Copacabana - H&M sur la trace (un peu chère) des Incas

We took one of the modern cable cars from near our hostel in La Paz to the cemetery from where buses to Copacabana leave. Buses leave regularly for Copacabana but a roadblock by the residents of El Alto (the very populated city above La Paz) meant only one bus was leaving that day. The bus company charged twice the normal price given the situation and the journey was a good hour longer because of the time spent avoiding the various roadblocks by taking dirt tracks on the outskirts of the city.

In Copacabana we once again witnessed the 'Lonely Planet Effect' on hotel prices. After exhausting the 'recommended' hostels we asked the price of any we could find and settled for the Olas del Titicaca hotel which at 80Bs for a double was pretty cheap (and clean!). That night we ate at an overpriced restaurant with some funny tasting trout... We weren't sick afterwards so either all trout in the Titicaca lake taste like that or we now have some strong stomachs.

The next morning we got a boat across to the village of Yumani on the Isla del Sol (Sun Island) at the southern end of the lake. After 1.5 hours of sitting in a boat filled with exhaust fumes we arrived at the foot of the Inca steps and paid the 5Bs toll to enter the village. We hoped to walk from the South of the island to the North and camp for the night on the beach in front of Challapampa village.

We left Yumani by the main footpath but soon decided we preferred walking closer to the edge of the island. Unfortunately the vague path soon disappeared and we found ourselves balancing along tufts of grass between orchards and avoiding barking dogs which made us once again very glad to have had the rabies jab before leaving France. We managed to get back to the main path just before the second toll of 15Bs. The men assured us that it was the last toll we would have to pay and showed us on the back of the professionally printed ticket that it included the whole of the North of the island. A helpful villager who gave us directions also insisted that we shouldn't pay anymore tolls in the North of island. We continued this time along the rocky ridge path which is the spine of the island enjoying excellent views to the West and East towards the village of Cha'lla. As we arrived at the Inca ruins in the North of the island we were accosted by a young man with some slightly less official toll tickets asking for another 10Bs per person to visit the North of the island. He proclaimed that the North of the island was divided in two and that both parts charged a toll. Exasperated by now, we proclaimed that we didn't give a **** and that he should sort it out with his fellow islanders if their claims regarding the North of the island were untrue. We continued walking and unsurprisingly he didn't chase after us.

In Challapampa the majority of western tourists stay in one of the many small hotels but eager to camp on the beach and save some money we camped amongst a majority of Argentinian tourists. Dinner wasn't amazing since we had difficulty buying food late at night in Copacabana and in Challapampa there was little in the way of choice. Still, we managed to supplement it sufficiently with fresh beer and hot empanadas.

After a good breakfast of boiled eggs and yogurt we managed to get the first boat back to Copacabana which left at 8:30am Bolivian time (roughly 15minutes to 2hours before the real leaving time). Back in Copacabana we rushed to repack our big bags and take a bus just as soon afterwards so as to be back in La Paz for the Sunday night showing of Cholitas wrestling.