Strike....and we have to relax!

25th - 29th August 2012

We flew back to La Paz after the amazon tour and it was back to the Wild Rover hostel again! Ronan was really hating that place at this stage but we had left our big rucksacks there for the few days so it was handy.

We (the four of us) left at 8am the next morning, which was Saturday 25th August, to go to a small, rural town called Copacabana on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca (the highest altitude lake in the world). We were told to get off the bus at one point and hadn't a clue why. Turned out we had to get a small boat across the lake - the bus went on this:

When we saw that we were glad to be getting the small boat even though we had to pay extra! Poor Ronan wasn't feeling well at all - we reckon he got food poisoning on our last night in Rurrenabaque. Up to that we had all eaten the same food as part of the tour and two of the other Irish lads were rough aswell. I told him we could have stayed another night in the Wild Rover to recover but he was having none of it!

We arrived in Copacabana  before lunch and got collected by our hotel at the bus stop - what a novelty! When we checked into the hotel we were in awe of the luxury that surrounded us - not only did we get towels but there was a hand towel and floor towel also, soap, shower gel, hot showers, free tea, fruit and popcorn all day long and the staff were absolutely lovely. Jackpot!!

We didn't do much for the rest of the day except for eating and walking around the town, checking out the markets.  It's a pretty random place with a whole street selling popcorn like this!

Popcorn street!

Some shots from around the town:

The following day was Sunday. We got up in time for breakfast, which was the most awesome breakfast we have had in South America I might add!  Most places that include breakfast mean a bread roll. Literally that is it. Here we had a fruit salad, pancake, scrambled eggs, juice, tea/coffee - see what I mean awesome!! It's the little things that make us happy, we are easily pleased. Hot showers and clean beds will do us. If we get a place with private bathroom that provides towels and soap we are ecstatic!

After breakfast we rented a pedalo and went out on the lake. It was one of the really romantic swan boats! The lake was more like the sea with the crazy waves and the steering system of the pedalo consisted of a rope so when we met any bigger boats it wasn't the easiest to manoeuvre  but good fun anyways.

After this serious exertion we felt we needed a coffee and muffins before we could participate in any further activities. This was just how lazy we got in Copacabana! After catching our breath back we decided to climb the religious hill overlooking the town. It was a really steep climb but made particularly tough by the altitude.

We were at 3,600m which means we had 40% less oxygen as I mentioned previously. Do not underestimate how difficult it is to do any form of physical activity when you have that much less oxygen than you are used to available. It's good that we are spending so long at altitude though to allow us to be acclimatised for the Inca Trail. Our bodies will be making extra red blood cells at the moment to help us so by the time the trekking comes around we should be able to breath easier. The theory is that after the Inca Trail we will probably never be more fit as we will be at lower attitude but with extra red blood cells so should be able to run for miles!

Anyways I digress again, we walked up the hill in 27mins when it should take 40mins. But we nearly died in the process. As it was a Sunday and a special holiday it was super busy with locals going up to pray as it is a religious site. Everyone was so much faster than us to the point that it was embarrassing seeing all the old ladies and really young kids passing us out! The view from the top was amazing but it was also cool to see all the religious traditions from the normal lighting candles to the slightly more eccentric spraying of beer everywhere and bringing toy cars and plastic houses as offerings!

Steep walk up the hill nearly killed us!

Locals giving it socks on their way up!

View from the top was worth it!

After such an action packed day it was chill-out time! We had booked a table in a local restaurant as most restaurants close on Sundays and the ones that are open are always packed. We had a nice meal but the most divine chocolate fondue for dessert! It came with about 8 different types of fruit and slightly stale bread which seemed weird but was fantastic when soaked in chocolate! Yum yum!

Ronan enjoying the fondue!

We had a bus booked to our next stop, Puno to leave at 9am on Monday 27th. Puno is a town on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca with one major attraction - the floating islands. We were on the bus for about 20mins and had just hit the Bolivian immigration when we were told we had to return to Copacabana. The border to Peru was shut until Wednesday due to a protest over mining a scared hill for gas.  So back to Copa with us.... What to do for the next two days?! Nothing! That was the beauty of it!

The bus company offered us all a discount on accommodation so we checked into their recommended hotel. It was awful but cost €9 a night. We couldn't really justify going back to our nice hotel for €20 a night when we were getting such a better offer but boy did I really want to! After checking into our hotel it was 10.30am and the whole day stretched in front of us. So we did what any normal people would do and went from cafe to cafe (only ones with wifi though!). This was basically the theme of the next few days! There were loads of tourists in the same boat so it was just about drinking tea/coffee and chatting to people!

At around 2pm we stumbled upon the Eagle and the Condor cafe. My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I saw Irish soda bread and Barry's tea on the menu! It was divine. I had an amazing sandwich and Ronan had home-made baked beans on soda bread. Afterwards we got another portion of soda bread and another pot of tea for good measure. We were in heaven! The guy who owned the place is from Cork and his Bolivian wife bakes the bread! Such a good find! Unfortunately it closed at 3pm so we were out on our ear after that.

We had a really good food day as we had the most amazing dinner in a restaurant that night. I had trout stuffed with bacon, spinach, ginger and spices washed down with some daiquiris! There are no words!

The next day consisted of a sleep in and more or less the same as yesterday! Soda bread cafe followed by another cafe!! We met Willie and Sarah, the Irish couple again and arranged to go for dinner in the same place we had being the night before. Another good food day!

Although Kate and Alice were staying in the same place we didn't see that much of them for these few days even though it was a tiny town!

On Wednesday 29th August it was time for the four of us to try to leave again but not without one last visit to the soda bread cafe for me and Ronan at 7.30am!

This time the attempted exit was successful and we managed to leave Bolivia! We arrived in Puno after a 3 hour bus journey and had to remind ourselves of another time change so we were now 6 hours behind home.

We had booked a tour for that afternoon to see the floating islands of Uros. The floating islands are a collection on 60 man-made islands. Because of the delay in Bolivia, we couldn't spend as long as planned in Puno so it was a flying visit!

We just had enough time to grab some fruit and crisps before being ushered off on our tour.  I had really being looking forward to seeing the floating islands but when we got there it was so touristy and the islanders were just looking for money for everything that it was just so cringey! They are supposed to be an indigenous tribe that are practically self-sufficient on the islands so why they need so much money is beyond me! The floating islands themselves looked beautiful and the authentic ones are probably amazing but we were brought to two islands which were almost exclusively for tourists. It was the worst tour we have done. Alice was sick so she had gone straight to the hostel so that left myself, Ronan and Kate.

Trying to fit in with the locals!

The Uros peoples´ preferred mode of transport..or so they told the tourists!

Afterwards it was back to the hostel and sorting our bus tickets to leave. Afterwards myself and Ronan went for an amazing meal (Ronan ate Alpaca) so that was a trio of good food days! Next stop - Cusco, Peru! The starting point for the Inca Trail, dreading it already!