Lake Titicaca (Copacabana, Bolivia) 9/7/12 - 9/9/12

Our border crossing from Peru into Bolivia went smoothly.  Once our bus was close to the border, the "bus helper" called us to the front to make sure the only two Americans on board would not hold up the rest of the bus, because we had to go through a longer process.  Really, the only thing extra we had to do is go to the "special line" to fill out a form, hand over a passport photo, and pay $135 crisp US dollars.  Unfortunately, not all of our dollars handed over were crisp, so luckily Kristin was able to reach into the bra and pull out perfect 20´s (Matt wants a bra just like it).  By then end of it, we got through Bolivia border formalities about the same time as the other tourists.

Once in Copacabana, we were tired and there didn´t seem like that much to do.  The town isn´t very big, and there only seemed to be one main activity, Isla del Sol, which was for the next day.  So we were perfectly happy to rest in our room that had cable tv, and watch "Friends" (in English!!!!), and then later we found the best restaurant in town, La Orilla.  It was delicious and the $5 a plate, for pepper steak and other delicious entrees, was more than worth it.  We made sure to eat there two nights in a row!

The next morning we went down to the docks to hop on a ferry boat and head to Isla del Sol, an island in the lake where the Incas believed the world was created, for our hike from the north of the island to the south of the island.  The boat took a very unadventurous 2 hours.  To be honest, it had two engines going at trolling speeds, the trip could have easily been cut in half.

Anyways, we got to the island, got the info we needed, and set out on our 4 hour-ish hike.  We can't say it was the most eventful day, but it was good to get out and be active while taking in beautiful views of Lake Titicaca. 

The only hitch in it all was the 3 different random points along the trail asking for money.  First, we thought it was the entrance to the "museum" part of the trek that included some ruins, and we were fine paying our entrance in order to do the hike.  Then, somehow, we were forced to pay more in the middle of the trail at a tourist/visitor check point.  Hmmmm, ok, fine, we just paid because we were on top of the isalnd and there were no alternate paths.  Then, right before we got to the small village where we were to be picked up, we had to pay another small fee.  At this point, we were just ready to get on the boat and go back that it didn´t matter.  

In the end, we hope the few dollars we paid went to the local community and was worth it.  We enjoyed the day of hiking around the island soaking up the sun and the views.

While in Copacabana we stayed at Hostel Colonial, a very basic room but it was clean and we had cable tv, private bath with hot water, and a basic breafkast for only about $5.50 each.