From La Paz, we took a trip to Lake Titicaca. The town where we stayed is Copacabana, although it isn’t very similar to the Copacabana in the song. Lake Titicaca is at an altitude of 14,000 feet, so we were really feeling it. We also visited Isla del Sol, an island in the middle of the lake. The green leaves in the picture are coca leaves. People in the Andean region have been chewing them for centuries. Although they are nowhere near the potency of cousin cocaine, they do provide some energy and help with the high altitude. We had some in tea and honey candies. I don’t know if it was that or luck, but besides feeling winded with the slightest incline, I was very gratefully issue-free. The same could not be said of some of my compadres, but at that height, it’s pretty difficult to avoid.
Wandering South America 