Lake Titicaca
I’ll start this post where I finished the last- The golf course in La Paz where I spent several nights on a bearable height above sea level of 3500 meter. After heavy rain showers I discovered that my window on the roof is not completely sealed. Emmazwo is 12 years old and not 100% sealed everywhere anymore. The guys that mounted the roof racks, were walking around up there and they must have managed to make a tear causing a major leak.
I examined the damage at a building site and made myself a framework out of the bricks that were there. After a while the construction workers came and started clearing my handiwork, I understood what they were trying to say.
I found a wall at the golf course that allowed me to work on the roof of Emmazwo. I took out the sunroof and removed the leftover glue with petrol I got from the mowing employees. (the golf course has 35 employees working on the grass alone) This took me four hours and even with my gloves on, I got several open wound son my hands. The golf instructor, who happens to also be a taxi driver, took me to buy Sikaflex Silicon for 4€- a lot cheaper than by us and then I reinstalled the sunroof.
I found it quite funny when I found out that the golf balls are individually picked up on the course here. However, due to the amount of rocks that fall from the woods bend and break the machines.
At this height above sea level the balls fly super nicely, with the help from the instructor I shot to the wall that was 300m away, super fun!
I almost thought I would never get to leave La Paz, but on I went to Copacabana by Lake Titicaca. As I was driving onto the ferry, I destroyed my water tank. The ferry is basically floating wooden rafts that are not the same as the fixed landing of the ferry. I tried with momentum…ouch
When we got to the other side we could really see the damage. The the guy wanted to be paid 80 boliviano, I wasn’t sure how best I could use the Spanisch swearwords I already know.
I overnighted exactly where I had arrived so that I could examine the damaged in the daylight, it didn’t get any better overnight. I mostly just mad/disappointed with myself because I knew it wouldn’t work the way I did it. I should’ve taken a different ferry or even reversed onto the ferry. All in all, it was my fault.
I basically flew to the camping place in Copacabana and put Emmazwo on a jack so that I could repair everything.
I took the tank out and saw a huge tear in the the welding, this calls for some serious work. The alignment of suspensions needed a locksmith but it was alright for about 5€.
The installation needs to be done correctly this time, until I get that right it the tank will be up on the roof as well. After all that was sorted out I could finally enjoy the lake. I fixed the lighting of the camping site, same as always at these camps. And then I went to the Isla del sol and Isla de la luna.
Absolutely breathtaking with a view of the American Cordillera in the background, about 6800 meters high.
I did aboat tour for 4€ and then also another tour on which I learnt that ‘Titi’ is a puma and ‘Caca’ is a rock boulder.
The lake is the same size as Corsica and has serious environmental problems. They have no sewage treatment plants, the surrounding mines pollute everything and there is absolutely no political will to change their ways and no awareness among the population. The alien species of Canadian trout, that was placed In the lake is threatening the indigenous fish. Somehow things just always repeat themselves.
On the day of my departure, I said goodbye to my two Collie friends from the camping site and I was 
ready to get back on the road. I thought there was a construction site on the road and it turned out to be a road block. The northern and southern Isla del Sol really profit from tourism and the middle gets nothing.
I had to take a dirt road which took me quite long, I put all my trust in the GPS. I eventually came to a road where an elderly lady was begging for money. I firstly offered her 2 and then 5 Bolivianos but she immediately called other locals to come over and then closed the road with a chain. I told her that I had already paid in Copacabana, but I was prepared to pay another 5 here but never 50. More trucks carrying bricks came and the locals told me to get out of their way so that they could continue driving. This is when I put my foot down and told them that if I don’t get to drive here, no one does. The truck drivers joined in this discussion and after a while I found out that this was a sort of private border with no actual building or tolls.
The guys were smuggling bricks and didn’t want an unwanted attention. I admitted that I was wrong and drove back to Copacabana, asked for the way and continued on the dirt roads. I took the wrong turn and some point and a Nigerian car came towards me. The Swabia sitting in it shouted “Follow me to the boarder”.
Everything went well after this and I thought I would just have to roll to Tacna, I was wrong. I had to continue driving up and up, getting to around 4600 meters. I took a hitchhiker with me who explained that Perus toughest and most secure prison was up here. He was a policemen, even showing me his gun and ID, and he has to do a month long shift here once a year. The food is bad, no phones, no internet and bad satellite TV is all they have. Nauseous seems to be a constant feeling because of the height above sea level- 5000m.
I drove down to Tacna which seemed to go on forever. I parked in front of the supermarket and was warned to put my bicycle inside my car. I drove to the parking by the police and went inside to ask if I could park here. They told me to park in front of the door, even moving one of the police vehicles so that I could stand there.
The next morning I bought some wiper blades and had my car washed. The whole bonnet is damaged because of the hail and stormy weather I had in Sucre and the windshield has many cracks. I wanted to have it repaired but here they cut almost through the glass next to the crack to prevent it from cracking further. I stayed away from that method. I need to repair this soon though because of speed barriers and and bad roads. I’m scared that it’ll break completely, maybe the Chileans use a different repair method.