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Published: February 19th 2009
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Arrived in Copacabana after a 9hr bus journey from Cusco. It wasn´t bad except the mad old bint next to us kept opening the sky light window which we and several other passengers kept closing. we gave up in the end and kept warm beneath our llama woven blankets.
We alighted the bus at around 8am the following morning along with several other travllers and were bundled into the slowest mini bus ever. So slow in fact that we were taken over by a car full of sheep! Yes, that´s right. Sheep! They weren´t actually driving the car but were passangers aboard the cramped vessel. The journey from where we alighted took us about 20minutes as we had to drive to boarder control before we could enter Bolivia. (Another stamp to add to our collection!) By this time the heavens had opened and the rain was pouring down! It was cold and wet (much like England I hear) and we had little understanding of what was going on. We managed to change up what few dollars we had left and Sol (Peruvian money) into Bolivianas and hoped back into a another ramshackled mini bus which took us the rest of
Cerro Calvario
At the top overlooking Copacabana bay the way to Copacabana.
We arrived wet and as usual totaly bewildered. Where are we going to stay? How much will it cost? What will the locals be like etc. But our dumfounded confusion was unfounded. We found a cheap hostel with a private bath for around 5 pound a night which we were pleased with. After a warm shower we decided we needed to go out and explore our new surroundings. We were hungry so we went in search for an eatery. We found one which looked good so we entered unaware that this was a place whicih lonely planet had previously stated to be good. It was not. Well, perhaps it was once but the only good thing about this place was the prompt service so we could eat and leave. It was average but compared to what we bought for our evening meal, it wasn´t a patch. A street vendor selling lomo steak on skewers with boiled and then bar b qued potatoes served with a spicy sauce for 1/4 of the price of lunch was an absolute steal. We vowed we would visit that place again.
During the late evening we ventured up Cerro
Calvario which is massive pilgrimage spot situated at about 4000 metres above sea level. Don´t panci, we didn´t exert ourselves too much. Copacabana is roughly 3800 metres so the walk up was relatively easy.
The following day we decided that we were going to visit Isla Del Sol, island of the sun. In Inca mythology this is the birth place of the Sun God so we felt we had to visit this historic site. The boat journey was good and we even had our very own Bob Dylan playing acoustic all the way. He couldn´t hold a note though, which I compared very much to that of the actual Bob dylan (she didn´t mean that Martin). We arrived on the island at about 10am and quickly found a hotel which was of a reasonable price. Or so we tought until we spoke to some other travellers who had managed to find a hostel for around 1 pound cheaper a night. Yes, I know that doesn´t soundf much but that translates to about the price of a bottle of beer.
We unburdened ourselves of our heavy load (well Tony did, he was carrying the bag) and strated our trek
View from Cerro Santa Barbara
The sun was out, the sky was blue and we were the only ones on the hillside. Apart from a couple of pigs and a llama. along the island to the North end. We were told it would take about 2/3 hours which we felt confident in doing (amy is bored now so i´m going to finish up). The whole trek took about 6 hours and consisted of Inca ruins at the north end of the island and breath taking scenery throughout.
We were nearly back at the hostel when we saw a few of the other travellers we had been talking to on the boat across. We had intended to go and colapse on our bed but they persuaded us to stay and have a beer on their hostel terrace. Oh go on then! We all then decided to meet up later on and have dinner. the group at first consisted of about 8 of us but by the time we met up with them again, the group had swelled to about 15. We basically took over this little pizzeria and even got the people at the other tables to come and join us. It was a good night. Lots of different languages could be heard, Spanish, French, Polish, Norwiegen, italian and english. Having forgotten our torch, we had to navigate our way back
Long walk
This path was over 6 hours long...and we walked it! to the hostel by the stars, which is not easy when you are half cut and your wife has the directional capability of some colour blind hedgehogs..........in a bag!
We caught a well over crowded boat back to copacabana and we are leaving for La Paz in the morning. Apparently its raining there, nice.
buenas Notches and all that.
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