More on Copacobana and Isla del Sol!

So, I just tried unsuccesfully for an hour to put more photos up. Lindsay has about a hundred more on, but the ¨hello¨program I am trying to use is not responding or cooperating with me in the least. Again, no new photos! I give up!

So, Copacobana! We get there, find a hostel and chill out for the night. It seemed that the people in this town either didn´t really care to do business or were totally friendly (like the lady at our hostel). It was wierd, lots of grumpy, unhappy people though. Very strange considering their beautiful surroundings! Restaurants turning people away, and business people snapping at customers. Anyways, we had a good time there. We walked down to the beach and took lots of photos (which you will probably never see because I can´t figure out the program, but nevermind). We booked out boat ride over to Isla del Sol for the next morning (8am). Isla del Sol is the ? birthplace of the first Incas ?. It is the island of the sun and has a very special importance to the Incas. We get there after a 2 and 1/2 hours boat ride, wedged in with all the other tourists. We have a 5 hour hike ahead of us! Yippy! Lots of uphill too, but we managed alright! We started with the ruins on the north of the island and had our own lovely little 9 year old tour guide. She was so funny, vamos (let´s go) she kept saying! She kept us on track and showed us all the nooks and crannies of the ruins and then asked for her tip. How could we say no, she was great!
After a quick water break we headed on our way to the other side of the island. It took us about 3 1/2 hours and it was a tough hike at times, but so beautiful and worthwhile! What views of the lake and countryside! We got to the other side and were met by a little guy who directed us to his family´s hostel. 15 bolivianos each for our own room! That´s 2 dollars Canadian! Crazy prices in Bolivia, I love it! We freshened up and decided to tackle the other ruins, but took a wrong turn and ended up down at the boat dock. It was a VERY STEEP climb back up and it took us quite a while because of the very high altitude. It´s crazy how the altitude affects you, I had no idea until I experienced it personally. On the way back up the hill we had another little unofficial guide named David, who was 10. He just trucked up that hill like it was nothing! Man, I wish. I feel a bit better knowing that the Bolivians have a larger lung capacity and are born at high altitude, so are used to it (more than me at least). So we ended up hanging out at the hostel on the grass overlooking the massive crystal blue lake. A little girl of 5 came by and hung out with us for a while, so we took it upon ourselves to help her practive her numbers/counting! It actually helped me a bit too! My spanish is better than it was when I got here, but by no means good yet! I know poco now. Sometimes I understand what is going on, but I have a long way to go!
After playing with our little friend, counting postcards etc., we went for dinner across the way. It had many windows overlooking the lake, so we were able to see a storm coming on. The wind picked up and blew open a window a few times, and the clouds moved in pretty fast. It rained hard and at one point hailed. We could see what looked like snow building up on the windows. It was pretty cool, lots of lightning as well.
Next morning we tried to actually find the ruins and we walked half way down and took a few far away photos and gave up, as we had to catch our ferry back to Copacobana. Luckily I had just enough change to buy our tickets. The banks only give 100´s, yet no one will make change for a 100 anywhere it seems. It´s always a struggle to pay for things here! Shop owners will choose not to sell you something if you don´t have small change. It makes for interesting times in some of the smaller cities/villages!

Okay, so back for a rest and shower in Copacobana and we catch a micro (small van which seats about 10 or 12 people) back to La Paz. We hit a massive traffic jam on the way back into the city. It is amazing how they drive in this country! It is absolute insanity. There were about 6 or 7 lanes coming out of the city and 2 going in, but it didn´t seem to help anything. The horns are blaring in every direction( despite the signs saying no honking) and people are pushing into traffic at every possible angle. We had 2 buses on either side trying to cut us off. They almost managed to squish us! Insane drivers in Bolivia, that´s all I can say! Well, I have many more stories to catch up on, but I feel I should take a rest for now. We do our Inca Trail tomorrow, so we have a few things to get organized. We are actually in Peru finally! Home in a few weeks, so sad! I will fill you in on the rest of the adventure later! Ciao!