Country # 64 on number # 40

A couple of things happened on June 2nd. The more relevant to a travel blog is that we crossed the border into country #64, Bolivia. The less relevant, I was celebrating my 40th birthday at the time. Due to both these momentous occasions occurring simultaneously, I am not sure whether I should thank the birthday fairies or the travel gods, but whatever force brought us to Copacabana, Bolivia has my fullest appreciation. I had read that Copacabana, which sits on the opposite side of Lake Titicaca was a laid back, hippie town, but I had not dreamt that it was this laid back or this hippie-ish. As soon as we got off the bus, we spotted hacky sacks flying, tattooed jewelry vendors on every street corner and more vegetarian restaurants than I had ever seen in any one place. And all of it was crazy cheap!! The hotel room pictured above, the one with the fantastic view of the lake, was a birthday splurge. The price for staying at one of the best hotels in town was a whopping $15. For an additional $3, we took a boat trip to the Island of the Sun, where the Incas believed the Sun (Inti) and thus, their culture, was born. While there, we took an hour long walk around the southern part of the island, climbed hundreds of original Inca steps and visited the ruins of an Inca temple. Done with the cultural part of our day, it was time to return to Copacabana and its vegetarian bounty. We had dinner at an incredibly funky little restaurant, where an appetizer, 2 entrees and 3 rounds of beer set us back $13. Realizing that the owner, who repeatedly congratulated me on my birthday was stoned silly, that, as the commercial says, was priceless. We topped off the night with a visit to a bar where all the day's jewelry vendors had gathered for a musical jam session. There were no seats, only overstuffed pillows on the floor, a bookcase full of travel guides and candles everywhere. It was around this point that I began to seriously consider staying in Bolivia for the rest of the vacation, but since there really was no way to effectively sell "let's skip Machu Pichu", even with cheap food and great music, it was decided Bolivia would just have to be moved to the top of the places to see list. The following morning, we had some time to wander around the town square before boarding our bus back to Puno. We found a weekly ritual taking place that involved a young priest flinging holy water from a bucket onto a line of festively decorated vehicles. Apparently, all of the recently acquired vehicles were getting blessed. The owners took turns alternately dousing their cars with sprays of beer or champagne or cutting to the chase and drinking directly out of the bottles of beer and champagne, themselves. The whole spectacle was quirky as hell and I loved it, kind of like the town of Copacabana itself.