Don't you wish you were here?

Welcome to Lake Titicaca. You can make fun of the name all you want, but I know you would rather be here than wherever you currently find yourself.

However, I'm not sure you would want to get to the Lake in the same way that I and two other Americans did. Instead of paying $75 to be crammed into a slow-moving minibus with a big tour group, Todd, Carna and I decided to rent a car and drive ourselves to save money. We tried to get a road map from La Paz to Copacabana, but discovered it wasn't very helpful. The only thing the map showed was one line between the two towns ... But, since there is literally only one road you can take, I guess there's not much else to show.

Traveling the solitary road to Copacabana is like traveling back in time 200 years. Adobe brick houses, women in traditional, colorful Bolivian garb, herds of sheep, hairy pigs, cows and donkeys crossing in front of your car. We had planned to stop at a town called Huatajata but we blinked and accidently drove through it without realizing it.

About an hour and a half through the journey, we caught our first glimpse of the Lake from above ... which is what I've posted for you. And that was hardly the best view! The coolest part about the drive to Copacabana is winding through the mountains because you occasionally lose view of the lake, then you go around the bend, and bam! Another view of the lake, even better the previous one.

Two hours into the journey, the road just ends. Yep, it just ends at the water. You have to float your car across on a rickety wooden barge to get to the road, which continues on the other side of the straight. Check out what we saw from our barge - does anyone else see something wrong with the picture below??
Anyway, we finally got ourselves to Copacabana, the biggest little town on the Bolivian side of the Lake, and enjoyed an unforgettably tasty trout lunch. The highlight of Lake Titicaca is exploring La Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun). But to get there, you have to get a boat ... which you pay for by the motor! It's the same boat, but if you want to use two motors, it costs $60, while it only costs $30 to use one motor. Our solution was to officially pay for one motor and slip an extra 50Bs ($6) into the hands of the boat driver. (FYI, it is cheaper to charter a private boat on Lake Titicaca than to go to DisneyWorld. Which would you rather do?)

On the Island, you can explore the ancient Inca ruins -- in fact, some Incan legend says the first Incas were actually born here, out of Lake Titicaca. I wish we could have spent more time on the Island; I would have loved to camp out here for a night or two. But at least we timed our return trip perfectly -- as we left Copacabana, dusk was just setting in and I watched the colors of the sky change over Lake Titicaca, from clear blue, to indigo, to orange, until the inky blue-black of night crept toward the horizon and enveloped it. Remarkable.