through Copacabana to Our Lady of Peace

Copacabana is a small but over-hyped tourist town in a beautiful, almost Mediterranean setting on Lake Titicaca. A typical street towards the water
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And up the hill a bit looking back towards the lake
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Normally I don’t take church photos but this one was monolithic and outsized for such a small town
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Another view
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We got a boat out to Isle del Sol
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When I took the camera out of my pack later I failed to notice that the dial controlling aperture stops was maxed down so the pictures are all dark.

The next day, we head out for La Paz (the full beautiful name is Nuestra Señora de La Paz, Our Lady of Peace).

The day’s track
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First we gas up. If you hadn’t heard about Bolivia, gas and tourists – the details: they can change you what they like (but generally 2 or 3 times the pump price) if they decide to sell you gas at all. It’s just the way it is. So I pull up
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He shoves a calculator in my face. It says 8.76. I look at the the pump. It says 3.76 (Bolivianos per litre). I laugh. He fills and collects.

Then off. Copacabana below
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Very beautiful
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Into hills
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Very fast twisty riding through a mainly sheep-grazed landscape
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Back beside the lake. Lake Titicaca is stuffed with Rainbow Trout brought in from BC (the Kamloops area specifically) in the 40’s by boat, train and horseback. Millions of eggs in barrels
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One of the best things: a boat ride crossing a narrows. The town of Tiquina
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Some kids are getting a class photo, or something
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And the wonderful boats
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In the line-up
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On we go. The same strange feeling of peace we always get floating
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We pass a couple of other boats
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A bus even
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Maneuvered into position at the other side
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Done. That was great Lucinda says
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It’s a short 100 miles to La Paz. The weather looks bad but we only get drizzled on. The Cordillera in the background

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It’s a dull ride
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Washing in the river, weather improving
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The bus has a flat, everyone outP1000374

Then into the city with the reputation for the most dangerous and chaotic driving in the western hemisphere, hated by all riders, Our Lady of Peace. To the left a video of us trying (successfully though illegally) to get from one one-way corridor to another (click, enlarge, hit the HD button) and a nice look at downtown La Paz’ers in the wealthier area of town

Saludos
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