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After leaving the sunny shores of Peru, we headed with some trepidation across the border and into Bolivia, our 8th country. We had heard many a rumour about the corruptness of the border officials and their willingness to find ´false´ notes both US Dollar and Bolivianos and seize them to stop the influx of fake notes already circulating the country. We had also heard from many a fellow traveller that almost as soon as your feet crossed the border into Bolivia, your bowels had a fright and there was some unpleasant toilet business to take care of for a few days.
We however, fortunately encountered neither of these problems, due to our ´false dollars´ stuffed into socks and us being armed to the teeth with anti-biotics, crossed smoothly into the lovely little town of Copacabana ( not the hottest place north of Havana), in fact bloody cold. Our border crossing was not without humour, however, as we laughed as the Americans were charged $135 dollars for their visa and only given 30 days, while the rest of us asked politely and were issued 90, leading to one American lad to exclaim ´that was how it felt to be robbed in
broad daylight´. Another humourous event was the crossing of a small inlet of the lake where you are requested to get off the bus and board a small boat which slowly carries you over the stretch of water, while you look on in horror as the bus with all your possesions boards a slightly larger vessel to make the same trip, to say the least this is a surreal experience, which is certainly only amusing once your bus docks on dry land.
Settled on the shores of Lago Titicaca, it is certainly a damn site more attractive than the Peruvian side of the enormous lake, and its only real failing is the amass of hippies who wander its shores trying to peddle their wares, which if it wasn´t obvious, is mainly the bangle and bead variety of produce. A couple of days here is plenty as the town offers little in the ways of ´things to do´, but it is nice to relax and unwind and share in the glory of the fellow Barcelona fans on a lovely sunny Wednesday morning in May.
One of the trips that can be done from here is a visit to the
island in the centre of the lake called Isla Del Sol, again the promise of ´Inca Ruins´ and ´Sacred Stones´, aren´t really that exciting, with the ruins being not much more than a 2 foot wall that looked like it was knocked up specifically for the baying Alpaca wearing tourists, minutes before their arrival. The fun does not end there, as there is an incredibly scenic but HARD 4 hour walk across the island, which normally wouldn´t stretch the likes of us ( regardless of our current fitness), however this walk is done at altitude and at points we were told reaches almost 5000 metres above sea level. Although our final couple of weeks in Peru were at altitude, we were not taking on too many hikes and therefore were to say the least taken aback by this mammoth journey, that had me exclaiming ( in true fashion ) that I could have lived my entire life without walking the walk and did not care for the scenery which was merely water. Now in hindsight of course these mad statements are nothing if not regrettable, and although I wouldn´t choose to walk across a windy cliff at 5000 metres again,
and indeed all you could really see was water, it was something that was as they say here ´vale la pena´, and I´m glad that we made the effort, rather than eating too much and drinking cold beers at unneccessarily early times in the day ( which has been a feature of our trip thus far).
We stayed the night on the island and caught the boat back to Copacabana the following day, just in time for the highly vaunted Trout festival that was being held that evening on the pier. Well surely it goes without saying that this was one hell of a shin dig, with a DJ mixing the tunes, ranging from local pan pipe based anthems to the latest chart hits like ´we will rock you´, didn´t the traditionally dressed women get down!! Julia also took the opportunity to add to her growing portfolio of ´sunset´ based photos which she will be releasing to the buying public on our return to the UK.
The following day we left the lovely little town and headed for the bright lights and smoggy streets of La Paz where we are currently residing waiting for Mr Batten to land
which he will in about 3 hours.
Briefly La Paz has yielded much more than we initially expected, and is a damn site cleaner than we had imagined before we got here. The weather has been constantly sunny if not a touch chilly and we have found ways of entertaining ourselves, which mainly involves spending a miniscule amount of money and getting plenty in return, see this as sterling 2.50 3 course meals, 3 pound per person hotel accommodation, and custom made leather jackets for 25 pounds each, no honestly!!!! That doesn´t even include the excellent market for copied DVD´s which has led us to update our library for the princely sum of 80 pence per copy. We have been easing ourselves into yet more altitude in the highest capital city in the world, and continuing the slow but productive process of understanding the Spanish language ( why do they need a subjunctive!!!) which has been eased by the slow and clear way that the Bolivians speak.
More on La Paz to follow, including the festival of Gran Poder.
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