Copacabana is a town made entirely for tourists. It has a beautiful setting, looking out over the lake Titicaa and the sunsets we saw here were out of this world. Apart from its setting, though, the town has very little to offer to a budget traveller! The restaurants are nice but expensive and the port is pretty smelly!
We eventually managed to find a fairly cheap hotel and headed out to get some food. We ended up in a vegetarian restaurant that sold very few meat-free dishes! I ordered an antipasto platter, which was delicious but later that night I came to regret it.... yes, I was ill and therefore spent the majority of the following day moaning about how rough I felt! Lucky Steph!
The main reason to stay in Copacabana is a visit to the famous Isla del Sol, where the first Incas supposedly appeared at the demand of the sun. To this day the locals believe that this legend represents the true creation of the island.
The island is a 90 minute boat ride from Copacabana, although it felt as if I could have swam there faster! When we arrived the majority of people headed off with the guide for a very brief and speedy visit - we were among the few who had decided to stay overnight on the island, so we waited until they were out of sightbefore heading off.
The first visit of the day was of the museum, which was frankly rubbish. In the guidebook it said that the museum contains objects made of gold that were found in a temple discovered underwater, however these have now been removed and nothing much remains. Nevermind, we didn't come here to visit the museum!
We began walking along the beach and steadily up a hill, until we came across a tiny village. The houses here are all made of mud and the rooves of straw and the scenery is simply breathtaking. As we were by now way behind the large group of tourists, we walked alone, undisturbed by noise or pollution. The island has no cars at all and the fresh air did us the world of good.
There are apparently several Inca ruins on the island, but frankly compared to what we had seen in Peru these are hardly worth mentioning. The most impressive were the ruins of Chinkana, but even these were pretty poor. We didn't mind though - we were outside, enjoying the fresh air and doing dome exercise and it was great! There is pretty much only one path that goes around the island, so it was easy, although there were a few fairly steep uphill parts. The main problem was the heat - at 4000 m altitude the sun is pretty strong and I had to slap on the sun cream regularly!
We followed the main path for a few hours before heading off on a separate path towards the village of Cha'lla, a beautiful little village where the locals were friendly and the views were stunning. There was only one hostel in the village, run by a lovely family and overlooking the lake, it had a really idyllic situation. When we arrived there was no-one else there and we spent a few hours laying about and enjoying the peace and quiet. The only noises here were the pigs and donkeys in the neighbouring yards - it was brilliant!
That evening we were joined by an English-Australian couple and we ate dinner made by the family together. The dinner was delicious - quinoa soup followed by freshly caught trout from the lake, mashed potatoes and veggies - yummy! It felt very good to be eating something other than chicken and rice and we ended up having a lovely morning.
We both slept like logs in the total darkness and silence of our room and had great difficulty managing to get up the next morning! When we did eventually get up we were greeted by a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs and banana milkshakes, followed by a big, strong coffee - a perfect way to start the day!
We said goodbye to the family before heading off on our way towards the south of the island. The owner of the hostal had told us that there was a ferry at 1.30pm that we could catch back to Copacabana, so we walked along at a leisurely pace before reaching a village around midday. Again, the views were stunning, but as we came into the village we were very glad not to have stayed here - the entire place is overrun with restaurants and hotels, which really ruins its natural beauty.
We walked down the huge, steep hill to the port, only to find that the boat doesn't leave until 3.30pm - bummer! Two choices - eiher we hike back up the hill in the boiling hot sun or we stay on the beach and relax - obviously, we chose the second option and relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours! We ate lunch at a small restaurant, trout again (and very tasty as before) before returning to our lying down position until it was time to go! TIme passed very slowly but eventually we were ready...
The boat ride back was quite amusing - we were joined by a Colombin couple, who are folk singers and who entertained us for most of the journey. The lady has a lovely voice and sings mainly about how beautiful Colombia is - I would love to go there - maybe on my next trip!
Once back in Copacabana we returned to our hotel, had a much needed shower and went out for dinner again! This time I had a chicken dish with white sauce and peaches - a very random combination but very tasty! We watched the sun set before having an early night - all that walking had taken it out of us!
From Copacabana we were heading directly to La Paz, the capital. We took a bus the following day, which was quite an experience. It broke down a couple of times in the first 20 minutes of so and afterwards chugged along very slowly for the next hour. We arrived at a tiny village where we had to descend from the bus and take a boat across part of the lake. The bus then went on another boat - not something you see everyday, as the boat was a small wooden one, but it seemed to work! From here the journey to La Paz was only a couple of hours and we went through some beautiful little villages. When we neared La Paz we got our first glimpse of the Illimani mountain, which, at over 6000m, towers over this huge city. We finally arrived around 6.30pm, a couple of hours later than intended..... welcome to Bolivia! |
Photos Bolivie
Carnets de voyage Bolivie
Vidéos Bolivie
Carte Bolivie
Guide de voyage Bolivie
Santé Bolivie
Billets d'avion Bolivie
