Copacabana - Happy 34th Birthday

Leaving La Paz behind us, we hopped on a 4h bus to Copacabana, a small sleepy village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at just under 4000m.

Before doing that, however, Maria and Oscar organised a little cake for my 34th birthday at the hostel in La Paz in the morning. It was such a nice gesture and an amazing start to the day. Still no idea where they got the cake from as it was a Sunday. But ah well, I enjoyed eating and sharing it. Also crazy to think that one year ago, I was celebrating my birthday in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania!

Anyway, back to Copacabana. We didn't really know what to expect from the town, but one of our main reasons to stay a total of 3 nights there was the incredible Las Olas hotel.

I have seen it on Instagram a while back and thought I would have to take Maria there. Every room is basically a little free-standing house with its own features. We booked the 'Tortuga' accommodation, which was a two-floor house with interesting features like a round bed (never slept in a round bed in my life), views of Lake Titicaca, hammocks on the second floor, etc. Since we arrived only in the afternoon, we enjoyed our little castle a bit before hopping into a private hot pool in the evening to watch the sun set behind Lake Titicaca.

Finishing off my birthday, we had dinner in a nearby restaurant and stayed there until they were turning off the lights. It was a perfect start to my 34th year of life on this planet and I was happy that Maria decided to join me in Bolivia and on my birthday. I will forever be grateful to her for that.

The next couple of days, we spent between our accommodation and exploring the town, eating trout, the local dish, pretty much every day in various forms. The town really is nothing to write home about as apart from eating and having a drink on some of the rooftop terraces there is nothing much to do in the town. Day trips to the Isla del Sol (next blog post) and the tiny Isla de la Luna are the main attractions that draw people to Copacabana.

Two more things we did during our time here, though. The first one was to feed the llamas in Las Olas, which was great fun. The super nice owner gave us lots of grass to feed the llamas with and we happily took the opportunity to give it to them. They were munching them like there was no tomorrow!

We also hiked up to a nearby viewpoint, which was exhausting, but well worth the effort. The views over the town and its countless long peers stretching into the water as well as the lake itself provided a beautifully scenic backdrop. We lingered up there for a while, soaking in the views, taking pictures and chatting about life and everything. When the sun set, we took another dip in the hot pool to round up our time here in Copacabana.

It would turn out to be the last time in Bolivia, during which we could properly rest for a few days as the following weeks were packed with lots of cool activities - starting with an overnight trip to the Isla del Sol here in Lake Titicaca.Read more