not, as its already passed a hundred or so years ago, we're now governed by a rat race, where families try to keep up with the Jones and "how much money do you make" attitude. Coming to a place that like wont change you, not immediately anyways, but it will open your eyes and probably for the good. If there was ever a way that the happiness of these lands could be intertwined with the lifestyles of the west, we'd all live for a long, long time, thats for sure and at the end of our tenure actually rest in 'peace'.

Back at Copacabana, on the mainland again, the time was nearing for me to part ways with Shane and Emma. We had had a wonderful two weeks together having the craic in Lap Paz, getting dirty and sweaty in the jungle and pampas and finally getting all 'tranquilo' on Lake Titicaca. We said our goodbyes at the top of the street as I got on my bus to Peru knowing that the next time I'd see them would probably be back in Roscompton. Tar-ah luv's.

The next step of the journey leads me across the border into Peru to the border town of Puno and the onwards to the Incan capital of Cusco.