Crossing the border is a little more conplex than in Europe. Although we booked a direct bus from Puno to Copacabana, we had to get out at the Peruvian side of the border, get all formalities done, walk accross the border, take care of the Bolivian formalities and finally get on a second bus to Copacabana. Direct my ass...
Once arrived, it took us almost a full day to realize that Bolivia is in another time zone than Peru. After travelling more than 2 weeks, it's hard to know which day we are, so how on earth are we supposed to know in which time zone we are?!?
Everybody knows the name Copacabana, either from the famous Brazilian beach or from the crappy Barry Manilow song. However, few people know that both of them are named after this small, cosy and chilling village on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.
A Morish cathedral is dominating this village (after spending 1,5 years in Granada, we zere not that impressed! ;-)). The cathedral houses a special statue of the virgen Maria that is supposed to have special healing powers. This made Copacabana the nr 1 destination for South-American pelgrims. It is so important for them that a replica of this church was made on a nice Brazilian beach...
Travelling through South-America's poorest country has its advantages. Peru was already cheap, but Bolivia is even cheaper. We found a beautiful hostel and we decided to threat ourselves. We took the suite: a nice room with its own veranda with a hammock and amazing views on the lake and on the village. Should be one of the most expensive rooms in town, but for only 25€ a night... why not!!
There´s hardly any point in going to Copacabana without visiting Isla Del Sol, the birthplace of Manco Capak, so pretty important for the Inkas. So we took a boat early in the morning, but we found it a bit disappointing. The island is quite basic, no tourist information, no guides, nothing. We didn´t bring our Lonely Planetm so the only thing we could do was walking around on the island. No too far of course, because no way we were going to miss the last boat back to the mainland.
We intended to stay a couple of days, but we saw enough islands the past few days. So earlier than planned, we took the bus to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world.
Once arrived, it took us almost a full day to realize that Bolivia is in another time zone than Peru. After travelling more than 2 weeks, it's hard to know which day we are, so how on earth are we supposed to know in which time zone we are?!?
Everybody knows the name Copacabana, either from the famous Brazilian beach or from the crappy Barry Manilow song. However, few people know that both of them are named after this small, cosy and chilling village on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.
A Morish cathedral is dominating this village (after spending 1,5 years in Granada, we zere not that impressed! ;-)). The cathedral houses a special statue of the virgen Maria that is supposed to have special healing powers. This made Copacabana the nr 1 destination for South-American pelgrims. It is so important for them that a replica of this church was made on a nice Brazilian beach...
Travelling through South-America's poorest country has its advantages. Peru was already cheap, but Bolivia is even cheaper. We found a beautiful hostel and we decided to threat ourselves. We took the suite: a nice room with its own veranda with a hammock and amazing views on the lake and on the village. Should be one of the most expensive rooms in town, but for only 25€ a night... why not!!
There´s hardly any point in going to Copacabana without visiting Isla Del Sol, the birthplace of Manco Capak, so pretty important for the Inkas. So we took a boat early in the morning, but we found it a bit disappointing. The island is quite basic, no tourist information, no guides, nothing. We didn´t bring our Lonely Planetm so the only thing we could do was walking around on the island. No too far of course, because no way we were going to miss the last boat back to the mainland.
We intended to stay a couple of days, but we saw enough islands the past few days. So earlier than planned, we took the bus to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world.
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