Copacabana, Bolivia
16° 8' S 69° 5' W
Dec 28, 2007 14:56
Distance 428km

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Border Patrol: Episode 2

Text written in: English

After surviving the hangover bus for 7 hours, we arrived in Puno, a nondescript town on the edge of lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world) where we had a decent meal before hitting the bed. It was only a short overnight stop before heading to the Bolivian border.

The following morning, we headed out on a boat to see some floating islands - they were built and are inhabitated by the Uros, villagers who tried to escape the violent Spanish by making a life for themselves out on the freezing cold lake. The islands are made from reeds, and are about 3-4m thick ... they have to replace all the reeds on the surface every 15 days or they´d rot and sink! It was an interesting excursion, but you can´t help feeling that you´re in the middle of a circus act.

That afternoon, we braved the Peru-Bolivia border crossing - about 3 hours away. We´ve heard horror stories ' - the officials bribe you, they search your belongings and ´confiscate´your ´fake´american dollars (so we hid them), they plant drugs on you to extract money from you etc. It was extremely simple after all that worry, 2 stamps to get out of Peru, a short walk over the border, and another stamp into Bolivia. Easy as pie.

We´re currently in another Lake town called Copacabana (nope, not the one in Brazil!) on the Bolivian side - the attraction here is Isla Del Sol, a Lake island with little running water and hardly any electricity. It´s supposed to be beautiful so we´ve planned to pop over in the morning and spend the night over there with Alan, and possibly Andy and Natasha too. We´re going to have to be careful about the food we eat over here in Bolivia, its not supposed to be the best, hygene wise! It´s a good idea to stick with Trout as your choice of meat since we´re on a lake, it will probably be the freshest! (first time I´ve had trout was actually on the Inca Trail funnily enough)

Until after our Island Excursion,
Am x

Photos / videos of "Border Patrol: Episode 2":

Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Floating Islands, Puno Awww!
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