Pooh Pooh to Puno! Hurray for Copacabana!

Lake Titicaca, Puno(Peru) Dec 15-17

The Peruvian port town of Puno is pretty much a dump. There. I said it. And no matter who may disagree and care to comment unfavorably below this entry, I stand by my opinion. All this town, situated on the shore of the world´s highest altitude lake(Titicaca at 3811m), has to offer tourists is the lake itself for it has lost most of its colonial charm.

I was unfortunate to have chosen to book a bed at the Pirwa Hostal there which stuck me in a freezing dorm room that overwhelmingly reeked of lemon pledge, offered no WiFi service contrary to their advertised claim and whose computers contained viruses which corrupted not 1, not 2, but 3(!!) of my SD memory cards AND my portable media drive besides. Bloody Hell!! Pity this was my final stop in Peru for it left a rather rank taste in my mouth.

My first day in Puno was supposed to conclude with me successfully obtaining my Bolivian VISA from their consulate there for $100 (as opposed to $135 if obtained at the bordertown of Yunguyo). Alas, I was informed upon my arrival by one of the impeccably-dressed pencil-pushers working there that the office had ceased to issue VISAS back in August. Back to the drawing board...

Following this disappointment, I visited the completely unremarkable musuem of Carl Dreyer and then spent a few hours updating my blog. That first day was DULLSVILLE I tell you.

Thankfully on the following day I booked a full-day tour on the lake which entailed a stop first at Uros, one of the 44 famous floating islands, and then the natural island of Taquile. Uros was significantly cooler than I´d been led to believe by others who´d visited and I thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration provided by our guide on how the islands are constructed using the tortora reed. Sure, the islanders completely cater to tourism nowadays and perhaps (probably) don´t even live on the islands anymore BUT who cares?!?

The second island of Taquile was scenic but not in any particularly ¨ooh aah ohh¨ kind of way. Plus I found myself feeling slightly perturbed by the fact that the female islanders all wore a heavy-looking black shawl which covered their upper bodies and hair, eerily reminiscent of the abayas worn by the Muslim women in the United Arab Emirates. I asked our guide about this and he assured me that it had absolutely nothing to do with religion...but....hmmm....

Lake Titicaca, Copacabana(Bolivia), Dec 18-20

And now for something completely somewhat different -visiting the lake on the Bolivian side from the Mediterraneanesque town of Copacabana. I´m thankful that I took the time out to spend a couple of days in this serene place as it left me feeling much more appreciative of the Titicaca area.

I stayed just off the lake, 1.5 km from the town at the Ecolodge Hotel, a far, far cry from the purgatorial Pirwa Hostal in Puno. It was a quiet, cozy place with an exquisite view of the lake besides. A perfect refuge from the storms which intermittently plagued my stay there. Indeed, the sporadic, torrential rain which fell throughout the morning of the second day thwarted my day trip to the Isla de Sol, but it really was no biggie as I didn´t particularly mind being ¨stuck¨ in my room.

A high point of my Copacabana stay was my shortness-of-breath-inducing walk uphill to the religious lookout point of Cerro Calvario which offers a glorious panoramic view of the town and lake. Once I´d made it up there, I opted to light a few colorful candles, as the predominantly Catholic locals do. I´m not particularly that religious these days BUT contributing a few coins to the local economy to purchase the candles just. felt. right.

The only downside to my time in Copacabana was the ubiquitious and putrid presence of litter. There were piles and piles of garbage all along the beach as well as discarded up on the hilltop. When an elderly local man was questioned regarding this, he claimed that the culprits were ¨tourists¨. Hah! Wishful thinking I do believe unless he was perhaps referring to Bolivianos on holiday?! The majority of us backpacking Westerners, for all our faults, are definitely waaaay more environmentally conscious these days and tend to be quite respectful towards the foreign lands we visit. Oh well, äs John Lennon once sang, ¨whatever gets you through the night¨ so if this gentlemen prefers to place blame at foreign feet, so be it.

I must mention one other memorable encounter I had while in Copacabana. And no, it wasn´t with a showgirl named Lola! While lunching at yet another inauspicious pizzeria, I got to chatting with a Colombian fellow who was, all the while, holding and stroking a precious little kitten. Naturally, I asked him about the wee feline and he informed me that he had brought 4 cats with him on this holiday in order to find them homes. Hë apparently belongs to an animal humane organization called ¨Protect Cats¨and it is their mission to rescue cats as well as educate the South American public regarding their abundant charms. Kudos!! I definitely applaud their cause and, once again, found myself wishing that I could adopt a cat. You know I must admit that it´s beginning to seem beyond coincidental how often I have encountered cats or like-minded kitty lovers the past few months. In fact, the longer I travel in South America, the more and more I adore pussycats AND my dislike for their four-legged canine counterpart grows and grows! Feel free to mock me all you doggie aficionados!