Copacabana

So 10 days of being sick in La Paz gave my hand a proper amount of time to heal, and so I looked forward with relish my first day back in the saddle. I felt like I had “wasted” time, an so now was not going to do a grand tour of Bolivia as planned. Instead the hotel fellows at the hotel recommended a coupe of day tours to get into the wing of things, and I easily agreed since the hotel was comfortable and I had basically been adopted by them. They had their maid make me “clean” food, and I’d go up to their apartment at night and eat meals with them, or we’d sit for long hours in the lobby and chat and drink mate (tea) together.

Here I am leaving La Paz and heading North to Copacabana. It’s market day on the North side of town.

I’d passed a lot of cultivated fields, but had never seen crops of this color.

Some local political advertising.

Copacabana is a small town on Lake Titicaca…here’s my first view of the lake ( again).

SO I get down to the port, I get motioned to the front of the line, and next thing I know I have pulled onto a boat that I thought was the dock. The pilot pushes off before I even have the kickstand down–bizarre for me, as I knew I had to take a ferry but I was not expecting one such as this. It all happened so ffast by the tie I had the kickstand down and turned around to see the pilot, we were 25 feet from the dock!

The bots push off in pairs, then separate for the voyage across the lake.

Mostly I stood beside the ike with a stabilizing hand on it for obvious reasons…

Here’s the other boat that pushed off with us…

The dock at the other side.

Some colorful local women pass by.

I ride out of the port and head to Copacabana.

I need gas, and I am told this is the only place to get it. How many liters do i want? (Um, how many liters to a gallon?)

Um…is that candy-colored stuff really gonna make my bike run?

No filtering cloth…Goddess help me!

I am hungry. A rare thing these past two weeks. Sick of the bland food my nursemaids had been feeding me, I stop here.

And order a veggie lasagna. Here’s my lunch view. Purdy!

Then I decide to walk around town. Here’s the cathedral. I am told they bless vehicles here every day…but somehow I miss it even though I am waiting around for it.

Okay, this was just creepy. The store was closed (a broom across the doorway). What on EARTH do people do with Llama fetuses? (by the other stuff I could see for sale I gathered it was something occult–later I heard it is some mountain magic for the Andinos.)