#63 Only in Bolivia - Sorata & Copacabana

View over Lake Titicaca from our cabin.

After the road blocks, dirt roads, hold ups, friend chicken, and rain storms, I didn't think I would miss Bolivia. But it has its distinctions: the scenery is unparalleled and the experiences equally unmatched. Where else in the world can you chill out for an hour with a monkey around your neck, or walk a puma with no big-cat experience, stay in a rustic cabana for $13US (including dinner), step in the footprints of dinosaurs, be alone in an Inca ruin, tour a working silver mine, or swim with pink dolphins. Of course such unreal experiences are usually followed by some sort of disaster, as was the case with Sorata, confirming it really was time to leave.

First of all, after much deliberation over our next step we headed to Sorata after hearing of its highly-recommended mountain bike tours. Of course they are run out of La Paz now, which would have been good to know before we left the city we spent a week in. Next, the path to the only relaxed spot in town was via a gruesomely steep and slippery ziz-zag path (although as usual, overlooking a spectacular scene of a crystal river cutting through the greenery below). Getting home from town proved more challening than getting their during the day. We realised we were in a spot of bother after our torch died and we found ourselves in an unfamiliar wheat field. The backlight to our computer came to the rescue - you can picture the scene of us feeling our way with the computer our only light. 

Crossing Lake Titicaca.

The next day we took the bike the long way around, only for it to fail to ignite after filling up with petrol. And then the day before leaving we contracted our first bout of food poisoning. I blame myself for this - common sense suggests not purchasing tomoatoes from a butcher!  Nothing too bad, just a little vomiting during the night, but as we were camping, well it was a little messy.

The problem with the bike was the third in a series of small issues we had recently experienced. On two separate occasions the frame holding the panniers to the bike snapped requiring a welding fix, and now a problem with the ignition. None were particularly difficult or expensive to repair but we felt going into Peru we needed some help from a higher power. As luck would have it a vehicle blessing from a Catholic priest was on offer in Copacabana, less than an hour from the Peruvian border!

Outside the cathedral in the town's main square on the shores of Lake Titicaca, we dressed Lady Eleanor in a bouquet of pink flowers, ribbons and bows, and scattered rose petals over her while His Holinesss prayed for our safe travels, and splashed holy water over us and the bike. As we have said many times during our two month and 29 day stay (1 day under our permit), 'Only in Bolivia'.

Here are some of our favourite memories:

Judging the depth of the river (judged too deep to cross).

Street scenes in Bolivia.

Gravel, switchbacks - there were some great sound effects
from me as we descended.

Llamas.

Reece's best friend for an hour, a baby howler monkey
who enjoyed climbing down his t-shirt.

Our blessed bike.