Hello from Lake Titicaca!

We arrived yesterday after a hilarious journey....at the end of my last blog we were shattered from getting off a nightbus and waiting for the office to open with our bags...anyway we had some breakfast and then collected them and then went to get the bus to Copacabana which is the main village on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca. Instead of going to the bus station and getting a tourist bus we decided to head up to the cemetary at the top of town where the locals catch the bus to save like...2quid (well that is a meal here!)

When we got to the cemetary there were hundreds of different buses with a man and a clipboard by them shouting "Copacabana, Copacabana" We picked the one that was departing next and had room. Well we thought it was departing next but we hadn´t catered for them having to load a serious amount of baggage on to the top of the bus. The locals had all brought loads of stuff to sell here as there is a festival on Thursday. The parcels were huge- wrapped in brightly coloured fabrics and the driver balanced them on his shoulders and climbed up the rickety ladder to the top where they were balanced on top of the others already up there. Luckily we managed to negotiate that our bags went in the boot at the back and we were very greatful as we set off without anything secured...!

We were the only gringos on the bus and that subjected us to a little bit of staring...howeever after giving 2 oranges to the ladies sitting next to us we became friends and were offered huge handfuls of coca out of the massive bag she had with her...we were very pleased to be finally leaving as it was 12 `o´clock and we had heard the journey took 3 hours. We climbed up the hill out of La Paz giving us a beautiful view of the city and then...stopped to pick up more people.... another half an hour of loading, shouting followed but then we did become even more popular because someone got 1 boliviano stuck in the window (10p) and was crying and Charles managed to free it. When the ladies next to us had enough of waiting they all started shouting "Vamos Vamos" and the driver jumped back in. Off we set again and eventually got onto the highway. We finally picked up some speed when the whole bus erupted with shouting- unsurprisingly a massive bag had flown off the top of the bus! The driver then reversed down the dual carriageway whilst someone ran to pick it up... The whole bus then got off to shout instructions at the driver about how best to repack the roof. After a while they got bored, climbed back into their seats and started shouting "Vamos" again. Luckily the driver didn´t listen because a leg appeared coming back down the ladder and there was still someone on the roof!

The next 2 hours went without a hitch and the whole of the bus promptly fell fast asleep so we´re not sure if we lost any bags in that time...we then pulled up at the banks of Lake Titicaca and suddenly everyone ran off the bus and down to the shore leaving all their belongings behind- we were a bit confused- was this Copacabana? If so why hadn´t people got their stuff? We decided to follow them and it emerged that we had to cross the river...this involved 30 of us piling into a tiny boat desined for about 10 that was so low down in the water it was practically coming over the side. We crossed successfully and then had a 15 minute wait whilst the bus travelled across on a flat platform!

Back on we climbed (luckily we managed to not lose everyone as we had to get on the bus round a corner and if we´d have gone into a shop or something and not kept watching we´d never have known where) There was no check that the right number of people had got on but we set off anyway and 5 hours after we´d set off (we were told it should take 3 remember) we pulled into Copacabana. The driver tried to drop us where he was supposed to but the women refused to get off shouting "Plaza Plaza" for the center of the village- thank god because otherwise it would have been miles for us to walk with our heavy packs to our hostel.

We arrived very tired to Hostal Las Olas but were refreshed when we saw how beautiful it was. It is on a hill above the village and overlooks the stunning lake. We have our own little cabin which is so lovely with hammocks outside and it is tranquil and a lovely reward after a hectic few days! Tomorrow we will go to the Isla del Sol where they believe the sun was born. We will spend the night there, return to Copocabana on Thursday and then get the Bus to Puno on the Peruvian side early Friday Morning.