Apologies again for being so slack but no that we have recovered fully , though stairs and my god there are sooo many stairs are still a killer, we have actually thrown off our sloth and have actually been out and about seeing and doing stuff.

So back tracking a bit (oh and sorry for no photos but the internet connections so bad we cant upload as the puter keeps ding, so you will have to wait a little longer for the spectacular views etc till we get to Lima on Saturday and hopefully a bit better connection)

I´m going to have to back track a little , like a week to catch you all up with goings on.

We left La Paz a day early, hostal booked us a bus through to Puno in Peru, but with a stop over in Copacobana on Lake Titicaca (dont advise you do this it was more hassle than it was worth, trying to let them know when we wanted to get back on the bus, just book seperate tickets)

Bolivia isnt exactly what you call picturesque, rather flat and arid so apart from a brief view of the snow capped andes, along the road out of La Paz the view was pretty depressing. We got talking to a really nice couple (one saffer and one Nzlander) who were lovely and who we have subsequently been going for drinks and dinner with in copa/ cusco and are planning to meet up in Lima with too (have also met a english couple who are in BA. Iguazu and Rio at the same time so will no doubt see them there as well)

Sorry off subject again. We had heard good things about copa so were looking forward to a nice relaxing time and to feel better. We had booked a hotel (couldnt face a hostal after La Paz) Rosario Del Lago right on teh lake front (25 quid a night inc breakfast - for bolivia this was bleeding expensive)

We arrived at Copa expecting to be dropped off in town, oh no that would be too easy. They dropped us on the outskirts of town a bit of a local ploy it appears to keep their mates the cabbies in business. We shared a cab to the hotel (10 bols something like a pound) The hotel was lovely, we had a messanine room with all dark furnture with this massive picture window overlooking the lake... gorgeous! One small downside it on A BLOODY HILL AGAIN!

We decided to have a wander around the town- Along the water front theres all these small cafe´s.. the big things trout soooo sick of it after four days... clogging up the water are all these peddalos, but they are swans? or daffy ducks? little bizzarre...

Theres one main strip in town with all the bars an cafes etc, reminded me a bit of Sharm in Egypt.. some might call it laid back and arty (loads of stripy baggy pants and dreds walking round) i prefer shabby chic. We were just glad to be out of the hustle and bustle.

Bumped into the couple from the bus and had lunch (trout) together in a cafe overlooking the lake and arranged to meet later for dinner. We discovered over the 4 days we were in copa that the food is dire and the drinks are cheap, the only place to eat in town in Vieja cafe..factastic lasagna and that the local fresh lemondade is just lovely.

Bolivia is stupidly cheap but dont expect fine dining, even the hotel food isnt up to much. But saying that we ate out for lunch and dinner and had a fews beers every night and we struggled to spend more than 20 pounds a day.

I´m not going to give you a blow by blow daily account of what we did in copa, as it wasnt much and the days have kinda melted into one, lets just say we slept late, got up late and finally got our appetite and energy back and pottered around most days.

The one day trip we did do was to the Isle del Sol (the birth place of the inca sun god) , we got the slow boat across (literally it took ages) and got deposited at the south end of the island . You could get dropped off at the North and walk across the island to get the 4pm ferry back but we still werent feeling that energetic so we took the easy option (so we thought!!!)

We were originally going to stay on the island, so left our bags at the hotel in copa and just booked a room for the following night. What we didnt know that to get to the village on the island its at the top of something like 1500 steps hewn into the cliff face. Now i dont like steps (i avoid the stepper like the plague) and hate heights (which is probably why the inkans built everything on mountains so people were just to bleedin scared to bother invading them) so wasnt happy seeing these steps leading up this cliff face. Any way sucked it up and started climbing.... well thought i was going to die half way up, its only because Steve kept dragging me further that we even made it to the top.

To even get between the houses in the village you had to climb up steps. All we could see that was there were shops selling the usual Bolivian crafts etc. and some rough looking hostals, so that was it, back down we went (v carefully) and back on the boat back to copa (luckily the hotel in copa fitted us back in, guy on recption thought it was hilarious)

After much toing and froing around town we finally found the agents to sort out the bus to Puno and left on the Friday. Getting bus´s in Bolivia is like organised kaos no one has a clue whats going on , we had to get a bus to the bus in the end, if it hadnt been so stressful it would have been laughable!

Now Puno is in Peru so we had to navigate the border crossing, to be honest it was a bit of a joke. The bus driver drops you off in the strip on the Bolivian side and you go into a hut and a guy stamps your tourist card. You then step over (or around whatever) a chain slung across the road and walk through no mans land (except there are people trying to sell you stuff and cpws etc at teh side of the road chowing down) and after about 500 yards theres another chain... Welcome to Peru!!! Theres another building at the side of teh road, you just wonder in and get another stamp and that it!. In the mean time the bus has unhooked the chains and driven through, not excatly tight security_!!!

The difference between Bolivia and Peru is markedly different as soon as you cross the border though, i was exepecting the local dress to be in Peru but its more previlent in Bolivia, Peru is much more developed and alot more commercialised. They have schools and completed buildings and everything!

We are now officially hooked on Inca Cola i even have a T shirt!!

The bus dropped us off at puno at the main terminal and we jumped in a cab (still picking taxis on teh basis that we can take them, this one was an old guy who was actually very sweet and pointed out the main bits of town.