Blogs from Lake Titicaca, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America

We were not incredibly excited about visiting Copacabana but we had to pass through this highly touristy place to get to the amazing Isla del Sol. We have to admit, we underestimated this little town, although we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time. We arrived in the afternoon and it was already too late for a boat to the island. We could not even be bothered with looking for accommodation and we took a room in a very reasonably priced Hotel Colonial just because it was next to the bus stop (100B/15$ with breakfast). We took a stroll around the main road filled with restaurants, bars and souvenir stalls and we were not impressed. We don’t quite understand how people can stay there for a week but hey, it is ... read more

Hola Amigos, ...nachdem ich mit meinen 8 chilenischen Amigos in La Paz angekommen sind (einer fuhr zum Flughafen) und wir uns mit Sandwichen gestaerkt haben, habe ich mich entschieden TIWANAKU zu ueberspringen und mit den (nun 7) chilenischen Amigos nach Copacabana am "Lago de Titicaca" zu reisen. Mit den Chilenen zu reisen war mir eine gute Sprachschule. Die Chilenen sprechen einen schwierigen spanischen Dialekt und meistens auch sehr schnell. Da ein paar von ihnen ausreichend Englisch sprachen, konnte wir mit unserem "Spanglisch" gegenseitig unsere Sprachkenntnisse aufbessern. Copacabana ist eine schoene tourisitisch gepraegte Stadt. Hier verbrachten wir eine Nacht in meinem mit 20 Bolivianos pro Nacht bisher billigsten Hostal. Am naechsten Morgen schnappten wir uns frueh die Fahere nach ISLA DEL SOL. Meine Sitznachbarin auf der Fahere war eine kommunikative und echt "nette" Cost... read more

Thankfully, mercifully, whatever one may say about a three hour journey that took us from La Paz to the shores of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, we arrived safe and unharmed for what would be a two night stay. Rather than stay in the town of Copacabana itself, a pleasant place with all the creature comforts you could hope for at this stage of our trip, we decided upon the advice of others to stay on the Isla del Sol itself, situated within the lake accessed via 90 minute boat ride. Given the natural beauty of the island and its place in the history of the Incas, it was not such a difficult decision. The lake itself is found at 3,841m above sea level and despite other smaller lakes found around the world being at higher altitudes, ... read more

Hola First things first - my laptop is broken and therefore blogs might become a little less frequent, particularly after I leave Bolivia! Had a great week - after recovering from food poisoning last week, went out to see a twelve piece jazz band last friday at Thelonious Jazz Club - pretty special!! This was followed by a night at Ttkos on the saturday, and a reggae night on the Tuesday, again with live music, getting a serious groove on with Felipe, Toni, Maddie and Deshan! Went to Lago Titicaca on the Wednesday with Toni, Danny, Caro and Deshan. Fantastic couple of days....spent the first day at Copacabana, enjoying a tasty Trucha (fresh trout) by the lakeside with a cold one. Went for a laal walk up to a point above the town, a religious and ... read more

Hi all, Since our last blog we have travelled a bit but have struggled to get good internet connection AND a computer that will allow us to download pictures. Apologies for lack of pics but we will upload as soon as poss! PUNO - floating islands We arrived here (still in Peru btw) from the excitment of the jungle and stayed in Puno city centre which was an average sort of place - nothing to write home about. We had booked a tour to the floating islands (Uros) the next morning and paid for our coach to Copacobana in Bolivia. We got picked up and taken to the shores of the lake which is stunning and MASSIVE. Hard to believe it is a lake, rather than a small sea... We hopped on a boat and headed ... read more

Part 2 The group changed directions in Sucre with Paul and Alana going off into the jungle to work with animals and Ian and Frankie staying in Sucre for more Spanish lessons. Ian and Francis both did home stays, Ians Spanish teacher was more than happy with their 1 on 1 lessons!!! After a week Ian caught the bus to the party town of La Paz where later we were to find out that he had gained some sort of 'god' status. Frankie was not too far behind Ian, although she did do a stop over in the jungle to visit us. Alana and Paul... We left sucre and caught a bus driven by a Bolivian maniac to Cochabamba with our new English friends, Lissa and Bo. We spent two days looking at the markets before ... read more