Copa Copacabanaaaa!

Yes, there is a Copacabana in Bolivia as well as Brazil! I wonder if Mr Manilow knows that...?


The town is situated next to Lake Titicaca which Im sure most of you have heard of due to its rather amusing name. (Caca is poo in Spanish...)

Our journey there from La Paz was really rather pleasant, with views of the lake along twisting roads of the route. All of which reminded me of my beloved Bariloche in Argentina. Bolivian Bariloche...ah : D
 

In order to get to Copacabana itself, we had to cross one of the lakes by boat. This involved us travellers catching a boat aross whilst our bus was taken across on a seperate boat. When we made it to the other side, I noticed one guy on our bus was travelling with no shoes on?! Walking barefoot in Bolivia. I can certainly think of better countries to do that. Nutter. I was recommended a hotel in Copacabana by Tom one of my travel buddies who is a few travel days ahead of me - perfect for getting hints and tips on future locations!


Welcome to the natural beauty that is Lake Titicaca

Boarding our boat

Our bus crossing the lake

Being a hotel it had individual rooms, a double bed and an en suite bathroom which was pure bliss after sharing a dorm with ten other travellers the last few days : D

The view from the hotel

 Copacabana town itself, was pretty small, with just a cathedral as its focal point. There was a plethora of stalls selling religious tat outside the cathedral which I had to refrain from purchasing anything from. I already get enough grief from friends for the Mr JC pepper mill I have at home so I didnt need to add to that! N.B. I am not uber religious, I just quite like religious items for some reason... a result of having a Spanish not so Catholic mother?!

Map of Copacabana - there are lots of islands in the area!

The "high street" in Copacabana



Copacabana, Clean city.



The bay of Copacabana where the boats set off



The cathedral

The next day I went to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) which was the main reason for visiting Copacabana as it is an hour boat ride away. The island is in the southern part of Lake Titicaca (which is incidently the highest lake in the world) and is famous for its Inca ruins, some of which oroginate from as far back as 15 century AD. The island is ridicuously hilly and rocky and as such there are no paved roads or any motor vehicle on the island.

The boat ride there took a rather boring one hour and thirty minutes, luckily I met a lovely Dutch girl called Paola to chat to during the journey there. Paola was staying the night on the island, something I had chosen not to do due to lack of time.

Arriving at the island, I was immediately grateful that I had decided not to bring my large backpack to stay the night as the stairs up to the top of the island were insanely steep and long. Even with my daypack I was stuggling to get up the stairs...but I blame this on the altitude ;-D

Map of the island

The start of the epic stairs...

The unfortunate ones carrying luggage...

The island was less turisty than we were expecting, there were (once again) lots of adobe brick houses along with countless donkeys and llamas which meant lots of smelly poo everywhere!

View wise, the scenery was spectacular, given the height we were at - climbing those stairs was worth it in the end. Due to the geographical nature of the island, the Incas had built lots of terraces so that crops could be grown. The result reminded me of Cinqueterre in Italy which has a similar scenery.

The donkeys and the llamas on the island were also really cute. One llama I saw, was so hairy it looked like a bear!

View of the terraces which the Incans implemented

Bear?



Eeee awwww



Local shop on the island

Lady carrying some crops



Some little girls we made friends with!

Lunch was a home made vegetable soup...its ridiculous how my diet has gone from being massively carnivore in Argentina to pretty much herbivore in Bolivia. This is mainly due to the eateries in Bolivia being pretty basic and laking in hygiene which makes me not want to eat any meat products. I think I am also a little scarred mentally and physically from my awful bought of gastroenteritis :( Looking forward to heading to Peru where the food is meant to be better...

View at lunch

Not so peaceful La Paz

La Paz. It means Peace in Spanish. A rather conflicting name for the capital city of Bolivia which seems to be constantly on the go and making lots of noise!


We arrived at 7am after taking the overnight bus from Sucre. Tired and groggy we were soon awoken by the most epic view of the city as the bus made its way down the hill towards the bus terminal and the mist lifted. 

A view with mist...

View from our hostel - without mist!

The guys Id met in Sucre (Jose and Diego) were keen to go to the Mercado del Alto which is one of, if not the, highest market in the world. It only takes place on a Sunday and despite it being the day of rest, they were not going to let me do just that at the hostel. So we dropped our backpacks off and caught a collectivo mini van up the hill - these vehicles are randomly mostly shipped over from Japan still with their previous names on the side which the Bolivians don't seem to mind. The journey there was cramped as they ram as many people as they can in. Jose got stuck behind a mama chola and her baby so he spent the entire journey making faces at the child, much to the amusement of the entire bus. 


The market was huge and a little overwhelming given the lack of sleep we had all had. The guys revelled in the numerous stalls selling illegal DVDs whilst I was walking around like a zombie. After an hour or so, I decided I couldn't hack it any more and decided to return to the hostel. The boys were a little apprehensive letting me go on my own at first - Diego blamed their Catholic guilt given they are both Latin - but they soon agreed when they realised that there were car and pet sections to the market which they were both gagging to see. So off I went, weaving in and out of the locals standing out like a sore thumb in my gringo clothing. I managed to make it back to the road where the mini van had dropped us off but the road layout was so chaotic (think spaghetti junction) I couldn't figure out where to catch the bus back. Cue lots of frantic questioning of locals, numerous wrong directions returned, and a slightly panicked me. After boarding one van, and then realising it went the wrong way, I eventually found one that went back to the hostel. A journey that in total took one hour and fifty minutes when it should have only taken fifteen...I blame my tiredness and the Bolivians sense of direction which according to my Lonely Planet guide is not good. Apparently rather than say they don't know the way they just give out fake directions instead?! Nice. 


That evening we found out (way too late) that we missed the Cholitas Wrestling that took place on a Sunday in the same place as the market we went to earlier that day. It is a wrestling show but with a Bolivian twist of having Cholitas (the indigenous dressed women I told you about in a previous blog) wrestling each other. We were all devastated as it was supposed to be really funny to watch, especially as they apparently start each fight with the tune Eye of the Tiger! I recall watching a series which Jonathan Dimbleby did on South America and he went to the same match and actually donned a mask and got involved! hilarious. 


The weather during our stay in La Paz was cold and damp. I think at one point, much to the amusement of you all back home, it was even colder than the UK! I was not happy. 


The almost constant torrential downpours meant that the Death Road bike tour (basically a bike ride along a road which is famous for having vertical drops) Id wanted to do since deciding to come to Bolivia, was also out of the question due to bad road conditions. 


This set back along with the cold Id caught whilst on the Uyuni tour meant I was feeling miserable. The altitude was also causing me grief - La Paz is in some places up to 4100 metres above sea level. 


To try and cheer me up, we went to the El Mercado de las Brujas also known as the Witches Market. Here they sell all sorts of local artisan items which us tourists lap up, with the exception of the dried llama foetuses which were just off-putting in sight and smell but I still felt compelled to catch them on camera. Apologies for those with sensitive stomachs...

Take your pick...

One with fur! gross

The effort to cheer me up worked. I came away having bought numerous Bolivian mementos, a lot of which (excuse the pun) Id managed to barter on price on despite them already being worth very little in sterling. 


En route back to the hostel we went past the Basilica of San Francisco and some interesting art work:

Oh before I forget, I must tell you what happened before we actually left for the witches market. Basically, we went to leave the hostel and realised that due to a recent power cut (which happened after I used my hair dryer - coincidence?!) the front gate to the hostel wouldn't open as it was power controlled. The side door was also locked but with a padlock. However not one of the hostel staff could find the key. Reassuring. Rather than wait to find it, one staff member decided to get a saw and cut the lock of?! We all looked on bemused at the ridiculous event unfolding in front of us. Diego suggested they use a card to pick the lock on the other door, the cleaner obliged and actually succeeded! 


The door saga didn't end there though. On our return from the market I went to open the door to our dorm and the handle came off in my hand! We wouldn't have minded but it took the hostel almost a day to get it fixed...not great when you have people wanted to access their belongings. This and the fact that pretty much every room within the hostel was full of people smoking meant I didn't really enjoy my stay at this hostel as I stank of stale smoke the whole time. The owners said it was a "party" hostel and that's why they had no rooms where people weren't allowed to smoke. Fine, if it was a party hostel, but this most certainly wasn't although it wanted badly to be. Idiots. 


During our many trips our and about in La Paz, we couldn't help but notice loads of shoe shine men. Nothing strange there I hear you say, except most of them were wearing ski masks which made them all look like bank robbers! After some investigation we discovered that these men (and boys) are called Lustrabotas wear ski masks to avoid the social stigma of their jobs. Very strange considering I've seen many Bolivians do worse jobs and not wear a mask...


In the run up to my visit to La Paz, I had read a book called Marching Powder which is based on the true story of a convicted English drug trafficker called Thomas McFadden who ran tours in La Paz`s infamous San Pedro prison. It was a fascinating read, not least because San Pedro has got to be the world most corrupt prison and as such the things that go in the prison are just unbelievable. The ilegal tours had only recently stopped due to an unfortunate incident with a tour group that took place late last year. This didn't really impact me as I wasn't interested in entering the prison, but I did want to go and see the outside of it to see if it really did look how Id imagine it would. The public square in front of the prison was much prettier than Id imagined and the prison from the outside did not look as big as it seemed in the book. It was strange to be there, having read so much about the goings on there but I'm glad we went.

View from the square of the outside of the prison 

The square

The sign above the door gives an indication to the "rules" of the prison - rapists not welcome.

Walking back to the hostel we popped into La Paz`s Museum of Contemporary Art. I've made it a bit of a mission to visit most of these museums in South America, and so far have been impressed with the ones I've visited in Argentina and Chile. The museum itself was in a beautiful albeit slightly dilapidated old colonial building. The pieces I liked most were of Ernesto "Che" Guevara who is often mistaken for being Cuban when in fact he was Bolivian. 

This picture was made up of dominoes!

View of La Paz through the stain glass window

The inside of the musuem

Overall, I found La Paz to be quite chaotic and overwhelming, not to mention cold and damp. I was therefore quite glad to be heading to Copacabana which, whilst still in Bolivia, had the sound of its Brazilian beach namesake making it sound warm and enticing!


Did you know?: Bolivia is now the first Latin American country to not have any presence by McDonalds and the first country where the restaurant (I use this word loosely) chain has had to close its branches. I read this article which made me smile - especially the bit about hygiene...

Sweet Sweet Sucre!

Arriving in Sucre, it was very soon evident we had made the right decision. We had returned to civilisation! For the first time during my travels in Bolivia I was staring at beautiful colonial style buildings, not adobe huts with corrugated iron roofs. Whoop!

The Cathedral

Civilisation!

Some judicial building...

We stayed at the same hostel that Janete had stayed in a few days before. They only had one room left which meant sharing with two random Latin guys. Given it was late and we were both tired we took it. 


The two guys turned out to be really nice. Diego was Argentinian and Jose was Spanish. Together we all explored Sucre together and were pleasantly surprised by what this beautiful city had to offer. There were plenty of cultural places as well as decent bars and restaurants. One such eaterie we visited which had the most stunning views of the city was Cafe Gourmet Mirador. The food was mostly Italian and delicious. I ate the best al dente pasta ever during my travels and drunk the most delectable fruit smoothie. The toilets were the cleanest I've encountered in Bolivia and even had toilet paper. This place must be owned by a foreigner...

View through the arches behind the restaurant 

Front view of the arches in the cafes garden

The tables where we sat outside, before it started to rain and we had to move inside...

Delectable smoothie

The BEST pasta dish ever

The next day Janete had to fly to Santa Cruz early, so Diego, Jose and I set off to explore the rest of the city before our evening bus ride to La Paz.


We visited the Mercado Campesino where you can purchase everything from fruit and vegetables to household products. I took photos where I could, which was hard as it was pretty crowded and I was paranoid about getting my camera stolen. We then had a mooch around the Mercado Negro which was mostly clothes and shoes. It did however sell football shirts, even Arsenal ones which will please my step dad, bro and BF no doubt...

I´m sure its here somewhere...

This meat stall was clean looking, some of the others were rank...

Selling baskets is exhausting

Perhaps I should have had "Israel" cut my hair instead?

The Gunners even made it to Bolivia...

Lunch was at a local cafe two doors down from the hostel. The boys choice not mine. The meat was like eating a shoe it was so tough, but then for $10 Bolivianos (91p) you cant really go wrong...


In the afternoon we ventured up to the Parque Boliviar which is the local park named after Simon Boliviar who founded Bolivia. Randomly there was a mini version of the Eiffel Tower there?! Apparently it was commissioned by the original architect of the Parisian Eiffel Tower for a Bolivian woman who was in love with Paris...ah l`amour!

Mini Eiffel Tower!

That evening we headed to La Paz which is the capital of Bolivia. Our bus journey this time round was actually pretty painless albeit I think we were all glad it was a night journey. This meant we only had to feel the pressure of the tight bends the kamikaze bus driver was throwing the bus in, as opposed to actually seeing them. Surprisingly the bus had the biggest camas Ive ever encountered in South America and the air con was positively tropical all night. Thankfully the bus had windows that slid open to cool us down. 


P.S. Tragic news. My laptop which was given to me by my generous pal Tom, has decided to break at the power cable entry point. Its a shocker. It means I now only have my iphone for internet access and I now have to update my blogs on hostel / public computers (unless I can get it fixed). Sooo, apologies in advance if my blog entries are a little slow in delivery...

Bolivian Bus Hell

I hate taking buses in South America. You know this already. I hate it even more in Bolivia. I wasn't going to write about it again, as I know I sound like a broken record, but this journey needs to be shared. 


Our destination was La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. We didn't want to do the journey all in one go as it is many hours so we thought wed take the train via Oruro and then a bus. Wed heard the train was meant to be scenic and it ran on tracks so much safer in my book. Could we get a ticket for the train? no way Jose. The train wasn't scheduled to run until Saturday and we wanted to get out of Uyuni on the Thursday as given that there literally isn't much going on in Uyuni we was keen to get moving...dammit.


The bus companies had us over a barrel. We chose to go via Potosi which is the highest city in South America and famous for its mines. We went with a company that we were told were reputable and safe. Our hopes were raised when we saw the pictures of the buses themselves - they looked newish! We hadn't factored that Bolivia does a roaring trade in false advertising...


Unfortunately Im finding that being overly optimistic in South America invariably leads to disappointment.


The minute the bus (it was certainly not a coach) crawled up, we all looked at each other thinking there must have been a mistake, but no alas, not. Mr you know who upstairs was clearly looking for some entertainment.

False advertising

Our luggage was hauled up onto the roof (minus any system of ticketing as is normally the process) and we boarded the not fit for driving vehicle that was our bus. In true South American fashion, they had sold more tickets than seats. We therefore had every man and his family squished into the aisle. 


Crawling our way out of Uyuni, it was clear to see that the Bolivians don't care very much for disposing of their rubbish in the normal way. There were cans, paper, plastic bags and all other types of waste strewn as far as the eyes could see. Tragic. 

Wasted

It wasn't long, before we realised our driver was drinking beer whilst he was driving. A women who was sat at the front of the bus started shouting at him to stop drinking and that we were humans not cattle he was driving! He declined her request.


Half way through the journey, another passenger raised the alarm that some of the luggage had fallen off the roof. Cue sharp braking of the bus and sudden reversing back to the said items. All this accompanied by loud Bolivian music blaring out of the speakers. Joy.


To make matters even worse, it began to rain. Hard. Given they hadn't covered or luggage properly, everything got soaked.


After five ungodly hours of terrain that would have made our Tupiza Tours Toyota 4x4 weep into its wheel arches we finally arrive at Potosi, all having aged considerably. Janete and I decided pretty quickly that we weren't going to stay. It was tipping down with rain and neither of us were that enamoured with visiting the mines for which the city is famous. I hadn't realised the mines were still active and that the miners worked in awful conditions and even had children helping them?! Shocking.

The only pic I took of Potosi...

Instead we said hasta lluego to Jordi and Tamara and jumped into a taxi with another Bolivian Cholita lady and headed to Sucre which is the Judicial capital of Bolivia. Janete had visited a few days previously and said it was pretty and had plenty more than mines to visit so it sounded like a good idea given where we were.


The taxi ride was actually quick and painless and would you believe on tarmacked road! We even had Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias serenading us via the radio. What more could you want? The sun shader in the rear window also had her Madgesty`s face plastered all over it so I took this as a good sign...

If you squint you can see Madonna's face watching over us...