Copa, Copacabana (Bolivia not Rio)!

Copacabana, Bolivia, 15 August 2007

Making our way to Copacabana from Sorata was pretty straight forward with the exception that we had to get off the 1st bus (in a remote enough area) & transfer to another going in the Copacabana direction. Unfortunately the micro buses flew past us as they were either full or unwilling to stop for 2 gringos with monster backpacks (heaven forbid the driver would have to do some work & put on the sacks on the roof). However, a taxi pulled over for us (same price as bus). There were 3 other punters in the taxi plus a small child. So the driver, shoved the lady & child in the boot & we were on our way. Don´t worry it was an estate car so she had plenty of air, maybe not too much space though with the backpacks! The taxi was the business, it was a long distance & included a trip across the narrowest part of Lake Titicaca.

Before too long we were sitting on the main Plaza in Copacabana trying to decide where to stay. Such a big decision we decided to discuss over lunch. Removing the trusty bible aka Lonely Planet we found name/address of an exceptional wood oven pizzeria! I won´t mention it because it was awful. Funny thing is, we´d never ever have gone in there had it not been for the guidebook. There were loads of fine looking eateries around but this place was a dump. Anyway, we´ve decided to trust our own noses, in relation to food & lodgings, from now on!

While waiting on the food Claire found a nice hotel, large room en suite, breakfast inc. & centrally located. Result! After getting settled we did some reconnaissance of the town & bagged the hill that Michael Palin climbed in "Full Circle". It´s a hill that looks like Sugarloaf in Rio de Janeiro, infact the area in Rio named Copacabana was named after this Copacabana! It´s only a 30 minute uphill trek passing the stations of the cross on the way. The summit is disappointing, while the views are stunning the place is destroyed with litter & beer bottles - not to mention the omnipresent smell of urine! We didn't stay long.

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We dropped back down to the Cathedral (which is huge in comparison to the size of the town) & witnessed people coming from far & wide to have their vehicles blessed (inc. toy cars & trucks) see piccie below!

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