Copacabana

We spent a few nights in cute little Copacabana, on the shore of the huge Lake Titicaca, which at 3,820 m is the world´s highest navigable lake. On it are several islands, including some made entirely of reeds on which the Aymara tribe still live. The Aymara and Quechua peoples of Peru and Bolivia accept as their creation story that their sun-god, Viracocha and the first Incan appeared on the Isla del Sol (island of the sun) under direct orders from the sun. The lake is beautiful and serene, and its hard to remember you´re so high up, until you try to walk anywhere that is!

Of course day 2, I got itchy feet and decided to prop Andy up in a bar with the Liverpool v Chelsea match on while I ventured off on a rented bike along the lake. SO tiring! At almost 4,000 metres (what´s that, like 13,000 feet?) my lungs were the size of a peanut!

Still, I managed to bike to the Bolivian version of the floating islands (Islas Flotante) and along the way befriended a local boy, also on bike, who happened to live there. He very kindly gave me a tour in his fishing boat of the small but very well made reed islands and he even caught a trout for his dinner on the way home!

For some reason I thought it would be a GREAT idea to get back to Copacabana and right away climb the steep hill that overlooks the bay and the lake, Cerro Calvario, to watch the sunset. By this point my lungs were the size of a pea and it was all I could do to stumble down and pour myself into a restaurant to sample some of the lake´s famous trout. I have never slept so well. Tomorrow, off to the big smoke of La Paz.