Tag: copacabana

Itinerary: 1 day in Copacabana Bolivia

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This is the lesser known Copacabana – not the bustling suburb in Brazil but a tiny little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, nestled between Peru and Bolivia’s capital La Paz. It’s a part of Bolivia that doesn’t quite fit with the land-locked; poor, grimy, busy, superstitious image of the rest of the country. Instead, it makes you feel like you are at a seaside resort (admittedly a budget one). The blue of the lake can be seen from most of the town, the houses seem bright and cheery and you can take a ferry from here to La Isla del Sol – ‘The Island of the Sun’ which definitely sounds like a place I want to be!

View from La Cupula

GENERAL INFO

Getting there and away: Copacabana is one of the stops on Bolivia Hop – a perfect combo of a tour group, a hop on hop off bus and an intercity bus! See my post here raving about Peru Hop as to why this is a winning combo.

Accommodation: The best place to stay is La Cupula – It’s very pricey for Bolivia but worth the splurge. You can book La Cupula on booking.com. La Cupula also has pet Alpacas which is definitely reason enough to stay here.

Food: The restaurant at La Cupula is pretty good. Also we had a basic edible meal at a little hut down by the water.

Getting around: You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about 20 minutes so theres no need for any other forms of transport. If you want to head over to La Isla del Sol you will need to take a ferry. You can organise this through Peru hop or your hotel.

Top Tip: There is not a whole lot to do in Copacabana except unwind and relax. Stop here to take some time to recharge. There are some easy hikes, lots of fresh air, quiet to read and sunbathe. If you head over to La Isla del Sol there is even less to do.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

Copacabana has a charming little cathedral that houses a black madonna (the patron of Bolivia). Its an interesting walk through town to visit.

View over Copacabana

The is a great little hike up Cerro El Calvario. Its only about a 30 minute walk to reach the top and its very steep but you have great views over Lake Titicaca from here. Its a popular walk with locals too so the track is quite busy.

Alpacas
Feeding the Alpacas

Feeding the Alpacas at La Cupula is one of the best things to do here! Get a bag of food from reception but watch out as these Alpacas are very greedy. They provide tons of entertainment.

La Isla del Sol

The main thing to do in Copacabana is to take a boat to La Isla del Sol. Its about a 1 hour boat trip to the island and there is a fee to visit the island (You can take the Bolivia Hop boat at 2pm and the island fee is included. This boat leaves from the White Anchor). From the Sun Temple where the boat lands, you can take a leisurely one hour walk to the small island town of Yumani to get back on the boat at around 4pm. Alternatively you can choose to spend the night on one of the accomodation providers on the island. Check booking.com for options.

So what are you waiting for? Book a flight to explore Bolivia now!

Erika xx

First Impressions of Rio De Janeiro

Half asleep at the airport the next morning, Peter ordered an orange juice and ended up with a ham and cheese sandwich, but customs was a breeze and we were quickly shoved in a ride to our hostel when we arrived in Rio De Janeiro. Lagoa Guest House was a teeny tiny little white house in the middle of the city, surrounded on all sides by huge apartment blocks that towered over the little building. First thing we did in Brazil was, of course, DRINK. We were here for carnival after all! Plus who can turn down an incredibly strong ‘welcome drink’ Caipirinha. Once we had settled in, our first stop was Copacabana Beach.

Our first few hours in Brazil and we are in a bus accident. Another bus driver drove into the back of our bus as soon aas we had stepped on! Not exactly a good omen but it was exciting at least…We were a little confused but everybody was friendly and helpful, gesturing for us to wait outside the bus until were were eventually on the road again. I think we first realised how craazy Brazil was when the other bus took off without a word to our driver about the accident, just carrying on with his day.

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Copacabana Beach was mindblowing – people were absolutely everywhere. A large proportion of these people were huge women in teensy weensy little g-string bikinis and old men sitting in bars in their speedos. We picked up our tickets for carnival, took a look at the beautiful Copacabana Fort, got dressed up and headed to a Scala ball.

Peter was – his words – patted down by a big black man at the door, and then we were in. We had a great time. The ball looked like a high school prom, we met a great canadian couple living in Cuba and danced all night.

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Until next time,
Erika xx