The La Paz/Titicaca review.

Well, I didn´t sit on the left side of the plane to Cbba (where I now sit happily in my cheap internet shop across the road from my house). I took some photos of the incredible montañas giving in with a steady high altitude sigh to the flat plains in the west, but the snow capped peaks almost scraping the left wing was only sighted filtered through the various emotions of the other passengers.

But Lake Titicaca! What a beautiful place. Our first night (Krista, Sam and I) away from La Paz was Copa... Copacabana! (*hears the music!* "music and passion were always in fashion at the Copa....don't fall in love".) It was a glut of tourists on their way onto, or away from, the Isla de Sol, but there were more vegetarian restaurants than you could poke a celery stick at, and the restaurant we ate in was so cosy and warm and friendly... Ariel at the front deserves every tip we didn´t give him.

It´s going to be a long list to the Lonely Planet when I finish. The notes about the "short cut" along the Inca pathway from Copacabana to Yampupata should have mentioned the propensity for going along a track that leads a long and arduous way up a mountain instead of the right way... Regardless when we reached the top we were thrilled at the view, and the sunkissed (my hands got very blistery red - silly me) ridge was a great place for lunch. And I still dribble with delight and desire for the bread roll, home made cheese and dried fig lunches we enjoyed. The two dogs that followed us the entire 6 and a half hours from Copa seemed nonplussed at the journey, the teats of the female flapping as she walked, spraying milk this way and that.

We arrived on the island from Yampupata after being consistently offered a cheaper ride from various locals (we didn´t know this yet) and were accosted by a group of adorable kids on the boat landing offering their respective homes and hotels for the night. We were going to camp but the night was far too cold and it was getting late and the room the overexcited 11 year old Gabrielle showed us was so very warm. The night was given over to an unusually bad piece of music that sliced it´s way very loudly into our sleep every 40 minutes or so, for about 10 minutes at a time. We thought perhaps that some kids, having calculated the exact time of our falling asleep each time would press "play" on their stereo. As we found out when we got up in the morning the Tinko(?) Festival was on that night... and on... and on... and on, until at 8am they burped out of their venue and proceeded up the beach and right beside our hostel, 5 tubas, trumpets, panpipes, and a bloody big drum and Cholitas whirling around in their skirts so very artistically. Everyone full to the gills on Chicha and looking so very jolly.

The next day we saw the Templo del Inca (where you see Sam, Krista and I pictured) which was surprisingly eery and satisfying given the expected loss of sheen from decades of tourism...

The climb over the top of the island gave incredible views, and was incredibly hard, giving me a very firm impression of Krista and Sam´s state of endurance and fitness, their bags being significantly heavier than mine.

The second day we scurried down the track to the south side of the island (after staying in the Hostal Templo del Sol in very touristy Yumani) to find the Pilko Kaina ruins which were more interesting than the first as this had it´s stone roof still intact and the maze of rooms was fun to explore (the picture with the lake through the stone window was from here).

Oh, gotta go, a couple of marathon entries.

Got the ferry back, got back to La Paz, had dinner at Al Amir and stuffed ourselves, and Krista and Sam saw me off at the bus stop to the airport.

Cena time.

Love, your FNBC.