Bolivia: La Paz and Copacabana - 15th to 18th December (Days 34 to 37)

After around 8 hours bus drive we arrived at La Paz around 5.30am. We were not in the same bus as Gustavo and Getulio so we waited for them. We had no accommodation booked in La Paz yet, so we walked with them to their hostel, called Loki, to ask if they also had a room available for us. That hostel is famous for the parties that they do every night, our friend Jose recommended it as well, so we thought it would be a great option for our stay in La Paz. After a 10 minutes walk from the bus terminal we arrived at the hostel. The room that Getulio and Gustavo booked was for 4 people and the other 2 beds were free, so we shared it with them.

After a couple of hours rest we went out with Getulio and Gustavo to explore the city. We joined a walking tour around the city centre that started at 10am from Plaza San Francisco where we met a group of Colombian people. We started the walking tour visiting Basílica de San Francisco and the witches market, where you can still see many charms and spells they use in their rituals to thank the Pachamama (mother earth). The most shocking and even disgusting thing they use for those rituals are alpacas and llamas fetuses. After the market we went to San Pedro square, where you can see a building that is used as a prison. The tour guide told us the story of the prison, which works as a small city and is governed by the narcos gangs, who use it as a fortress and even the government can't stop the drug dealing. We continued walking along Plaza Murillo, where the government and the Parliament buildings are, and finished our tour in calle Jaén, which is full of colonial style houses.

After the tour we went all the group to have lunch in a Bolivian food restaurant, where we tried the typical soup. In the afternoon we caught one of the many cable cars in the city, the one in the orange line, to see the view of the city. The city is surrounded by mountains that reach more than 4000 meters, so the cable car is a good public transport option to avoid the steep streets. After that we went down again to the main avenue to see the Christmas parade, where you could see all sorts of customs, from father Christmas to any super heroe you can imagine. When we had enough of that weird mix we went back to the witches market again as some of the Colombians wanted to do some shopping. We finally went back to the hostel, where we enjoyed together the happy hour cocktails and dinner. After dinner we played pool with Getulio and Gustavo and some drinking games like beer pong.

Next morning we woke up late and went out for lunch at Luciernagas restaurant, where we tried different traditional Bolivian foods like sopa de mani (peanuts soup), chairo (soup with different kinds of meat and potatoes), charquekan (a mix of pulled meat, egg, corn, potatoes and cheese), mocochinchi (peach flavoured drink), and mousse de mango for dessert. The food was delicious but the portions were huge, we ordered two menus and we were full just with the soup. We couldn't eat the main dish, so we had them for takeaway.

After the heavy meal we went for a walk along Parque Central, from where there was nice views over the city. We collected our bags at the hostel and head to the bus terminal to get the bus to Copacabana at 16.30. The bus was very old and rusty. When exiting the bus terminal we had to pay 2.50bs each. After 3 hours ride enjoying the views of the surrounding mountains and lake Titicaca we had to leave the bus and get into a small boat with the other passengers to cross Tiquina straight in the lake. The bus crossed to the other side in a kind of raft. We finally arrived at Copacabana around 20.30 and walked to the hostel under the rain.

When we woke up around 9am it was heavily raining, so we stayed in the room until 10am and when it stopped raining we went to the main street to have breakfast. After that we went back to Plaza 2 de febrero (the main square in the village), where we visited Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Copacabana, a huge church where there was a room full of virgins from around the world. For lunch we had leftover food from the previous day in the square. Even then we could not finish the huge portions!

In the afternoon we did a short but intense hike up to Cerro del Calvario. The way was very steep and it was full of holly crosses. From the beginning of the hike a small puppy started following us. When we finally arrived on top of the hill the views over the bay were amazing. We went down to the village again and rested at the hostel for the rest of the day.

On Tuesday we woke up around 7am and had breakfast at the hostel. The previous day we didn't have breakfast in the hostel as the man told us that it was not included, however the woman said that the man didn't understand us as he is half deaf. After breakfast we had to hurry up and walk to the harbour as we booked a boat tour to Islas de la Luna y del Sol. We arrived on time, but we had to wait for half an hour as the driver was waiting for more people to fill the boat. While waiting for the boat we met a Catalan girl and two Argentinian guys that were travelling together around South America.

The islands were not far from the village but the boat was terribly slow and it took more than 2 hours to get to Isla de la Luna, our first stop. There we paid an entrance fee and visited the aymara temple. We heard that the island used to be inhabited just by women and that the first incan leaders started their way there inspired by the god of the sun to start the foundation of their empire in Cusco. After the short visit of about half an hour we got the boat again to Isla del Sol. The guide didn't want us to get off in the southern tip of the island because he said we should join a tour with him and pay again, but we did anyway. We walked from the temple of the sun to the Yumani village in about one hour and had lunch there (some sandwiches that we prepared the day before). The views over the lake were very nice but the island itself was a bit disappointing as we could only visit the southern part. Sadly the central and north areas of the island (where most of the inca ruins are located) were closed due to disputes between the tribes living there. We got the boat from the village’s harbour again back to Copacabana and arrived there around 16.30h.

We went back to the hostel to collect our bags and got a bus at 18h to Puno. In our way to get the bus we ordered Salchipapa, a popular South American fast food containing fries and sausages. 15 minutes drive after leaving Copacabana we arrived to the border with Perú. There was no visa fee at all but the weird thing was that Ari and all women in the bus got 60 days visa, and all men 90. We finally arrived at Puno around 21h and walked for 20 minutes to the hostel, which was next to Parque Pino, the main square in the village. We had dinner there, Esteve ate a mango and felt sick all night long.💩