At the Copa, Copacabana...

We left La Paz Friday after lunch and arrived in Copacabana around 4pm. During the ride, we found out from the lady sitting next to us that this weekend would be the biggest fiestas that Copacabana has all year. Hmmm. Kinda good and kinda bad. That would mean there would be lots of extra people in town. We didn´t have any kind of reservations and since its such a small town we weren´t sure if there would be any rooms left. When our bus dropped us off at the main plaza we went straight for a hostel. We were able to find one easily, the only problem was that the fiestas mean double the price. Oh well, we were happy to have a room. That first afternoon we walked around town a little bit. There´s not much there, just touristy shops. The main attraction is Lake Titicaca which is right on the edge of town and Isla del Sol, an island not too far from Copacabana.

When we heard about the fiestas, we knew that would mean a lot of noise and  little sleep. We went to bed early on Friday night only to be woken up in the middle of the night by a marching band practicing outside our window! It was so ridiculous we just laughed and Seth took a picture. That morning we woke up to the sound of a car wreck right outside of our hostel. We heard a car horn, breaking glass, then lots of yelling. No one was hurt, it just added to the craziness of our Copacabana experience.

this was our view out the window at midnight!

On Saturday we took a day trip to Isla del Sol. Its the biggest island on Lake Titicaca and its where the Incas believed that creation happened. The boat trip was about 2 hours to get there. We were dropped off at the northern part of the island and hiked about an hour farther north to some Incan ruins.

hiking to the ruins

Incan ruins

From the ruins we hiked the entire length of the island to the southern port. There is a trail that follows the ridgeline of the island with views all around. All in all it was a little over seven miles that we walked. Between the sun and the altitude (we are still at 12,000 feet) we were exhausted at the end of the day.

part of the trail that spans the length of the island

 the locals on the island still farm using terraces

 the southern port where we caught our boat back to Copacabana

When we got back to Copacabana Saturday afternoon the party had already started. There were parades all through town with loud marching bands and lots of dancers in elaborate costumes. And the party went on all night. Crazy!

here you can see how crowded it was around the plaza

As it got dark, people started getting drunk and more rowdy. Little fights were breaking out and all of the streets had turned into public restrooms. Pretty disgusting. It was only 7pm when we decided to go back to our room. Before we could get out of the plaza, a drunk guy fell over on Seth and almost knocked him over. Yikes! When we got back to the hostel there were so many people in town without rooms that there were people having to sleep on matresses in the hallway. We were SO thankful to have arrived on Friday instead of Saturday. As crazy as it was, at least we had a place to sleep. The next morning we were ready to leave Copacabana and cross into Peru. More about Peru in the next post!