Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Just three hours away from La Paz on the border of Peru lies the small town of Copacabana, the gateway to Lake Titicaca, the highest (inhabited) lake in the world, and the islands that populate this water mass, namely the Isla del Sol; Sun Island.

The journey from La Paz is beautiful with the bus driving through the El Alto area at around 3600m before coming to a river where you then have to get off the bus and take a boat to the other side, the bus meanwhile is loaded onto a two vehicle barge and slowly makes it's way over. Once on the other side the bus heads to Copacabana on a winding route with Lake Titicaca always on the right hand side. Eventually the town itself comes into view and the famous two prong hill in the centre of town dominates the landscape with the lake in the background and the mountains to the north east.

The town is small and besides the calm and tranquil beachfront with it's sunset view cafes and rows of stalls selling fresh trout from the lake (delicious), there isn't too much on offer in town, just the usual hotels, hostels, restaurants and shops selling endless alpaca.

Lake Titicaca is the main draw here and the Isla del Sol in particular. There are several options for investigating the island and the surrounding floating islands nearby. It's possible to stay on the island itself and give a little back to this remote community, or another option is to just do a day trip to get a feel for the island. Been a little strapped for time having spent way too long in La Paz, I went for the day trip option.

Buying tickets is easy, there are numerous touts offering return tickets and at the 'marina' there are a couple shacks which run different boats running to the island. By and large you want to start early and get a ticket to the north port of Sun Island in the morning, as this then gives you a chance to walk across the spine of the island to the south port just in time for the boats heading back to Copacabana in the afternoon.

The boat ride to the north port takes around two and half hours so make sure you bring a top for this part as it gets cold as you zip along the lake, most people on the top deck looked frozen and pretty miserable. From the port, you have to walk along the beach and then cut inland to another beach, from here there is a path which then leads to the Chicana ruins, this takes around 45 minutes and is progressively uphill. Once at the ruins, I won't lie, you don't quite realise you have reached what it was you were looking for. I was expecting some ancient Inca ruins or something a little more spectacular considering how much people bigged this place up, it basically looked like a barn and outhouse after a bad storm had taken away the roof. Lamest ruins I think I will ever see.

After this minor disappointment it was a two hour walk along a very well laid out path to the other side of the island. Again there is a steady incline for most of the way with the ascent lacking in anything beyond arid looking landscape and wonderful views out over the lake. Come the point where you start to descend, trees pop up out of nowhere, there are fields and farms been tended by locals and hostels and restaurants spring up as you reach the village of Yumani, home to the south port. A quick bite to eat and then only a one and a half hour boat ride takes you back to Copacabana just in time to enjoy sunset and some fresh grilled seafood by the lake.

Copacabana from afar

Approaching Copacabana

Beachfront

Of they have swan paddle boats

It doesn't get much fresher

Closing in on the north port

On the way to the ruins

Somewhat underwhelming

Clear path to follow

Random checkpoints for tickets and snacks

Yumani on the horizon

South port at Yumani

Downtown Copacabana

Rio de Janeiro

After experiencing an amazing Carnaval where I had loads of fun and met some great people, it was sadly time to say goodbye to Olinda, and move on to Rio de Janeiro. Having a time constraint I was unable to slowly meander down the east coast of Brazil and soak in the sun, and instead opted for a flight straight to Rio from Recife. Having booked it in advance, it worked out to be pretty good deal.

Once in Rio, having just got a flight straight after a night out, I just jumped straight in a taxi and headed to downtown Lapa to my hostel. Bit of a dingy place but centrally located: close to the subway for access to the sights and the Lapa nightlife just around the corner.

Rather than rushing anything in the heat, decided to take my time about seeing the sights. I know most people would relish the opportunity to bathe on the Copacabana beach but with my wonderfully pale skin, I was quite happy to walk up and down through the surf, soak up the atmosphere and enjoy a couple beers watching the day go by: volleyball tournaments, ripped up lads and bimbos strutting their stuff, people running up and down the beach (it’s too hot for that lark people) and attempting to ignore vendors selling caps and shades.

Christ the Redeemer being one of the new seven wonders of the world is without question one of the highlights of Rio, if not the centre piece of the city. With Christianity being the religion of choice, it is revered by all and a tourist hot spot to boot. The brain child of  Heitor da Silva Costa, it was originally designed to have Christ holding a cross in one hand (to symbolise Christianity) and a globe in the other (to represent the world). Come Oct 12^th 1931 when it was inaugurated, the design had slightly changed to what we have today, that of Christ in the position of a cross with the city of Rio itself representing the world.

Getting here is easy enough, there are buses from all over town to Cosme Velho, and if you say Corcovado to anyone they know what you are on about. (that's the name of the hill that it is on). Once at the bottom you can either get a shared bus ride to the top, or if you don’t mind waiting, there is the train to the top.

At the top there is minimal space to try and get that all important copy cat photo as the crowds are heaving and everyone is up there for the same thing, The panoramic views of Rio are incredible, there was a little haze up at the top so on an even clearer day the views would be even better.

Sugar Loaf mountain is another popular spot, again it is easy to get to and offers great views of the city, especially at sunset. At 396m it is significantly smaller than Corcovado which stands at 710m but you get better views of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. To get up to the top, you need to get the cable car which stops halfway on one mountain and then carries on up to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Around the Lapa area, you have to be a little careful as there are some dodgy characters about but by and large if you keep your wits about you, you’ll be okay. With it being Rio it is possible that you’ll bump into some trouble but if this were to happen I would consider myself unlucky, however it does happen.

Nearby to the hostel are the Lapa Arches, an old viaduct that the train up to Santa Teresa uses. Up here you are privy to one of Rio’s main tourist attractions, Escadaria Selarón. In 1990, a Chilean artist took it upon himself to decorate the steps with tiles from all around the world and after a 30 year period, he could well be still going. Looking up it looks great, however, looking down it just looks like a cobbled set of steps, looks like he has a little more work to do then. 

Although I only had limited time, I was able to see most things I wanted, a derby football game happened to be on the day I left which was a shame though, guess I’ll just have to make sure I fit in a Boca game in Buenos Airies, but before then, my first stop in Argentina will be Puerto Iguazu, the jumping off point to see the mighty Iguazu Falls.