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Hi there... We're now in Bolivia... We travelled south from Cusco to Lake Titicaca and the town of Puno. We didn't stay long, just long enough to visit 'Los Uros', floating man-made reed islands where people still live, and the Incan and older 'Stillustani Funeral Towers', tombs where past cultures would bury their mummies (and their daddies??). We met Dave and Kate, from Edinburgh (although Kate's originally from Cork!), and enjoyed a night out with them, arranging to meet them a couple of days later in Bolivia.
We travelled along the southern shore of Lake Titicaca (lit. 'Puma Rock' in Quechua, the puma having been very important to the Incas) and crossed the border into Bolivia and here to Copacabana a week ago. Graeme had told us to go to La Cúpula Hotel, up on the hill next to the town, and we've loved him for it ever since! They'd let him camp there when he came, but seeing that this would be a source of relative luxury and comfort and the chance to stop and do nothing for a few days, we instead opted for one of the suites overlooking the lake! We have a beautiful room (for 17 quid a night!) and you'll see that I have dedicated an entire photo album to it!
We stayed there two nights, and then went off to La Isla del Sol for two nights with Kate and Dave when they turned up... This was another recommendation from Graeme, and quite a popular trek to do. We caught the boat there and spent the next day walking around the entire island, which is very pretty. We really enjoyed it, climbing up to the cairns on the top, from where you can see both sides of the island and the blue blue of the lake around it, and walking back down along the beaches on the east side. We stayed both nights in the little village of Yumani in the south. The first night the island had no electricity as a result of the storms the day before and we sat in a candlelit restaurant with all the cooking done on a tiny gas stove! There was no hot water either so we stayed grubby - we've long since left the relief of a cold shower behind! That all went the day we flew out of the Amazon!
Now we're back in our suite in La Cúpula, loving being lazy and having somewhere lovely to sit and read our books with a fantastic view. Dave and Kate left to go back to Peru, Cusco, Lima and home this morning. We've enjoyed their company and had a real laugh with them getting into Chilean wine and playing cards... (more options of games with four of us!)
We're here until Tuesday, Simon's 28th - a cracking spot for him to have his birthday... and then onto La Paz and the Salar de Uyuni (famous salt lakes). We're now thinking about what we'll do from Bolivia. The original plan was to get the train back into Brazil and to the Pantanal, but we're being quite tempted by the mountain routes into Chile - apparently very beautiful and adventurous... In the meantime, we'll continue enjoying lie-ins with a wonderful view, not having to pack and unpack and not having to get up early for bumpy bus rides! Oh, and Chilean wine and sunsets... (really starting to look forward to the wine valleys of Chile and Argentina now!)
Lots and lots of love from us...
(How many shopping days until Christmas?!)
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