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| On the Shores of Lake Titicaca..I only get to say the name without giggling 5 times a day :) |
We finally left Peru behind and entered into the unknown
territory of Bolivia. The bus trip from Arequipa was a struggle, but once we
got to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca on the Peru side, it was easy.
Copacabana is only a 3 or 4 hour trip from Puno, so we left
about 730 am and were given the “panorama” seats in the front on the top of one of the
double-decker tour busses. The rural views were amazing. Peru left us one last
gift. It is such an amazing part of the world. Houses, that looked to be made with ancient
adobe bricks, lined the two-lane highways set amidst large fields of wheat and
Quinoa and terraced hills. Lake Titicaca, imposing and reflecting the mid-morning sun, kept her
place to the left of the bus as we circled her to the Bolivia side.
Field-workers and their children, for it was a Saturday, toiled away walking
bulls, making rope, planting and reaping seeds and tubers. Many were dressed in the traditional Peruvian fashion
of thick, multi-colored skirts and blouses. Before long we had come to the
border of Bolivia.
We were a little worried about the crossing since we knew we had to
fill out tons of paperwork to get our visitor visas and the bus only gave us 20
minutes. However, we were not the last on the bus even though Chelsea had to
run to change money in order to get copies of our passports.
We entered Copacabana and were struck by its sleepy quality:
perfect for relaxing. There are European and South American tourists here and
there (but no Americans), but for the most part when it’s not festival time
many of the hostels, stores, and restaurants remain closed. We wondered around
the village, finding the market and the local spots (as Peace Corps has so well
taught us) and admiring the immensity of Lake Titicaca, the legendary lake of
the Incas.
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| I like the clash of old style boats and the new. |
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| On the other side of Copa, the lake continues. |
We had a slight hiccup when there was a football game on
around 2 pm that shut everything down and we wanted to eat some food, but luckily
we found this awesome family run restaurant that made us a gigantic delicious
pizza with ham, olives, cheese, and sausage baked on fresh homemade dough.
With full bellies we took a walk up the hill overlooking the
city and got some amazing panoramic shots. As night fell we went back to our
hostel for a relaxing night of TV and a bottle of wine.
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| 'Winter is coming'...sorry watched too much Game of Thrones. Here is the main cathedral, storm clouds gather. |
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| From the overlook. Copa stretches in the background |
Day 19:
We were supposed to catch a boat to the Isla Del Sol today,
but in the night Chelsea got really sick, and when morning came she wasn’t
doing much better. So I’m taking care of her the best I could with water, soup,
and tea. It’s a pretty mellow day just running some errands and taking it easy.
We're leaving for the Isla around 830 tomorrow morning and spending the day there. We will update when we're in La Paz.
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| Some more beautiful scenery form the mirador |
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| The setting sun from our hotel window. Too beautiful |
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