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Published: October 23rd 2007
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Sunset on Lake Titicaca
The view from our hotel room. This is the song I had in my head for the 3 days we were in Copacabana. I´m pretty sure that it´s not a reference to this small Bolivian town, but it doesn´t make any difference...3 days of me singing along to Barry Manilow.
Jay and I arrived in Copacabana and I fell instantly in love with it. Lots of people don´t seem that keen on it, but I thought it was fantastic! It´s very relaxed and friendly, the weather was beautiful and the view of Lake Titicaca is awesome! Lots of cool little cafes to sit in the sun and watch the world go by. Most of the hostels have hammocks, and you can spend hours in the sunshine, reading, taking it easy...pure bliss!
Our original plan was to stay in Copacabana for one day, and then head over to the Isla del Sol for some camping and trekking. But then I did something silly. When we were in Puno, I ran out of film for my SLR camera. I didn´t want to take it out to the islands, and I didn´t want to leave it in our dodgy hotel room, so I sneakily hid it in my
Copacabana
The view from our first hotel. dirty laundry bag (I´m like a spy...so good with the intrigue). Anyway, in a very un-spy-like way, I forgot about it, and when we got to Copacabana, I handed in my washbag, complete with camera. I didn´t realise until the next morning when we were packing up, so I ran down to the lavanderia to tell them what happened, only for them to tell me that there was no camera in my bag. The drama! The manager came down to tell me that it definately couldn´t have been in there, his staff were very reliable and trustworthy and that I must have been mistaken. I was devastated. It was totally my own fault - who leaves their SLR in their dirty laundry bag?? I was upset about my camera, but also feeling incredibly stupid. I went back to the hotel room and checked through EVERYTHING. Jamie had been in the shower this whole time and came out to find me crying, our room looking like it had been ransacked. After determining that I had not been attacked while he was in the shower, he went downstairs to sort things out (such a good husband!). There was a big debate between
The Worst Sailing Boat Ever!
Jamie was not amused by the physics-defying sailing dingy we rented. It refused to go forwards, despite the steady wind! The situation didn´t improve when the owner jumped onboard to show us how it should be done... Jamie and the manager...the manager was sure it couldn´t have been in there, he´d asked his staff and they´d said they hadn´t seen it, but in the end he agreed to weigh the bags again. In Bolivia, the price of your laundry is determined by weight. When we put our laundry in to be washed, it had weighed 10kg, but now it weighed 8.5kg! Something was missing! It was like Cluedo! The manager was actually quite lovely, and quickly became concerned about the missing weight. He told us to go and have breakfast and he would talk to his staff again. We came back from breakfast to find my SLR waiting for me...yay! It turns out that one of the workman had hidden it. The manager was extremely apologetic...he even cried! He felt so bad for not believing us, and also that his staff had lied to him. It was so sad. Like I said, it was completely my fault for leaving it in there in the first place and putting the temptation there. So it was one of those happy/sad moments. I´m so glad to have my camera back...not just my camera, but my film! My last two films
from Peru had been in the camera case. But also sad that it had caused such problems.
In the end, Jamie and I decided not to head over to the island that day. I was feeling guilty about all the trouble with the laundry and Jamie was still feeling a little weak from his tummy bug. We spent the day instead drinking in the sun and generally having a nice time. Jamie was pretty keen to take a sail boat out on the Lake...I´m not usually that keen on sailing (I have a fear of wind-power), but since Jamie had been so heroic with my camera, I thought it would be a cool idea. It turned out to be such a funny experience! The boat we ended up with was basically a wooden row boat with a bed sheet attached as a sail. We rowed the boat out into the Lake, and hoisted the sail, only to find that we weren´t going anywhere, and were in fact drifting back towards shore. Jamie tried EVERYTHING. In the end, as he was about to give up, one of the boys from the shore kayaked out to help. But it was exactly
Us
Enjoying a drink in Copacabana the same! He gave Jay a bit of a lesson in Spanish, and then proceeded to do the exact same thing! There we were, floating gently backwards towards shore, with our lovely helper saying "Estas bien, no?", and Jamie (not wanting to hurt his feelings) saying "Well....". At some point, Jamie and I started to get a bit bored and offered to row back to shore, but our helper was determined that we would sail back...it felt like HOURS! We managed to crash into a couple of boats on the way back, and we were beaten in a race by kids in kayaks and (the shame of it) paddle boats....
Still, at the end of the day, I really liked Copacabana. A really nice place just to chill for a couple of days. And the sunsets over the lake were incredible...so much so that Jamie (who I´ve seen take about 10 pictures in the whole 5 years we´ve been together) took 60 pictures in one night!
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