Apologies in advance...

We´ve arrived in Copacabana and fear that our friends and family will now have that gawd-awful Barry Manilow tune stuck in their heads. We are really sorry about that. If there is any justice, he´ll be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

(Extra points to anyone who can tell us why he sang about a club named after a small Bolivian town.)

Just so you know where you are, the main plaza´s statue is highly informative


And also beautiful

The 3.5-hour drive away from La Paz gives one a whole different perspective on Bolivia´s altiplano. Endless red brick buildings in various states of disrepair give way to the spiny Cordillera Real, dry fields, and a seemingly endless supply of neatly arranged haybales.


Elizabeth remarked, and I agree, that there´s something very appealing, possibly on an evolutionary level, about stacked hay in late-afternoon sunlight

After a quick unloading of passengers, our bus was loaded on its own little raft to cross the strait of Tupiza, while we skipped across the lake in a boat.


The bus, contrary to its listing appearance, did not sink into the lake

Copacabana is a tiny town nestled between several extremely dry hilltops. We just happened to arrive the night that locals set large swaths the hillside ablaze in celebration of San Juan, a regional Catholic celebration, though it could have just as well been another night of the Aymara new year... or World Cup festivities gone awry.

What exactly are all these eucalyptus trees -- from Australia, Z points out -- doing in Bolivia?

We were quick to locate a cafe where we imbibed much-needed espresso, shared an extremely good brownie, and embarked on our first game of Scrabble en español. Despite my weak vocabulary and general frustration with board games I was actually ahead most of the game but then Elizabeth pulled ahead and trounced me. Z´s use of the high-scoring ´double-r´tile in corre (run) might have been the final blow, but I´m psyched for a rematch in San Francisco. We just need to find a board.

¿En serio?

We stopped by the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana, an imposing blindingly white Moorish-influenced cathedral on the main plaza, with charmingly tilted tile rooftop decorations. It may be a poor pueblo, but no expense seems to have been spared in constructing the church.

Interesting mix of Anglican-Incan-Moorish styles


The moon over terraced hills

The ends to our days were nothing short of aesthetic overload... a frequent sensation on this trip. We kept running out to watch (and take more pictures of) the sunsets.

Buenas noches indeed!

Grrr, say the local dogs...that´s my lake weed!

It´s much colder than you´d think