We woke to a somewhat calmer quieter Copacabana as the hoards of weekend revellers from La Paz had all gone - unfortunately their litter and dog poo hadn't (Well - at least we were guessing it was dog poo!) It amazes me how little respect they seem to have for the surrounding area, which in many ways was extremely beautiful but just slightly marred by the lack of cleanliness and standards. After breakfast before the sun had reached it's height we went for a stroll around the lake for about 1 ½ hrs. We watched a few children make there way to school, packed lunch swinging in a plastic bag; we watched an elderly lady lead her 3 pigs down to the beach to feed on scraps in the litter and a wiry gentleman lead his 4 lean cows to the water for a drink. A few birds could be seen feeding on fish in the lake (one which appeared similar to the Great Crested Grebe in the UK) and I managed to catch it on camera as the bird threw the fish down its gullet.

We had a slow morning - sitting on the balcony and reading. I have finished all my novels now and am desperate to find another book exchange so I can swap them. It's great to actually have time to read for enjoyment (back home if I start a book I normally can't put it down and end up reading into the early hrs of the morning and consequently am knackered for work - hence I tend not to read much as a result!) Anyway -back to the day - since my novels were finished I spent a couple of hours pouring over the New Zealand Lonely Planet. We only have 13 nights and 14 days there so I think we need to be well organised if we're going to manage to see all the areas we want to.

After checking out of the hotel, which we were silently pleased to see the back of after its stinky bathroom and hollow promises of hot water between 7am to 9am, we made our way up the steep street towards the Plaza Sucre where we were to catch a bus to La Paz. It's amazing how much heavier a 65litre rucksack feels when you are working against gravity! I eventually caught Scott up puffing and panting all the way. We sat in a leafy courtyard garden for a spot of lunch before commencing the bus journey. Scott had a feeling of trepidation getting on the bus - his previous experience from Copacabana to La Paz was on a local bus that had zero leg room and tourists throwing up everywhere. Two small French kids (probably about 5-6 yrs in age) sat behind us. It was unusual to see a family with young kids on the backpacker circuit and initially I thought they looked cute - that was until they proceeded to kick the back of my seat the whole trip!

Halfway through the journey we had to board a passenger ferry across part of the lake and watched the surreal sight of our tour bus floating across the water next to us on a barge. When we reached the outskirts of La Paz we were met with an awesome sight as we could see the whole of the huge city in its entirety sitting in a basin and extending up the sides - encroaching further toward the snowy peaks of the Andes above it.

Our bus dropped us off in the middle of a hectic street with hundreds of Bolivians rushing about their business and hoards of traffic around us. We had no idea where we were and hailed a taxi to take us to our chosen hostal. The taxi driver took ages studying the map and ended up taking us to a completely different hotel (although after quite some time studying our own maps we realised we were only round the corner from where we had wanted to be). Anyway - the hotel we were dropped at was about £16-£17 a night and had hot showers, wifi and cable TV with BBC news so we weren't moaning. After popping out for a bite to eat we were amazed at how much enjoyment we found at settling down in bed to watch a film (which was incidentally corny and not much good) - such simple things seem a novelty to us after 2 ½ week on the road.