Exploring Copacabana
Copacabana, Bolivia - Day 10
Man, the last few days were stressful. Katie and I decided to clear our plans for the next few days and started talking about potentially updating our travel plans to stay in Copacabana for a couple extra days instead of go back to La Paz. In place of whatever we had previously planned for today, we decided to leisurely explore Copacabana. The town is small, sitting on one edge of Lake Titicaca at an elevation of about 12,600 feet. The Bolivian people that we have interacted with have all been very welcoming and kind. It is a country of hard working women, that is for sure. Bolivian women traditionally wear a patterned skirt with bright colors, a sweater, shawls (which usually are either packed full of goods or a baby!), and a bowler hat. The older men wear cotton trousers and jackets while the younger men dress more western. The children were pretty adorable, being bundled up in sweaters and hats when not in their school outfits. The kids seemed to have a fair amount of freedom as it was not uncommon to see young children on their own. Another common sight are dogs. There are tons of presumably wild dogs that wonder around (we actually had one particular dog hang outside of our cabin most days). They were mostly all surprisingly well behaved, usually either napping or just wandering around.
Once one of the last Inca outposts, it has found itself somewhat as a backpackers haven. The town consists of two parts, one part traditional Bolivian culture and style and the one part western tourist focused restaurants and hostels. It was an interesting mix walking down the street and seeing all these booths of handicrafts and food overseen by Bolivian women in traditional garb with restaurants with big "PIZZA" signs mixed in. Wendy (our AirBnB host) had forewarned me that the food in Bolivia is not good. Most of the restaurants either sold very bland versions of Bolivian food (because they think spices make western tourist sick) or a play on western food. I am definitely not picky and other than finding some of the food funny sometimes, we definitely didn't starve. Katie and I ate lunch at a place near the lake. She had the trout, which is fished from the lake, and I had a hamburger. I've had some bad burgers outside of the states before so I didn't have high hopes, but it was actually pretty good. Had to chuck out the lettuce though (DARN!). You have to be careful of uncooked vegetables because they are watered with water that you can't drink and then most likely rinsed with water you can't drink. Unless a restaurant specifically says it is 'treated', you don't want to take the chance of getting sick. Katie and I spent the day exploring Copacabana, seeing the shops and markets, walking along the lake, and soaking up the culture.
To finish our day we got dinner from a little pizza placed that came highly recommended from Wendy and tons of people on Trip Adviser as the "best pizza in Bolivia" and oh boy was it! The couple who own Pan America Picnic Basket are actually originally from Chicago! Not Chicago style pizza, but super delicious. So with a to go box of pizza ("hold it with two hands from the bottom, it's made in Bolivia") and some scrummy baked goods, we headed home for the evening.
