The Isla del Sol is truly the island of the sun! A stunning sunrise greeted what was to be a day of chilling out (not literally) and travelling. Breakfast was typical and consisted of a well scrambled egg, baked bread and not enough jam. The main difference today was that the orange juice was both fresh and refreshing!
Our lazy morning (Peter still isn't well) had us on the 10:30 boat from Isla del Sol back to Copacabana. We sat downstairs in an effort to be warmer, but this turned out to be a big mistake. Fumes from the engine wafted into the cabin and got trapped, and after an hour and a half I was wishing for the chilly breeze of the roof (even if my sit bones didn't thank me for it last time). However, I made good inroads into my book (thanks Beth) and we arrived just after midday.
Relieved to get some fresh air, we settled on a rooftop terrace for a small lunch, and then wandered into Copacabana to sort things like money and snacks. The latter was far more interesting than the former, especially as we trekked around to three different banks (ok, all of a few hundred metres) before we discovered that Halifax had blocked our credit card....
Copacabana itself was bigger than I thought. The wool and jewellery shops that lined the street, in harmony with countless restaurants and Internet cafes makes it an obvious backpacking mecca, but in a nice way. The town, away from the lake breeze, was also very hot! This probably didn't help the locals sell wool, but certainly bolstered their drinks trade as before long we found ourselves back on another rooftop terrace. This time we sampled the local delecacy of grilled trout, which certainly lived up to expectation. The only frustrating thing was that a small white cat also seemed to find my trout very appealing and took some time to get the message that none was coming its way!
From our vantage point we could see the Bolivia Hop bus roll in, and at 18:00 we boarded for our journey to La Paz. What a journey! Starting with a thrilling sunset over the lake as we climbed out of Copacabana, the next episode of the journey involves us disembarking to cross the lake by boat, whilst the coach crossed on what can only be described as a coach-sized wooden raft. A very odd sight in what was now darkness, to see rafts of vehicles seemingly randomly strewn across the lake. Our boat beat the raft, but not by too long, and a quick 1 Boliviana trip to the "bano" later and we were on our way.
The Hop rep put on The Martian for our enjoyment, and this was a great way to pass the almost 3 hours to La Paz without falling asleep. It finished just as we descended into La Paz - an impressive descent even in the night! La Paz itself, once you got close enough for it not to be a sea of lights, did not make the best first impression - traffic, rubbish and poor infrastructure were prevalent! However, like Lima, I will reserve judgement until I've explored it in the daylight.
Our lazy morning (Peter still isn't well) had us on the 10:30 boat from Isla del Sol back to Copacabana. We sat downstairs in an effort to be warmer, but this turned out to be a big mistake. Fumes from the engine wafted into the cabin and got trapped, and after an hour and a half I was wishing for the chilly breeze of the roof (even if my sit bones didn't thank me for it last time). However, I made good inroads into my book (thanks Beth) and we arrived just after midday.
Relieved to get some fresh air, we settled on a rooftop terrace for a small lunch, and then wandered into Copacabana to sort things like money and snacks. The latter was far more interesting than the former, especially as we trekked around to three different banks (ok, all of a few hundred metres) before we discovered that Halifax had blocked our credit card....
Copacabana itself was bigger than I thought. The wool and jewellery shops that lined the street, in harmony with countless restaurants and Internet cafes makes it an obvious backpacking mecca, but in a nice way. The town, away from the lake breeze, was also very hot! This probably didn't help the locals sell wool, but certainly bolstered their drinks trade as before long we found ourselves back on another rooftop terrace. This time we sampled the local delecacy of grilled trout, which certainly lived up to expectation. The only frustrating thing was that a small white cat also seemed to find my trout very appealing and took some time to get the message that none was coming its way!
From our vantage point we could see the Bolivia Hop bus roll in, and at 18:00 we boarded for our journey to La Paz. What a journey! Starting with a thrilling sunset over the lake as we climbed out of Copacabana, the next episode of the journey involves us disembarking to cross the lake by boat, whilst the coach crossed on what can only be described as a coach-sized wooden raft. A very odd sight in what was now darkness, to see rafts of vehicles seemingly randomly strewn across the lake. Our boat beat the raft, but not by too long, and a quick 1 Boliviana trip to the "bano" later and we were on our way.
The Hop rep put on The Martian for our enjoyment, and this was a great way to pass the almost 3 hours to La Paz without falling asleep. It finished just as we descended into La Paz - an impressive descent even in the night! La Paz itself, once you got close enough for it not to be a sea of lights, did not make the best first impression - traffic, rubbish and poor infrastructure were prevalent! However, like Lima, I will reserve judgement until I've explored it in the daylight.
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