Our night bus arrived in the town of Puno at 5:30 in the morning and by 6am we were on another bus out of there for the Bolivian town of Copacabana. The view from the bus window of lake Titicaca was fantastic but the sun was really powerful and started to slowly cook us. All along the lake shore were little rural communities and beautiful farms (but it must be hard work in the sun at nearly 4,000 metres). After just over 2 hours we arrived at the tranquil border crossing, which we had to cross on foot before getting back on the same bus. Strangely we seemed to be the only ones aware of what to do; everyone else from the bus just stood around like they were waiting for something while we stamped out of Peru and into Bolivia; our 11th country. We then had to wait for them all on the other side, which gave us time to think that all South American borders have been well organised unlike most Central American ones.

8km later we were in Copacabana and 10 minutes after that we made it to our next splurge - our own little apartment at a place called Las Olas on a hill overlooking the lake. (We had splurged a bit in the last few weeks with the expenses of Machu Picchu and the food of Cusco but we had planned this one since the UK.) It's easily the best accommodation of the trip so far and almost certainly won't be beaten. Our own place with two levels, a wood fire, a kitchen, an indoor hammock and our own private patio with two more hammocks and deck chairs couldn't be turned down for £30 a night. Other apartments at Las Olas were more quirky than ours on the outside; like the snail and terracotta ones but we loved ours.

We stayed in Las Olas for four nights and didn't really do much apart from relax, read and lay in hammocks, which was all amazing with the stunning view! Katy was still recovering from her latest illness (see Cusco blog) and despite the setting, understandably felt a little down after being ill for two whole weeks.

Also for Katy the novelty of being at altitude was wearing off. We've been higher but not slept this high before and it made us both feel dizzy and weak. At 3,812 metres Lake Titicaca is apparently the highest navigable lake in the world. Or the biggest highest lake in the world. The days are really hot in the burning sun but then are very cold at night.

For lunch on most days we walked down to the lake shore (past the Bolivian Naval base, a strange thing in a land-locked country) and had to choose from one of the 24 little kitchens that served lake trout which was incredibly good. The rest of the town was dusty and not pretty apart from the main square and the church but it was interesting to see a number of taxis, cars and trucks dressed up for the blessing of automobiles. This ceremony 'obviously' keeps them safe on the road so the owners can drive as badly as they like.

Every night we were treated to a lightning storm which we watched comfortably from behind our massive window. Our second night was the biggest storm with lightning arching across the sky and hitting the ground literally every second for over an hour. We watched it start two fires on the other side of the bay but these were quickly put out by the heavy rain and hail stones that accompanied the storm. When the lightning hit the ground near us my heart started beating faster but Katy just really enjoyed it.

Las Olas had four pet alpacas which wandered the grounds which was a massive bonus for Katy. When we returned from the market they smelt our food and followed us and even jumped up at us to get our food. There was one in particular who was inquisitive and we recognised him from Tijs & Jacqueline's YouTube video but to Katy's dismay he didn't visit us in our room like he had done with them. On our third night we booked the hot tub and watched one of the best sun sets. The alpacas even joined us on the side and tried to drink from the tub while the owner tried to stop them.

While blowing our budget on the room we tried to save by cooking for ourselves every night and boiling our drinking water. The town's market was a bit basic so we ate simply but I thought it was nice after overeating in Cusco.

Our last day at Las Olas was a little bit busier as we climbed the hill next to the town to see the crosses that people make a pilgrimage to. At the top apart from gazing at the amazing view you can buy many things in miniature form to have blessed. These were mostly toy cars, models of shops and sheep but you could also get a miniature work contract - maybe I should have bought that one. After lunch we visited the church, bought our boat tickets for the next day, spent some time in an Internet cafe, bought some bakery supplies for dinner and then because we had been so busy retired to our hammocks. It's a hard life.

Simon