So I´ve arrived at the point in my trip where I become comfortably involved in my life abroad...and sometimes forget to update my blogs. But I haven´t given up...
The weekend before last, July 17-20, Laura and I traveled to Lake Titicaca...on the border between Bolivia and Peru.
This is what Lonely Planet has to say about it.
An incongruous splash of sapphire amid the stark plains of the Altiplano.
Lake Titicaca, a remnant of an ancient inland sea, is deservedly awash with gushing clichés. Nestled between two hills and perched on the southern shore of the lake, Copacabana (Copa) is a small and enchanting* town. The snow-topped peaks of the Cordillera Real complete the magical landscape
For many travellers, Lonely Planet is the omniscient, almighty god of travel guides...I have formed a slightly different opinion, but it got this introduction right. *Replace the word enchanting with tourist-flooded and it hits the nail on the head. The enormous lake is a fantastical shade of blue surrounded by hills and outlined to the west by snowcapped giants.
We took a night bus on Thursday and arrived in La Paz very early Friday morning. Unfortunately for us, La Paz is much colder than we anticipated and the bus station is open at both ends. So we huddled under a blanket on cold plastic chairs and drank tea while we waited for the time to pass. Now don´t ask me why but buses to Copacabana don´t leave La Paz from the bus station, but rather from the cemetary district...which is apparently kind of dangerous due to a lack of police. So we waited until 7am, when the first buses leave, and took a taxi to the buses, hopped on a bus, and pulled away 2 min later. The ride to Copacabana is between 3 and 4 hours. Upon reaching the lake we had to get off the bus, buy another little ticket and get on a dinky wooden boat with a small outboard motor to cross the Estrecho de Tiquiña (Tiquiña Straits). The buses cross on creepy, unsturdy looking wooden barges. It was slightly bizarre, but the lake was beautiful and I hadn´t gone to the bathroom since my 3 cups of tea that morning, so we were glad for the short stop.
Copacabana is a pretty town, but I´m not even joking when I say I´ve never seen so many tourists in my life. Ok so that may not be true...but Ive never seen so many obvious tourists...it was backpacker central. Buses leave from Copa and go back to La Paz and also on to various cities in Peru; plus the boats that go to Isla del Sol. What surprised me about these tourists, though, was that there was that the overwhelming majority were European. I guess backpacking through Europe isn´t quite as exciting to the Europeans...they just go straight to South America.
We got a room in Copacabana for the three of us (Ben, a british volunteer living in our house in Cochabamba, was meeting us that night) and set off to explore the town. Everyone warned us about the sun...that we needed hats and sunscreen...I brought sunscreen but didnt have a hat and of course wasnt worried about it...because I don´t burn right? Wrong. It was chilly so not much of my body was exposed by my nose got a little pink and my lips were burned. It was awful. A few days later they pealed, which was really fun.
Laura and I visited the textile museum, which she loved since she´d done some weaving at school. I distracted the guide with stupid questions while she took illegal fotos. haha apparently she has pictures of all kinds of museums and galleries in NYC that shes not supposed to have. The cathedral wasn´t far from the museum, so we walked around outside it and took some fotos. It´s big and white with beautiful decorative tiles...and the ceilings were painted with colorful almost geometric designs...Id never seen that in a church before. After that we climbed the Cerro Calvario, a hill on the north side of the town, to watch the sun set over the lake. Let me tell you, at 12,507 ft. that hill felt more like a mountain. The climb was rough but so worth it. I´ll upload fotos eventually...just have to find internet fast enough to do so. But of course, pictures can do this place no justice.
After our evening ascent, we ate a nice dinner and froze in our room for a bit until Ben arrived. We ventured out to a small bar run by an absolutely Argentinian woman...so in honor of the place and my beloved second country, I had a fernet con coca. Oh the memories.
The next morning we hopped out of bed and ran down to the lake to catch the first boats to Isla del Sol...which blew Copacabana out of the water. It was touristy of course...but in a much more rugged sense. And once we left the little town on the southern end of the island, we might as well have been worlds away. Well that could have something to do with the fact that we wandered off the walking paths in search of a little known beach Ben had heard about on the eastern side of the island. So we trekked along the eastern side of the island, up and down hills, through towns and backyards, past llamas and baby donkeys and pigs...and finally got to a small beach. It was beautiful...the whole island looked like it belonged in...well Im not really sure where, but Bolivia or Peru would not be my first guesses. Ben and Laura went swimming...which is crazy. The water was cold...and not just ooo its chilly cold...it was COLD. I used my stuffy nose and slightly sore throat as an excuse and thoroughly enjoyed snapping pictures of them from the beach. They splashed around for a few minutes, warmed up in the sun, got dressed, then we set off again.
The boats from Copa stop on the southern end of the island and then continue on to the northern end. Many tourists do a day trip and get off in the north then walk, on the paths, to the southern end...where they catch a boat back to Copa. We chose to spend the night, and had already left our stuff in a hostel on the southern end of the island. We had gone far and it was getting almost late (Ben was supposed to go back to Copa at 330 to catch a bus to Peru)...so Ben had teh great idea of walking all the way to the northern end (which didnt look to be far from our beach) and slipping one of the boat guys some cash to drop us at the southern end on their way back to Copa. Great plan except the walk north took a good 30 or 45 minutes and we arrived only to find that the boats had left a few hrs before. I was exhausted...from the altitude and my cold, which had conveniently decided to get worse that weekend. We grabbed something to eat, considered paying for a private boat back south, and then just decided to walk back...on the upper trail along the western side of the island. It was an agonizing walk that took almost 3 hours, at 12,000 ft remember...I was miserable, but it was honestly worth the trouble. The views from the top of the island were unbelievable...being at about the tallest point on the island, looking out over the lake and the mountains, with the wind whipping over the hills...pure bliss.
We arrived back at the southern end right as the sun was starting. Unfortunately for us, we hadn´t planned on being out all day, so we werent dressed for the cold. Laura and Ben were wearing shorts and I had on a short sleeved shirt...and we were starving. So rather than descend the huge hill to our hostel only to do more climbing up hills, we decided to eat quickly before going down. Eating quickly is something that´s not usually done in Bolivia; we sat in the restaurant, which as also freezing, for over an hour. Then we had to follow the rocky path down to our hostel in the dark...which we somehow did at a remarkable speed. I think we got to the hotel around 8 or 830...and went almost immediately to sleep.
Ben obviously missed his boat and bus to Peru, so he stuck around another day. We went back to Copa the next morning and wandered around before lunch. After eating we went down to the lake and rented a huge yellow swan paddle boat...which went about .002 mph and wouldnt turn left. Completely ridiculous but so much fun.
Laura and I got a bus to La Paz that evening and then another night bus to Cocha.
I fell into my bed, exhausted, at 5:30 am (which now, by the way, actually feels like my bed...I think it´s funny how leaving Cochabamba has actually made me feel more at home here) ...not surprisingly we showed up for lunch on Monday and then took the rest of the day off.
