Leaving La Paz was a bit sad really. I had really begun to feel at home after a around 7 nights at el solario hostel and quite a bit of relaxing around the city. I had even got to know some of the local business owners, especially the juice ladies and the awesome Internet cafe around the corner. The lady at the Internet cafe appreciated my business so much she would bring me free cokes to the computer as I tapped out my blog etc.
I had planned to stay several nights after returning from Huyana Potosi but the weather had started to pack it in so after a bit of souvenirs shopping I headed out to the Cemetery Bus Station to get a bus to Copacabana. The bus was cheap as, only 15BLV (4 NZD) for the 4 or 5 hour trip. We had awesome views of the mountain range to the north, which include Huyana Potosi and others. At one point we had to get out of the bus and board a small ferry across a narrow section of Lago Titakaka, the boat taking a separate barge over. The barges can only take on bus and make their way slowly over the lake with a small outboard motor and a large stick.
Copacabana is a pretty nice little town, although terribly touristy. I did a few laps of the main streets and enjoyed a very thick creamy hot chocolate at some hippy hotel, which required a spoon to drink/eat! One bad thing about Copacabana is the extremely high price of Internet, some 12 BLV, which is 4 times the price of La Paz. Although I found some for a bit cheaper, they were all pretty rubbish!
I pottered around the town for the rest of the afternoon, having found a reasonable hotel with double bed and private bathroom. My sole reason for going to Copacabana was to make a trip over to Isla de Sol, which is supposed to be absolutely superb. I booked a ticket to Isla de Sol for the following morning and found some cheap place to eat. A large electrical storm struck the town later that evening while I was walking around, which was pretty dramatic, cutting the power to the church and a few other areas in town.
The following morning I headed down to the wharf to get my boat over to Isla de Sol, stopping several times to get food and lunch supplies for the trip. I met some awesome people down at the lake shore waiting for the same boat, one Canadian chap was particularly interesting and typically enthusiastic about life. He owned a kayak company in Canada and travels for much of the year. He was likely going to stay a night at the southern end of the island so we decided to do the walk over the island together, along with a couple from San Fransisco.
Arriving at Isla de Sol, we were instantly blown away by how beautiful the place was and I started to regret leaving all my stuff in my hotel room rather than in storage because I was unable to stay the night. I had no way of contacting the hotel so I really had to get back. Oh well, I made the most of the day and enjoyed the incredible scenery and tranquility the island had to offer. Walking around the island reminded me of cruising the bottom end of waiheke, with barely any vegetation and superb views of empty paddocks. I forgot to put sun screen on my neck and got horribly burnt. The boat was running late from the southern port so I hung around reading my book soaking up the gorgeous view. There wasn´t enough time to get out to the southern ruins although it didn´t seem that important given we could seem them from the boat on the way out.
The french chap I met on the bus to Copacabana was also on the boat with a classic jovial Argentinian sailor, so we all had a few laughs on the journey back to Copa. A couple and their young child were next to me and at one point we heard a light thump sound, followed by a few gasps from them. We realised that they had dropped their camera overboard!! They look shocked and their small child started to cry, perhaps the culprit haha.
We ended up visiting a reed island on the way back to copa, which didn´t suit an old german tourist that well given he had a bus to la paz booked and would eventually miss it! He wasn´t that happy but not much one can do.
Upon arriving back at Copa, the french chap and I went up the hill above the city with religious monuments etc, which afforeded a superb view of the city and the lake, although very tough to get up!
The french chap and I parted company early evening, although we had planned to meet up later for a dinner with Carol, a stunning reporter from Brasil. We had trucha, which is spanish for trout, at a restaurant for only 30 BLV, which is like 8NZD and it was superb! Their was some sort of celebration going on in the central plaza, with a pretty impressive fire works display and all.
I booked my bus ticket to Puno that night also, deciding to head off first thing in the morning and do a reed island tour the afternoon of arriving. I hadn´t realised that Puno wsa in Peru, so we would have to do a border crossing and money exchange given I had quite a heap of bolivianos left. We got off the bus at the Bolivia departure office and ran over the border to Peru in the rain, which was pretty classic.
Arriving in Puno was pretty interesting. I was met by a tout who offered a hotel for pretty cheap so I went with that option. When we got to the hotel he organised a reed island tour for me and a bus for the next day to Cuzco (which turned out to be almost double of what it would have cost to get it myself!!). I had a bit of time to kill before my 330 departure for the tour so I walked to the plaza to witness some for of town celebration and parade, and did some internet time.
The tour was a shambles! Four other gals from the hotel were coming along to the tour also, although were were not picked up until 4pm. When we finally arrived at the wharf we boarded the boat, but that did not leave until around 5 because they had trouble finding a captain, either that or they were waiting for a large group or school kids who would eventually board. At one stage I got off and changed my tour to the next day when there would actually be more than 1 hour of day light, although as they boat was pulling away the lady told me I could not change my bus, so the boat had to be called back near the wharf so I could run over the bow of several other boats to rejoin the girls.
The tour was actually pretty okay in the end. Although we didn´t get much light, the fading light then awesome sunset wsa pretty sensational and very dramatic. One doesn´t really need a great deal of time on the islands, as one island is pretty similar to the rest really. Pretty touristy but also pretty interesting. Apparently the reed island community has been there for over 1000 years floating around!
After getting back to shore and cleaning up at the hotel, I joined the girls for an awesome cheap Chifa meal. We then wandered around the main pedestrian plaza trying to find somewhere that served Irish coffee. We found a place that claimed to serve it, but when the guy ran over the road to get the proper glasses we doubted that he actually made one before! With no actual cream, the final creation was more like a cafe cortado with a lot of whisky! I got a Prisca in the end, thought it would be a safe option and it turned out to be pretty reasonable.
Back to the hotel to get ready for the next day of travel, the girls and I exchanged a few travel ideas and email addresses for a future meet ups in Peru.
The french chap I met on the bus to Copacabana was also on the boat with a classic jovial Argentinian sailor, so we all had a few laughs on the journey back to Copa. A couple and their young child were next to me and at one point we heard a light thump sound, followed by a few gasps from them. We realised that they had dropped their camera overboard!! They look shocked and their small child started to cry, perhaps the culprit haha.
We ended up visiting a reed island on the way back to copa, which didn´t suit an old german tourist that well given he had a bus to la paz booked and would eventually miss it! He wasn´t that happy but not much one can do.
Upon arriving back at Copa, the french chap and I went up the hill above the city with religious monuments etc, which afforeded a superb view of the city and the lake, although very tough to get up!
The french chap and I parted company early evening, although we had planned to meet up later for a dinner with Carol, a stunning reporter from Brasil. We had trucha, which is spanish for trout, at a restaurant for only 30 BLV, which is like 8NZD and it was superb! Their was some sort of celebration going on in the central plaza, with a pretty impressive fire works display and all.
I booked my bus ticket to Puno that night also, deciding to head off first thing in the morning and do a reed island tour the afternoon of arriving. I hadn´t realised that Puno wsa in Peru, so we would have to do a border crossing and money exchange given I had quite a heap of bolivianos left. We got off the bus at the Bolivia departure office and ran over the border to Peru in the rain, which was pretty classic.
Arriving in Puno was pretty interesting. I was met by a tout who offered a hotel for pretty cheap so I went with that option. When we got to the hotel he organised a reed island tour for me and a bus for the next day to Cuzco (which turned out to be almost double of what it would have cost to get it myself!!). I had a bit of time to kill before my 330 departure for the tour so I walked to the plaza to witness some for of town celebration and parade, and did some internet time.
The tour was a shambles! Four other gals from the hotel were coming along to the tour also, although were were not picked up until 4pm. When we finally arrived at the wharf we boarded the boat, but that did not leave until around 5 because they had trouble finding a captain, either that or they were waiting for a large group or school kids who would eventually board. At one stage I got off and changed my tour to the next day when there would actually be more than 1 hour of day light, although as they boat was pulling away the lady told me I could not change my bus, so the boat had to be called back near the wharf so I could run over the bow of several other boats to rejoin the girls.
The tour was actually pretty okay in the end. Although we didn´t get much light, the fading light then awesome sunset wsa pretty sensational and very dramatic. One doesn´t really need a great deal of time on the islands, as one island is pretty similar to the rest really. Pretty touristy but also pretty interesting. Apparently the reed island community has been there for over 1000 years floating around!
After getting back to shore and cleaning up at the hotel, I joined the girls for an awesome cheap Chifa meal. We then wandered around the main pedestrian plaza trying to find somewhere that served Irish coffee. We found a place that claimed to serve it, but when the guy ran over the road to get the proper glasses we doubted that he actually made one before! With no actual cream, the final creation was more like a cafe cortado with a lot of whisky! I got a Prisca in the end, thought it would be a safe option and it turned out to be pretty reasonable.
Back to the hotel to get ready for the next day of travel, the girls and I exchanged a few travel ideas and email addresses for a future meet ups in Peru.
