Sunday 19 February 2012   Lake Titicaca

Today we had a 4:30 start with departure at 6:10.  To have breakfast we had to have the chef open up the restaurant early and put on a special little breakfast for us and another Aussie couple, Rod and Ellie, who were also traveling on the boat across Lake Titicaca.  Our tour guide, Eduardo, drove us 85 km to the Bolivian border and then handed us over to Roberto the Bolivian guide who took us onto Copacabana (it sounds idyllic but isn't really) to see the statue of the Black Virgin in the cathedral and the local markets where there was a blessing of the cars.  Before boarding the large 3 deck ferry there was still time to do some shopping in the market and buy baby Alpaca scarves for the ladies back home. Half an hour later we set off across Lake Titicaca.  A basic morning tea of sandwiches and coffee was served as soon as we set sail. Unfortunately we had to share the tour with a group of about 60 Russians who had the manners of "pigs at a trough" when it came to getting food from the buffet and were an uncultured and rough lot, not thinking twice about pushing anybody out of the way, be they male or female.  The boat stopped at Sun Island where first we had a short trip on a reed boat build in the traditional Inca way before touring part of the island where it is said the Inca Empire began, and being blessed by the islands Shaman at a small private ceremony.  The next part of the boat journey took us to Chua in Bolivia from where we were taken by private tour bus, driven by a Bolivian maniac on the wrong side of the road for most of the 100 km to La Pas.  After a 2 hour journey we arrived at La Pas at 21:30.  La Pas is set at an altitude of 3,650 m (11,975 ft) (the city is built on steep hills), making it the world's highest "de facto" capital city, or administrative capital. On our bus were two young Italian sisters who came from a "well to do family" in Naples who were also staying in the President hotel and joined us for dinner that evening.  We finally retired at midnight after a long and eventful day.