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Published: January 3rd 2007
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It was a short (well short for us) drive of a couple of hours once we had crossed the border to reach the town of Copacabana. Which is a small pretty town on the bank of Lake Titicaca. We checked into our hotel, booked our tickets to Isla del Sol had a short wander around then went out to dinner with most of the group where we were entertained by two young fellows who played the first Pan pipe style music we´d actually liked, they even got a tip!
The next morning as we were waiting for the boat to leave the same two turned up & played the same tunes. This time they didn´t get a tip! The boat left 8:30 am, It would drop us on one side of the island & we would walk to the other side where it would pick us up later that day. We were told that the journey there would take two hours which seemed OK, until we realised why... the boat was being propelled along by one very feeble outboard motor. I fell asleep not just because the journey was a bit dull but because And & Nessie were chatting
away about their schools (they both went to the same network of girls schools) "wasn´t it just ticketyboo playing Lacrosse!."
And, Ness, Vicky & I had breakfast in a little cafe when we reached the island then we were joined by Ben for the walk. I was really looking forward to this walk as I was sure I had acclimatized by now. Unfortunately as soon as I had to walk up a hill (and there were some quite steep climbs around the island) I just couldn´t get enough oxygen into my lungs again. It was very frustrating. Vicky wasn´t feeling very well either so before long we started to worry whether we would make it to the dock in time to catch the boat.
The island was quite barren & reminded me quite a lot of a Greek island (minus the olive groves & the Greeks of course.) We struggled on And carried my bag for me while Ben & Nessie helped Vicky & apart from one wrong turn which took us into a pig farm we made it with plenty of time to spare. So we sat on the beach & watched the locals unloading a boat
until our boat arrived to collect us.
Although the walk was quite painful the scenery was absolutely beautiful, Lake Titicaca goes on for miles and because it is so large it looks like the sea which lulls you into a false sense of security as you forget how high you are! Having survived the walk itself we now had the prospect of the boat journey back... if we could survive this again it would be a miracle, especially as the lake had now got very choppy and the boat didn't look that well built! We made it back to Copacabana for 6 pm and went out for tea to one of the restaurants that was still serving food as the electricity had failed, eating by candle light we had a lovely meal especially as this restaurant was all ready decorated for Christmas!!! How exciting!!! After a couple of drinks in a bar with some live jazz played by two blokes who looked just like Osama Bin Ladin & Jesus (a strange combination) it was time for bed!
The next morning we took Rita, our truck up to the cathedral to get her blessed by the priest. Firstly we
had to decorate her and so we all headed off to the stalls outside the cathedral so buy various tacky decorations to tie onto her front and sides. When she was looking REALLY beautiful the priest came out and prayed and then splashed water at her and then he came round and splashed each of us with water. Martin who had purchased some very cheap fizzy wine proceeded to shake the bottle and spray us all but Becky & I got our revenge when we got hold of the bottle & completely drenched Martin (tee hee) . Hopefully now that Rita looked so beautiful & was under the protection of the church she would not misbehave again & we would make it safely to our next destination... fingers crossed!
The reason for blessing Rita, apart from the fact that it was quite a unique thing to do became evident on the road to La Paz when we had to cross part of Lake Titicaca. As passengers we got off the truck and into a little motor boat to get across the lake, Rita and Martin however had to go across on a really rickety barge that did not look
at all safe. As we waved Martin off his face was a picture, he looked really quite scared, apparently there is a rumour that an Exodus truck is now at the bottom of the lake!!! But they did make it so the blessing obviously worked!
We were then off to La Paz, the highest capital in the world! When we got there Martin took Vicky to the hospital for a check up so she could get her stomach bug sorted. And wasn´t feeling well again (another does of tummy troubles) so Ness & I went out to explore La Paz for the rest of the afternoon. La Paz is such a crazy city, with people & traffic everywhere all seeming to rush around it & make as much noise as possible we mooched around a few markets, went to see the main square, then nipped into a cafe for really bad coffee but rather nice cake.
The next morning my stomach problem was back again & Andrea was still feeling really ill so we called the doctor Vicky had seen the day before & asked him to come & visit us at the hotel then spent all day
Andrea being blessed
I don´t need it as I´m such an angel anyway! watching American TV on the Warner Channel. Two hours after he was expected a doctor arrived but he wasn´t the one we had called & didn´t speak any english he gave us sample pots & left. The doctor eventually arrived & examined us that evening. He took a sample from And (I wont go into details) away to be tested & was going to come back in the morning with the results.
We were so bored of being stuck in the hotel that we forced ourselves to go out to dinner with Nessie. We ended up at a nice hotel just around the corner where we had delicious & incredibly cheap steak for dinner. Our appetites were still rubbish so we only managed to eat half of our meals. It didn´t go to waist though as Ness finished hers, then devoured our leftovers & finished it all off with a chocolate desert ("No fatty NOOOOO")! The waiter seemed to take a shine to me & insisted on giving me a kiss as we left (hope he didn´t catch anything)!
When he came back the next morning it turned out that we had a parasite ...... ewwwwwwww! He went
into quite a lot of detail about the "leeeetle" eggs & "leeeetle" cysts we had in our guts but at least now we had the proper medication & were going to get better. We popped our pills & on wobbly legs headed into town for lunch & to explore the city. We´d been there for almost 48 hours & poor old And hadn´t even seen it yet.
We went to the Witches Market so see what bargains there were to be had, as usual every shop sold exactly the same tourist tat that we have become accustomed to throughout South America, but even though we must have been in over 300 of these shops since our trip began we couldn't resist going in more to see whats for sale & besides we had an excuse as we had to buy our secret Santa presents (And´s was for Ben & mine for Vicky).
The only new item for sale that we had not seen before were llama foetuses, apparently they bring travellers good luck but we didn´t think either Ben or Vicky would be able to fit them in their rucksacks!
later we returned to the hotel, met up
with Vicks & Ness & spent our last night in la Paz at the same restaurant eating another yummy steak dinner. (No kisses from the waiter this time though)!
The next morning we left for the town of Sucre. It was an amazing journey across the high Altiplano wth some of the most amazing skies I have ever seen & the most perfect rainbow that stayed with us for almost two hours.... lovely
Kate
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Little Angel
Oh you are so right you didn't need blessing as you are my little angel!!!