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  Copacabana, Bolivia
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Ardent readers of this column may recall that we had decided to head for the park, weary as we were of travelling. Well, as it was, a 12 day compulsory rest in Sucre while Nick convalesced revived our energies considerably, and we resolved to keep travelling until carnival (1 February), and then head for the jungle to volunteer. So we headed for Oruro, an ugly, smelly mining town, on what was certainly the most challenging overnight bus so far.  The 12 hour trip was on sealed road, but with all the winding, diesel fumes, the dubbed film about lots of people dying in a Nazi concentration camp, and the potholes we both felt very ill for the first 6 hours or so, and I kept sticking my head out the window contemplating vomitting. We booked accommodation for the wildly popular Diablada procession at carnival, then headed for La Paz.
As we head north, rainy season gets wetter and wilder. This is not rain, this is rollocking, thundering, heaven renting storms of the type which usually occur at the climax of any 19th century drama (refer Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre). As we drove across plains to La Paz the rain and then hail began, followed by booming thunder and lightening. I saw lightening strike the ground just off the road, less than 100m from the bus.
In La Paz we checked into a hostel called the Adventure Brew Hostel, with a micro brewery on site and and a free beer with each night's stay. Normally, we avoid hostels with bars like the plague, but on this occasion were swayed by the fact it was owned by a kiwi, we hadn't had much chance to mingle with other western travellers for a while, and above all, it was only 2 blocks from the bus terminal.

Tortuga ninja

We stayed in La Paz for one day and 2 nights and, while we saw little of the city, had a great time. The hostel included free all you can eat pancake breakfasts, and sold a reasonable dinner that included all the (non packet) mash potato, green salad and coleslaw, so we both ate very heartily. We went with other guests to see cholitas (the Bolivian women who wear the small bowler hats, shawls, pleated skirts with multiple petticoats and their hair in long plats) wrestling. I was mildly concerned they would actually be tearing ears off each other, but it luckily it was more entertainment than wrestling, although they did throw eachother impressive heights and distances, and apparently hospital admissions are frequent. It was a great evening, and Nick and I even got spat on by one of the warm up wrestlers (El Comando) who we were throwing popcorn at from to close a range - all the gringos had front row seats. We returned to the hostel in a van containing 13 gringos, the driver, the organiser, the two siblings she was babysitting, one of the more amateur warm up wrestlers, and - for some reason - a midget. We also got roped into a quiz evening in the bar, which our group won to the chagrin of the other groups, who had more members and clearly wanted the jug of beer much more than us. We also found a īfake English pubī in Sucre run by a Brit called Olly. For the first time in South America we ordered a meal in English, although we had to ask for it without mushy peas.
On Monday night we arrived in Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca (like La Paz, at about 3800m).

Isla del sol

Half way through the trip we all had to get off the bus and cross the Tiquina Straits in a tiny boat (where saftety glass meant cellotape over all the many cracks that ran the length of the panes of glass above us) and wait for the bus to cross the 300m on a small raft.
Lake Titicaca is pretty stunning, and next day we took a boat out to the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), where we spent a day exploring ruins and being exposed to more panpipe music. When we came ashore there we were confronted by the a huge Inca staircase. Hauling our packs up there - there is no roading or sealed paving on the island -  and further up the hill to a guesthouse nearly finished us off at the altitude. It was a very weird feeling for the limbs to be impatient to get going, and be breathing freely, but completely naked and out of breath because of the thin air. That said, descending the pathway and staircase this morning with our heavy packs in pouring rain was almost as bad - it turned into a minor river, making the stones extremely slippery.
Back in Copacabana today we got to witness vehicles and mini objects being blessed by priests at the local cathedral as part of a festival where people bring along miniatures of things they want get in the coming year - mainly cars, houses, cash and women. Tomorrow we head to Puno (Peru) on the other side of the lake to see the touristy floating reed islands, then head back to La Paz with another 30 days stamped on our passports.
We Like -The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson - absolutely laugh out loud funny. All you can eat pancake breakfasts in La Paz - no maple or golden syrup, but plenty of lime juice & sugar.
I particularly Like - I just found out that John Howard lost his seat to that journalist woman. A victory for human rights, as far as Iīm concerned. Why donīt you people tell me these things? Come on! Speaking of which, can anyone tell us who the new mayor of CHCH is?
Nick particularly likes - Cholita wrestling!
We donīt like - our room on Isla del Sol that had a feature wall of rocks set in concrete where water leaked in when in rained and moss was growing. Not cool, and also jolly freezing at night.

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Vehicle blessing	Amiria on the reid islands	Reid islands	A bitten leg
Pre Inca monolith	Sun gate

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