Provincia Manco Kapac

Viva me patria Bolivia, como la quiero yo. We loved Bolivia so much last we learnt their national anthem at the footy game against Brazil.

From Arequipa we drove back up up up onto the altiplano - high & flat land at over 4,000m. Every so often you would come across a pack of alpacas or vicuñas mooching around the road. It really is other worldy landscape up here and I think we're going to be up here for a while now.

After a long but pleasant 6 hour drive we arrived at our designated camp spot, but were a little disappointed the grassy field had been turned into a bit of a building site. It was fine for an overnight stop but we definitely didn't feel like hanging around. We drove a couple more hours to the border, and it wasn't quite like any border we'd been to before. Firstly the little old lady doing the currency exchange didn't have a rigged calculator and completely threw me by offering me the official rate! Checking out of Perú took about 5 minutes and even more bizarrely getting into Bolivia only took 20 minutes. There wasn't a queue in sight!

Half an hour later we were parked up on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the town of Copacabana and we felt so peaceful. The town is a lovely chilled place, and hasn't changed a jot from 13 years ago. We climbed the big rock jutting out into the lake crowned with the stations of the cross, and tried to find the spot where we took a pic of my brother sucking on a maté (argentinan tea through a straw!) last time around. Later that evening we found the same fancy restaurant where we ate, and a filet mignon cost me a fiver - I think we're going to like Bolivia :)

The next day we were both feeling a bit under the weather - not sure if it's the altitude, a tummy bug, or (more likely) the beers/wine from last night. But the beauty of overlanding means you do what you feel like so we had a lazy morning looking out over the lake, which is so vast you can't see the other side. In the afternoon I went for a fantastic bike ride, with Maya pegging along behind me. The climbs were tough and I was soon panting for breath, but the descents down rough hillsides was awesome (although I'm not sure Maya agreed). A quick dip in the lake and drip drying in the sun rounded off what ended up being a nice day.

In the morning we hopped onto one of boats and headed out to Isla Del Luna (Moon Island). Except for the fairly delapidated moon temple there wasn't much to see and an hour later we were hopping across to the larger Isla Del Sol. We had great memories of this place but unfortunately a dispute meant that the northern side of the island with the coolest stuff was closed off. Still a beer in the sun in the middle of the largest high altitude lake in the world, in the middle of a continent, and views across to Perú one side and snow covered peaks in the other was pretty awesome.

The next day there was the Titicaca triathlon, and we watched the poor souls emerge freezing from the water and struggle to even balance on their bikes. Our mates Sam & Don turned up and we ended up back in our fav restaurant.

The next day was Earth Day so we took part in the Overlanders Trash Pick Up, and collected 18 bags of rubbish in under half a Km. The lake side where we were camping was so gorgeous it's a shame the locals don't take better care of it, and we got a lot of funny looks but one old guy thanking us made it worthwhile. In the afternoon we went for another cycle ride along the peninsula, and stumbled across the ancient Incan road leading to the island, and great views across the water.

That evening Nick & Megan (coincidentally the organisers of the pickup) rocked up and we all ended up getting drunk on the beach, until the wind suddenly picked up and drove us inside.

After nearly a week we finally decided to move on, but Copacabana and Titicaca definitely had a place in our hearts.Read more