I celebrated my birthday in 2 different countries, waking up in Puno in Peru and going to bed in Copacabana, Bolivia! We set off on the morning of my birthday (which is Pete´s too, so double celebration) by bus to Copacabana and stayed there for three days, in a cute little hostel which overlooked Lake Titicaca. Angela and Pete gave me 3 great presents - a bottle of hte nearest thing to Frizz Ease that you can get in Peru! (and I was able to wash my hair finally); a little Peruvian blanket (because I´d been moaning about getting cold on bus journeys); and an Inca Cola T-shirt (of which more later).
Copacabana is a right little hippie hangout, I have never seen so many white rastas and young men who looked (from their ill-fitting corduroy jackets, slightly unwashed hair and air de Jean-Paul Sartre) like they belonged in Paris in 1968. There were hippies walking along the beach playing drums, hippies serving food (but slowly, cos they were relaxed, man!), hippies laying out their handmade wares in the street, competing with the locals. It is a pretty relaxed place, where smoking is cool and food is never hot. And it´s in the edge of Lake Titicaca (the Bolivian side) on to which we ventured again to visit the Isla del Sol. A painfully slow boat journey in a largish boat unfortunately powered only by two very small outboard motors. The Isla del Sol is one of a pair of islands (with the Isla de Luna) which the Incas (I think) revered as the source of life. It has a terribly small and terribly uninformative museum but a great little stall – completely unexpected – selling egg sandwiches and chips before you set off on a trek from the north to the south of the island. This starts with a detour towards some Inca ruins and then heads along the top of the hills, at an altitude of about 4000m, and it being a fine day, it was a lovely walk – at times very, very quiet (apart from my laboured breathing on steep bits – well, it was 4000m and it´s hard enough to catch your breath just brushing your teeth at that altitude) and extraordinarily peaceful. There´s a picture to come of the rock formation for Andy – it was layered and multi-coloured, including a naturally occurring blue rock that was a bit like flaky slate – any ideas, anyone? The only thing that spoiled the walk a little was the local children trying to get money and sweets out of us. Picture, if you will, a rural, idyllic scene of child tending sheep in the hills, young lambs skipping merrily across our path, and the air filled with innocent bleating. What happened next was that the boy saw us coming, grabbed the smallest lamb and sat down at the side of the path, holding the lamb´s head towards us and trying to manipulate it´s mouth into a grin as inane as his own. And as we got nearer, he asked if we wanted to take a photo! (for cash, of course) This happened a few times along the way (at one point, the lamb escaped from the girl who was gripping it so she sat smiling on her own, asking for sweets), including when we approached an elderly woman who had a toddler and a llama with her. She handed the llama´s rope to the toddler and BEGGED us to take a photo. Despite these shenanigans, we reached the end (down some knee-jarring steps) in time for the oh so slow boat back to Copacabana.
By the way, I may have misrepresented Copacabana a little. It is linked to the Manilow song, in that the beach in Brazil is named after it, and the club in the song in New York is named after the beach in Brazil! I know you all love these facts…
I know I keep saying I will post photos and I really will, but probably not until I get to Santiago because I´, using some grotty old internet cafes here. But Ithought I would explain one of the photos I will post with this entry. In Peru, they have this fizzy drink called Inca Kola, which is bright yellow and completely addictive. It{s manufactured by Coca Cola and probably contains all the additives not allowed in the US/Europe and there{s definitely tartrazine in there. Well, I became completely addicted to this drink in an alarmingly short time - so much so, that I only had to see a bottle of Inca Kola (and once, I only had to hear someone mention it)and I woudl start to salivate and feel a sugar low. So Angela and Pete got me the T shirt for my birthday, and I had my pic taken with it at the Inca ruins on the Isla del Sol - soon to be featured!
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