Here we are at Copacabana! Not the one Peter Allen sang about, but an unusual place just the same.
When we arrived it looked gorgeous, with the sun shining and the water of Lake Titicaca sparkling and blue.Along the lake side are tens of duck and swan paddle boats, which are used quite a lot by Bolivian holiday makers. One has the unusual name of Titanic!
One is even sitting over at the naval,coast guard station and it looks rather out of place there, as you could imagine! Peter has a snapshot of it and I am looking forward to seeing it.
We booked in to a very quaint hotel that Annemarie and Ray had used and loved, which is on the lakeside and overlooks all the activity.It needs some sprucing up, but has character with a beautiful garden restaurant out front. The man there seemed to be a bit of a grumpy bum but I warmed to him this morning, as I will relate further later.This place did not supply soap or toilet paper, as we understood it!But the bread at breakfast was warm, served in this clay pot that kept it warm.
The first night was uneventful, but last night there were some young Brits in.They got drunk, played bongo drums till 10ish, which I could cope with, then proceeded to change rooms, slam doors,talk ,laugh and so on for ages. It then resumed, without the drums, from 3-4am and then again about 6.30. We felt a bit cranky.When we went down to breakfast a group of them was eating, so I asked them did them they get much sleep last night because we didnt.Anyway I then went on about the racket and the inconsiderate young ones to the owner! He looked towards the group and said, i think it was the senoritas and pointed to them. We could have gone into hysterics.Anyway two girls apologised on their way out.Now we can laugh about it and we dont feel too bad considering the amount of sleep we have had.We think between us (AnneMarie and Ray) we have experienced the ying and the yang of the Llyenda Hostel.
The locals seem more aloof than those in Peru. There are many young tourists here and as well quite a few forgeiner hippie types who make and sell jewellery alongside the locals with their bags and crafts.There was one young couple on the island yesterday with jewellery out for passersby to see. On the way back they were on the grass with their twins,only a few months old. They were not Bolivian but had obviously chosen this simple isolated life. I wonder how it would be after a year or two.
Yesterday we had the day at Isla del Sol.It is a two hour boat trip from here. We think an enterprising Bolivian would make a good business from a speedier service.Anyway, the day was another glorious one and the scenery ,magical, with the islands, water and mountains ,some even snowcapped,around.Very much like Greece and Mediterranean we were told.
We got off at the northern end of the island and did a two hour walk to see some ruins.We followed a lady with her charges of two pigs and the litter of piglets along the waters edge, to then climb the hills. The altitude takes its toll and you get puffed quite quickly.We have not had altitude sickness thankfully, even though Puno and here are the highest points we have been.
We saw the major sites of the sacrifical Altar rock/area and the Chinkana temple/storehouse which you could not miss, the Spanish guide was no good for us.On the way back we wanted to note the Templo el Inca and sacred rock which we had missed on the way up.Luckily a man with his own guide pointed them out for us, as we would still be there searching for them. The temple, once covered in gold is a ruin with vine covered walls only left, after the looting over the years.The sacred rock is about 6-7 feet tall and obviously carved but it sits between a potato and corn field, on someones land. It just seemed so gorgeous and fitted with the whole scheme of things there. The people still live simple lives carrying water by donkey to parts of the land the old Incan irrigation system does not reach.They do cater for the busy tourist trade though and served fresh trout meals on the waterfront at one bay.
We hiked up to one restaurant at the top of the point and the view was amazing.....I know I have said that so many times!
We had another meal at Mankha Uta restaurant last night and tried one of the set menus. We had good chicken soup, trout, and a delicious lemon pie and two cocktails for 70B/sols, which is about $10. This is a very popular restaurant, but we didnt realise how good the sets were until our second visit.
Today there was fresh snow low on the hills down to near the water line further to the north of the lake and it is rainy , but looks like clearing.
We had made a very smooth crossing over the border into Bolivia on my birthday.It was a good trip in both the buses from Cusco to Puno and then Puno to Copacabana. We saw a lot of alpacas/llamas on these trips and even a woman washing the wool in a river. Sometimes we wonder where are all the animals that provide the wool for the millions of jumpers and so on that are sold everywhere! We were also surprised to spot many pink flamingoes in the rivers.
Our stay in Puno was very brief, because we were only really interested in seeing the floating islands.The bus got in on time around two and after finding a place to call homebase for the night we hot footed it to the harbour to get a boat out to the islands.We paid the 10 sol each for a ride in what they call a colectivo, which means when 6 people come, the boat goes.We waited a while and as it was late we got talked into paying for 6 so we could go. It does not work out to a lot anyway, and if we didnt go it would mean another day we did not want to spend there. Well, the engine wouldnt start, even with a second battery,and the blue smoke puffing out was impressive. Meanwhile we were drifting towards to the pleasure boats tied up in rows. A quick scramble by the driver with a pole and Peter pushing as well we got back to the jetty and then got moving, very slowly. These islands are quite a sight. We got off on two and walked around.These two islands held two communities of about 5 huts. The huts are one room with a bed mat and a wire to throw things over.The cooking is done outside on a tiny area and the pots and kettle sit on a multilevel stand a bit like a strawberry/herb pot affair.Unfortunately, the women want to sell things and we think that spoils it. One woman, called Maria wanted us to look in her house and little museum but after paying the extra for the ride we didnt have small money to give her. She did show us how she grinds the wheat seeds into a fine powder for cooking which was very interesting.
I had a bundle of small soap from the extras from hotel visits which a friend had suggested I save to give away here. When I started offering them, the women came running, much to Peters amusement, and I was glad there was enough for them all to get on on both little islands.
The islands go on for about a couple of kilometres and some of the huts now have tin rooves, some even tin walls which are covered in the reeds.The boats made from the reeds are given novelty features like dragon heads and frames that could take a canopy.
The boat driver did the dirty on the deal and wouldnt take us anywhere else, perhaps he was upset his Peruvian flag had flown away, and he said we had to go back to Puno.Peter said he was quite satisified as it would have been just more of the same, and then we were able to get our bus ticket for the morning organised before dark.I hope the boat owner uses his easily earned money on tuning up his engine. It needs it and the floorboards need repairing too.
