Lago Titicaca

Hola! Hope you all are doing well! I can't believe we're onto our last week in Bolivia. Time has flown, and we've become quite the veterans at the trufi system, eating street food (especially Annika - who's quite the pro!), and holding basic conversations with the Bolivians! Believe it or not, by this time next week, most of us will be home, but in the meantime, we're soaking in the experiences, bonding closer with each other, and discerning God's will for our present and future through this trip.

 This past weekend, we visited the world's highest navigable lake - Lake Titicaca! Our journey started bright and early at 4:15 am on Saturday. When we arrived, there were vendors everywhere selling us tickets to places we weren't even trying to head to! Now, speaking English at 5 am is quite difficult, but trying to understand and speak Spanish is even harder! Somehow we managed to get ourselves - and our loaded backpacks - onto a bus to La Paz. Bolivian traveling was definitely interesting! While we bought tickets for 5:30, the bus didn't actually leave until 6! And when you take the bus, it definitely doesn't mean a nonstop trip! We had vendors boarding the bus and selling us coffee, gum, bread, and even charque! There were stops to pick up people and drop them off. Jake and I got to meet this sweet little girl name Luz who was in one of the seats right in front of us. She was shy at first but ended up hanging out with us for most of the ride. It was especially funny when she would ask for the names of other people in our group and would yell it out through the bus until he/she woke up. She even walked down the aisle and would wake individual people up, especially Ben! Finally, after a 7 hour bus ride, we made it to La Paz around 1 pm, just in time to catch our next bus.

 La Paz is a beautiful city settled in a valley with brick buildings adorning the mountain sides and the valley itself. We quickly learned on this trip that cameras cannot capture the true beauty of the country we're in. At the La Paz bus terminal, we bought another ticket to Copacabana - which is located on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. The ride to Copacabana was beautiful, and we could see the lake for a duration of the trip! We finally arrived in Copacabana in the late afternoon, checked into a sweet hotel right by the lake, and bought our boat tickets to the island for the following day. We arrived at the perfect time, with the sun setting right on the lake and the boats providing the perfect silhouettes. We also went out for one of our favorite Bolivian meals, pique macho. Sadly, we were quite disappointed by our meal and went out for dinner round 2! We found a great cafe that quickly became a favorite of ours and ate a nice second dinner before retiring to our hotel rooms. Fun fact: Bolivian hot chocolate, at least at this cafe is awesome! Danica and I can attest to this fact! It's pretty much hot milk with chunks of chocolate at the bottom that you have to stir to melt into your drink! Yum!

Early Sunday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and then headed for our boat to Isla del Sol at 8 am. Our boat had an upper deck area that our team definitely took advantage of despite the somewhat cold air of the Bolivian winter. The view from the top was great, and I can't wait for you all to see the photos! Out on the lake, you can see the different islands and the perfect deep blue of the lake contrasts the white clouds, light blue sky, and green-brown mountains. After 2.5 hours on the boat, where we made friends with the other travelers from South Africa, Colorado, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, we finally docked. When we stopped on the northern part of Isla del Sol, we had to dodge the guide who wanted us to go to the island's musuem and other sights for a lovely fee, of course. We decided to take the 8 km hike to the southern part of the island to catch our boat on its way back. The hike was gorgeous as we could see the lake on both sides of us, and the trail was a fairly easy (though not so easy because of the altitude)! We finished with time to spare and caught a leisurely lunch at a restaurant that looks out onto the lake. What was super cool about this island and just Bolivia in general was all the animals hanging around! As we hiked, we saw pigs, donkeys, llamas, and dogs everywhere! Jake and Anna got some pretty epic pictures with this llama that was definitely posing for the camera! When we finally got back to Copacabana, we managed to get rooms at the same hotel as the previous night, which was awesome, though we all definitely wished we had known it was possible before we hiked 8 km with our backpacks full of clothes and food! For dinner, we stopped by a different restaurant where the men of our group plus Rachel got their taste of the infamous Lake Titicaca trout or trucha! The rest of us tried pizza, chicken fajitas, and quinoa soup which was all delicious! But of course, we had to stop by our favorite cafe before bed for some hot chocolate and a burger for Todd.

Our journey back was similar to the trip to the lake. We went from Copacabana to La Paz and from La Paz to Cochabamba. It took all day Monday. On our trip from La Paz to Copacabana though, we managed to take a double decker bus (awesome!) and sit right in front (even more awesome!). Though, to be honest, that made it kind of scary because we got to witness Bolivian driving at its finest! Don't worry though, we all made it home safely! Around 9:30 or so, we finally made it back to the guesthouse! It was such an incredible trip, and for 70 bucks, we got to be tourists for a weekend. With sights like Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and even Vinto where we have been living, it's tough to see how someone could look at all these people and places and not come to the conclusion that there has to be a Creator. It's time to soak in these experiences and continue to love on these people and this country up until the last minute we're here! Until next time!

 Dios le bendiga, Myvy :)