Today we entered our fourth country - Bolivia. It's the poorest country on our tour of South America and as we crossed the border there was certainly a greater feeling of poverty. The roads had more pot holes, the cars were more beaten up and the houses were more ram-shackled. The small town of Copacabana was our first stop and to our amazement the town was having a fiesta. It does seem like every-time we arrive in a new town it's party time! On this occasion it was the annual taxi drivers party. Yes, unbelievably the taxi drivers of the town were having their annual knees up with street dancing, brass bands, traditional costumes and a stage with live music ... oh, and lots of beer! The street party went on all day with everyone progressively getting more and more drunk. It started raining, but that didn't deter the taxi drivers (and the wives), they just danced around their crates of beer in the rain. South Americans love to party and they certainly love to drink and we were grateful we wouldn't need a taxi the following morning because they certainly wouldn't have sobered up by sun-rise!

The following morning we hopped on a packed ferry to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). On the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, this is where the ancient Inca people believed the Sun God was born, rising up from the lake. It certainly is a beautiful place, reminding us of a Greek island with it's sandy beaches, tiny villages and dramatic coastline. The island is pretty small and has no roads, so we decided to walk it's length of 10km from north to south stopping at various ancient ruins and temples along the way. We spent the night in a simple guest house with amazing views over the lake and the snow caped Cordillera Real mountain range in the distance. The next day, we explored the Southern reaches of the island before eating a great trout lunch with chips, vegetables and rice (everything in South America comes with rice!). The boat journey back to the mainland took an unexpected detour when we discovered we had been bundled onto a private tour and were now visiting a trout farmery. Thinking of our earlier lunch, we felt slightly guilty as we watched 10 unlucky trout get killed, gutted and fried for the private tour group. It's a shame, but those Titicaca trout taste so good!

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