Lake Titicaca

Monday, February 28

The tour van came to our street to pick us up promptly at 7:30am. We were the first to get picked up and hoped we’d be the only ones because the van was teeny tiny. We ended up picking up enough people and suitcases to fill up the whole thing and our poor sweet tour guide, Patti, had to sit backwards on the step by the door. We drove out of the city and up into the altiplano, the higher ground. Even though we’d had granola at the Airbnb I was starved so we some breakfast cookies and paid to use one of the worst bathrooms of the trip (1/10 score).

As we drove through the high valley Patti explained about the city and history of La Paz, the mountains nearby, and about the indigenous peoples. It was about 3.5 hours to the town of Copacabana. Before getting there we had to cross the narrow Strait of Tiquina. The van went on a car raft and all us passengers got out and took a ferry across. Then it was about 40 minutes to the town and the very big impressive church of the Virgen Copacabana, the town’s namesake. Finally we got lunch at the local touristy restaurant. The best part was the local dish – Pique Macho – that we joked was Bolivian Poutine because it was French fries with all kinds of stuff on top: chicken, sausage, beef, cheese, olives, and a thick gravy. We sat with a guy from Argentina (originally Venezuela) who had great English and great travel tips for us.

After lunch we walked down to the shore and got in a boat to take us to Isla del Sol (sun island). Carl and I climbed up top and tried to keep up with the fast speaking Bolivians as they chatted and shared their little bottle of Johnny Walker with us. There were two Bolivian couples that sat up top with us and both were planning to stay on Isla del Sol for the holiday (Carnival).

When we got to the island we all got out and walked up a steep hill to nearly the top. We then traversed next to ecolodges and tourist stands and walked back down the hill on the other side of the bay to meet our boat again. We were impressed with all the crops being grown and how the area seemed so much like Napa, California.

On the boat ride back we sat inside and schemed our next travel destinations. Driving back we had a few minor adventures. First they let us stay in the van as it was driven aboard the car raft and we felt like we were playing bumper boats out in the channel. Just after this someone asked if we could quickly get food before driving back because at this point it was about 8pm and we had last eaten at 1pm and still had a 3 hour drive. Our guide allowed it and Karen and I found a roadside stand that served chicken and fries- she ate the fries and I the chicken- and then we ran back into the van shooing away the stray dogs following us.

With all that van time my back was starting to feel it so I was leaning forward in my seat and all of a sudden our driver braked so hard. I crashed into the drivers seat, hitting my knee with a big thud. Neither the driver or the guide seemed to notice so then I dug the sad, wilted seatbelt out from the seat cracks and pulled it across my lap.

Carnival was still being celebrated when we got home but we had 0 energy so we went to bed before midnight again like the 30 somethings we are.