Altitude at its Finest

Buenos!
If you say Buenos and not Buenos Tards, Dias, or Noches... you sound more like a local! Just a nice little tip if any of you venture down here.

We spent a nice Halloween weekend in Copacabana just relaxing in the sun. We rented a paddleboat which was essentially a Duck- made us feel like we were in Oregon! But our Duck did NOT move... our legs paddled so hard and we got nowhere so we took it back to the dock and the kid tried to scam the full amount from us! Anyways, Lake Titicaca was apparently the highest navigable lake in the world but then i read that there are actually other lakes....so I am a bit confused but nevertheless, amazed by the vast body of water. It is soooo big and you can see Peru in the distance which is pretty cool.
We hiked up to the Calvario which is a huge hill with crosses all in a row- but it felt like a mountain in the altitude- and watched the sunset over the water...what an incredible site!
We also took a nice boat ride to the Island of the Sun for the night which was beautiful but yet again just a HUGE mountain to climb to get to our hostel!

It was a beautiful sunset from there as well as a moon rising over the ice capped Andes over the water.. who would have thought you could have it all??

The Island of the Sun is made of mostly all indigenous people dressed in their huge skirts, carrying blankets made into bags on their backs, and with their leashed animals! On the island, they import everything they need (that they do not grow) from Copacabana and then they tie it on to their donkeys and their donkeys climb the mountain. It is a pretty cool site.

After a nice 3 relaxing days in Copacabana, i ran out of money. Typical. So i went to look for a bank... guess what? There are no banks or ATMs in Copacabana!!! Good thing Kevin had enough money to get us to La Paz! Phew! He also let me buy a water and yogurt!

Our journey to La Paz has been our easiest yet. We drove around the lake and then had to get off the bus so that the bus could cross the lake. They put our huge motorcoach on a flimsy wooden raft and floated it across! It was pretty neat to see the bus wobbilng back and forth while our backpacks were on it. We, however got to take a little boat across! We arrived in La Paz and have been saying at a party hostel which is pretty funny because its hard to party in this altitude.

La Paz is known for its´Death Road in which hundreds of people die every year. It starts at about 4,760 meters high on mountains and you end up in the valley--if you make it. Because Kevin is such a damn daredevil, he did it! He heard a lot of crazy stories, and came back with pictures of crosses and flowers that he saw on the road...from 2009-see Kevin´s blog for more! Scary eh? Don´t worry, i had a lovely day with a girl I met eating sushi, shopping, and drinking coffee! Fabulous!

Our hostel also put up a mean BBQ last night where we got a burger, chicken, and steak and pasta salad AND potatoes.. for 28 Bolivianos... about $4.00!! I love it!

Today we took on the city, went to the Witches market which is full of gifts, touristy stuff, as well as potions, dead llamas, trinkets, natural aphrodisiacs and almost anything you want! We also stopped by the Coca Museum which was pretty cool, it explained the history and the use of the Coca leaf.

Did you know that the US sends raw materials necessary to make cocaine to Bolivia? And, the Bolivian Government cannot control it because it is sent directly to manufacturers? Pretty crazy stuff.
Coca is a natural leaf here that is used to make cocaine but does not actually have traces. It is used for Coca- Cola too. It has been very helpful in the altitude and you just chew on it until ur mouth is numb.... they have tea too which is delicious! The local indigenous people are well known for always chewing Coca, as well as using it for healing. It was and still is very popular among the silver miners- because of them it was legalized in Bolivia. We bought some for our trip to Potosi!

On that note, we are getting ready to head out of La Paz, Bolivia and into Potosi, Bolivia which is the highest city in the world at 4,060 meters (multiply by 3 and you get the footage). SHould be crazy... this altitude is definitely taking a toll on our bodies as we try and walk up minor hills, we tend to stop for breaks quite often.

After Potosi, it is off to Salar de Uyuni which are the infamous Salt flats and lagoons!