Not quite the exoctic beach at Rio, but this Copacabana is a sight to be seen at Lake Titicaca, the Bolivian side. After we arrived it took a while for us to get our sore heads together and figure out whether we were coming or going (much to the amusment of others). We opted to get on a boat and head to the island of the sun, quite happily wandering off down to the water leaving all of our worldly possessions in a shack on the side of a road with a cholita who had more gold teeth that Britains got talent, DJ talent.
On the island we were bomarded with more cholitas shoving paper in our faces looking for money,stray donkeys and an array of children tugging at our knees asking us if we needed somewhere to stay. Thinking we knew better, we marched off and after a bit of wandering (and getting nowhere) we were ready to just strip off and plonk ourselves down in the middle of the island. Then Cesca spied Slyvia and Chantelle aimlessly sitting on a bit of wood, turns out we were all in the same boat. So after a bit more ummmming and arrrring we agreed to follow this young boy to accommodation that he said the lonely planet recommended. Well there was no lonely planet to be seen between the four of us and the boy wouldnt lie..........would he?????????
20 minute walk there, my backside! about an hours hike up a mountain with no path just a few crooked steps here and there in the blistering heat was not fun to say the least. Not to mention we had to dodge cholitas with more twigs strapped to their backs than what you would need to build a hut for a family of 5, their donkeys and the not so small presents the donkeys had left behind them. When we arrived at the ´hostel´ he directed us to our room. The four of us stood looking at three single beds that looked like they had been dressed in the 70s and i´d say the matresses were out of the victorian era. Sarah had the genius money saving idea, ´oh we´ll take one for the team and share´, cesca didnt have much say on the matter, the deal was done! All in all it wasnt the worst idea, as yet again we hadn´t come prepared for the Siberian nights so a bit of spooning didnt go down too badly.
Bed was well deserved after we spent the day hiking up, down and across the mountain in search of the ´must see´ ruins. If you ask me, there is more to see at high barnet tube station, but the views of the lake and the sunset were nice. The walk back was cold, so so cold, but the stars managed to distract us as they looked close enough to touch and there were so many. Also may i add this is the one day out of the whole trip so far that sarah stupidly brought the detachable day sack with her and she is not as good as old monkey feet cesca at hiking in flip flops with a monster of a hangover, so lets just say it wasnt smiles all around all day!
The next day we took a private boat to the northside of the island, not intentally, we know we´re backpacking,but we were bumped, and it wasnt really even worth it. There wasnt anything to do other than eat some truncha and watch two pigs have a fight. So rather than stay another night in squaler we decided to head back to Copacobana, but oh no, we weren´t going to be mugged off again so we bartered the price of what we thought was a direct boat back to copacabana. We boarded the boat feeling very pleased with getting a good deal and FIVE HOURS later we finally arrived at Copacobana. It was the slowest boat ever and what we didnt realise was that is not only stopped back at the south side of the island but it took a trip to a ´FAKE´set of floating islands. All i can say is thank god we came down from the top deck and got ourselves downstair seats otherwise we would have been burnt to a cinder!
The next day we got the bus to Puno, ha, bus, there was 15 of us crammed into the back of a VW van and what we didnt realise was that Puno was in Peru. It was a fun root around for passports at the border!
Puno was a small town and there wasnt much to do at night other than try guinea pig which we both chickened out of seen as it was presented splattered on a plate like a piece of road kill. It is however known for its floating islands, the real floating islands, not the fake ones that the Bolivians made out of a few bottles and put a bit of straw on top of because it was a way of making money. Puno had 49 floating islands made out of reeds and a different family lived on each one to prevent incest or something, but im not to sure about this. The island was fun, we were able to dress up as cholitas, take a trip on a boat made out of reeds, eat reeds and catch fish. Cesca also received an extra special slap from a cholita child who obviously just had an issue with cesca taking her photo as she was quite happy to pose for everyone else.
That night we jumped into a tuc tuc to take us up the colossal hill where our hostel was, there was no way it was taking 20 odd stone all the way. The tuc tuc was having none of it and even after an attempt of going up diagonally we were politely asked to get off and walk! charming! at least we didnt pay, for once!
