Copacabana

It was good to leave the frantic environs of El Alto. It took us a couple of hours to cycle out of the city. Our progress was hampered by a couple of large Independence Day parades creating gridlock. We eventually found a side road parallel to the highway which got us out of the chaos. By mid afternoon, Lake Titicaca came into view as we cycled along a fairly quiet road on our way to Copacabana.

Two days, a scary ferry crossing and yet another mountain pass over 4,200 metres later, we arrived in a very busy Copacabana. Ellen and Elmar took a bus the second day because Ellen’s bout with Montezuma’z revenge recurred. They arranged a hotel for the four of us and we were reunited in the afternoon.

Because of illness, we spent more time in Copacabana than we had planned or wanted, but what are ya gonna do. There was lots of entertainment in the form of masses of Peruvians with new cars in town. The reason: to have their vehicles blessed by the priest at the Cathedral of the Virgin of Copacabana. Cheap insurance, I guess.

This blessing ceremony is usually lathered with a great deal of alcohol that is poured on to the gaudily decorated vehicles and into the drivers. It is quite a spectacle.

We also made a day trip to Isla Del Sol to see some Inca ruins there and just to get out of town and the mayhem of drunken new vehicle owners.

Eventually, everyone was well enough to cycle and we kissed Copacabana goodbye to cross the border into Peru on our way to Cusco.