The Orient Express, Puno and Cobacabana.

Hi all, Siobhán here, as this is my first entry I hope you'll forgive me if it is not up to Matts usual high standard.

After our triumphant completion of the Inca trail, we spent a night in Aguas Calientes before heading back to Cusco. The train from Aguas Calientes to Cusco was an experience all by itself - the mountain is so steep that the train goes back and forth across the mountain to get down. Each switch is done manually with flashlights by guys in the last carriage of the train and guys on the tracks switching the points on the track. Eventually however (only after Matt and Greg had drunk the on-board bar out of beer) we reached Cusco and said good-bye to Greg and Melissa as we were heading to Puno on The Orient Express (yes there is one in South America apparently) to Puno the next morning.

After nearly missing the train we settled down to a full day of sitting on a comfortable train and being brought food and drinks (a welcome change from long days spent hiking up and down mountains). We were definitely mixing with Peruvian high society as there was a couple of models on board doing some sort of publicity piece (possibly for the Peruvian equivalent of Hello). The view from the train was amazing, the vast altiplano stretching off into the distance, populated mostly by llamas.

On arrival in Puno it appeared that the entire pre-teen population of the town wanted to clean Matt and my boots, to be fair this was a theme thoughout Peru however the Puno bootcleaners were the most persistent. The first order on business in Puno was to organise a bus to Copacabana in Bolivia the next day. With that done we explored the town a little before heading to bed.

The bus to Copacabana was a less than pleasant experience (travelling isn't all fun and games you know). Suffice it to say that the whole bus smelled of toilet and we were stuck on it for 3.5 hours. Still though we felt like proper back backers carrying our packs off the bus and heading into town.

Copacabana is right on the banks of Lake Titicaca and we had a fabulous little house shaped a bit like a cone. The plan for our stay was to head over to Isla de Sol and do some hiking. The more famous Copacabana beach in Rio (the one from the song) is actually called after this little Bolivian town as it has been a pilgrimage town since Inca times - The incas believed that their civilization began here and that the sun was born here. While from colonial times to the present day there are pilgrimages to worship the Virgin of Copacabana - and icon carved by a priest of Inca decent in 1576.

Somehow the hike around Isla de Sol seemed incredibly difficult (even for seasoned hikers like ourselves :-) Its starts at about 3,800m and climbs about 100m - 200m which isn't that different from the altitude that we were used to on The Inca Trail but for whatever reason we both seemed much more effected by the altitude here than in Peru. I put it down to the lack of Coca tea, which I had consumed gallons of in Peru. I was slightly worried that I might be suffering withdrawal symtoms. However the lake is stunningly beautiful, incredibly blue and clear and huge - going on for as far as the eye can see. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of our day on Lake Titicaca as I forgot the camera.

It was only on trying to organise a bus from Copacabana to La Paz that we realised that there was some Political unrest in Bolivia - it appeared that on previous days buses were unable to travel due to rocks and other blocks being strewn on the road. However luckily it seemed that on the particular day that we had chosento travel there were no strikes planned. So off to La Paz we headed.