Bolivia - Copacobana - Lake Titicaca

“Copa, Copacobana...” we made it across the Bolivian border and have since been chilling in this beautiful little town on the edge of Lake Titicaca, It's a little hippy town where the locals sell handmade jewelry, shops are called 'Su tienda amiga' (your shop friend) and the tourists stroll around, take trips to Isla del Sol and climb the nearby hill to watch the sunset. It's super-chilled and has given us a good chance to unwind after two days of solid bus journeys from Manu to Cusco and from Cusco to here.

Lake Titicaca is the highest mountain lake in the world. It is on the border of Peru and Bolivia and is surrounded by mountains and hills. It is really beautiful. We originally took the bus to Puno, the town on the Peruvian side but it was really horrible and as soon as we arrived we were surrounded by a mob of touts trying to sell us bus trips and boat tours to the floating islands (islands that loads of tourists go to to take photos and buy lots of overpriced souvenirs – not our cup of tea) so we hopped on the next minibus we could and crossed the border to Copacobana, Bolivia.


We relaxed in the morning, taking in the sights - lovely church, street markets, and for lunch we headed to a beach shack for some fresh fried trout and a glass of beer. We were befriended by a Bolivian, Cesar, from La Paz who bought us two large bottles of beer that we really didn't want. He had had a few too many and started chatting to us, while his friends watched probably embarrassed, telling us “Welcome to my country!” and that if we ever had any problems we should call him as he is a policeman and if anyone gives us problems he will put them in prison, he even showed us his ID (which oddly had a different name on it from the one he told us). It was all a bit bizarre, but he was a genuinly friendly guy, as we have noticed about a lot of the people in Bolivia. We eventually managed to escape and had to face a steep climb up the hillside with a stomach full of beer.
Perched on the hill overlooking Copacabana there is a little cemetery and you can see a stunning sunset over the lake which we did this evening. Really beautiful.