30th September 2015

So, the early rises are getting earlier, this morning it was 5.05am to be ready for a pick up for a day on Lake Titicaca visiting floating reed villages and a number of different islands before continuing to cross the Bolivian border and then on to La Paz. That was what should have happened!

We were all ready and waiting with luggage having checked out at 6.30am but there was no sign of our pick-up. Twenty minutes later someone from another company with a similar name turned up but not for us. I had to get the reception to phone Bolivia to ascertain what was going on as we had no other way of getting into Bolivia. Eventually a woman turned up who unfortunately had the same level of English as I have of Spanish. She was very helpful though but our itinerary went right out the window as we set off on a 2.5 hour journey by minivan to the border crossing with Bolivia near Copacabana (no - not the Barry Manilow one!!). I actually ended up having quite a good chat as the pressure to ascertain what was going on forced words I had learnt over 7 years ago at a Spanish class to come to mind. We were to meet another guide on the Bolivian side who could speak English and would take us on a tour of the lake. I envisaged a scene of us walking across ‘no mans land’ with armed guards form Peru and Bolivia at either end. In the event it was nothing like that - more a load of money changers and a small office and immigration took about 45 seconds for the two of us!

After the stresses of the morning we went on to have a lovely day with our guide Violeta and just a couple of other people traveling on our own private boats and hydrofoils to the Isle de Sol and Isle de Lune. All fascinating and then topped off with a visit to a remote floating village - Chisawa Island - where people live permanently on reeds layered up to over 1.5 meters thick - amazing. This is where todays photo was taken showing one of the island inhabitants houses on the floating reed island.

We thought our adventures would finish up with a brief drive to La Paz but oh no! Bolivia seems to be rather behind other South American countries or at least Peru as that’s the only one we can compare it to. The roads are dreadful, alternating between short stretches of rough tarmac to dusty pot hole ridden dirt tracks. The towns we passed through have large packs of dogs roaming the dimly lit streets which according to our guide have become quite aggressive and have started to attack the grazing llamas. Just when the bouncing around was becoming too much, the road was blocked in the distance by some sort of demonstration and our minivan detoured off seemingly into pitch black countryside culminating in a severe dip into a dried river bed.

The journey to La Paz took over 3 hours. It was dark when we arrived and I have to say it looks rather daunting and we were given warnings of where NOT to go tomorrow. We are shattered, as I write Colin has collapsed in bed and is snoring (we didn’t bother with dinner) and I’ve been munching on biscuits I took from breakfast and a bag of giant homemade pop-corn from a local lady on a stall in Copacabana. I’m not sure about either the hotel or La Paz but after a 17 hour day I need to look at it all with a refreshed pair of eyes tomorrow... feeling a bit alone at the moment.

[Stephanie Swift]

Wonderful photograph Emma, love the textures and the light and reading about what this is. This trip seems to be quite strenuous in places--I do hope things improve and you don't feel quite so alone.