Fun in the sun

Amazingly I am writing this on a bus on my way to La Paz, Bolivia. We have just spent two nights in Copacabana which is close to the border of Peru and Bolivia. It is set on a lake called Lake Titicaca. This lake is supposedly the largest lake in the world at such a high altitude (3600 m). Luckily, Edward is over his altitude sickness, though we do have to take things at a slower pace.

The town of Copacababa is very small but is the starting point for a trip to Isle de Sol, or Sun Island. We stayed one afternoon and night in Copacababa and managed to see the sights in around 20 minutes. The highlight was certainly seeing the daily ritual outside the church called the blessing of the automobiles. Large families bring their highly decorated car to the church to be blessed by one of the priests. It is a very serious ritual, with all family members solemnly praying. Once the blessing is finished the take a family photo and then set off fire crackers. The family then race around the car spraying it (inside and out) with coke, champagne and covering it in flower petals. This whole tradition is to bring good luck and safety to their family. In fact, in just a few days begins the festival of the automobiles. At this festival people buy small objects to be blessed. These represent the things they desire for the following year. Rather interesting really.




Yesterday we woke up bright and early for our trip to Isle de Sol only to discover that it was pouring rain. Not to be put off by this we decided to go anyway. It was a great decision as it seems most other tourists decided against the trip and so we had a much quiter, authentic stay. On the way over we met a crazy Scottish guy who turned out to be exceptionally entertaining. We also met a lovely couple who were from England and Scotland. Actually when the two Scottish guys got talking, it was hard to even recognise they were speaking English. We met all these people on our rocky boat ride to the island and ended up spending the following couple of days with them.



One of the Scottish guys was particularly funny, especially in his attempts to confidently converse with the locals. When bargaining for accomodation, we all struggled to keep a straightface. Mrs Grumpy, as the hostel owner became known as was not impressed.

We spent most of the day walking across the island. There were spectacular views but the highlight for me was meeting the 'blanket bandits.' This was a group of three children who held a blanket across the pathway and said "No passi for you" and then held their hand out for money. We managed to collectively lose several bolivianos and some cheese crackers but gained a couple of great photos.



We had a fantastic couple of days with some great people. The other highlight though was the discovery of a delicious chocolate called a Bon Bon. It seems it is now Ed's personal mission to see how cheaply he can get these for. His best is 1 boliviano... approixmatly 14 cents, Yum!