Well, it's certainly going to be a different kind of New Year's Eve! I managed to get out of bed and booked the boat and a hotel. On the boat were only five other people: an Aussie couple, an Irish couple and German Susan, who lives in Brighton.

The two couples were only going for a daytrip, but Susan was staying the night as well.

The boat trip was about an hour and a half, and when we got to the south of the island, I understood why everybody leaves most of their stuff behind at a hotel in Copacabana. (I hadn't because the hotel there didn't seem very secure, plus I wasn't staying there afterwards). The Escalera del Inca may be a very nice archeological piece, it's a bugger when you have to climb it.

We were accompanied by a young kid who was showing us the way. There are no signposts on the island - anywhere. The only way to get somewhere is by asking around. He had obviously had a few more panting tourists because he kept telling me he would carry my rucksack, it was better. However, I refused to let a ten year old carry a rucksack that was nearly as big as him - I would have been too embarrassed.

In the end, after abusing my poor heart for about half an hour, we got to the top of the ridge. The hotel had beautiful views. The owner (Javier) obviously didn't get how Susan and I were talking to each other but had just met, so he was very confused when I had a reservation and she hadn't. In the end we decided to share a room for the night, which was just as well as overbooking and overcharging for New Year's Eve turned out to be his specialty... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As I had three days, I wasn't going to do the island's north to south trip the first day so Susan set off without me. I had lunch and as I was all alone, I got to choose the music (Bob Marley or cumbia - guess which one I picked). The quinoa soup was great, the omelette a bit strange. A Hungarian ldy came in with two French people, but they left again.

The Hungarian lady was 62, and she used to be an acrobat! She had travelled all over the world, and had lived for a while in Antigua. I swear she spoke English with a Carribean accent, very odd. She now lived in Switserland and was complaining about the health service there, showing me her scars... a bit too much information there...

I went for a walk, and there were no other tourists about. I walked passed quinoa terraces, a few mudhuts, a few donkeys... all the while getting great views of the lake and Isla de la Luna. I passed only about five people. The sun is very strong, but the wind is cold. I saw grasshoppers jumping away in front of me and walked until I ended up in someone's back yard. It's a place that time has forgotten, even if Coca Cola has not...

At the hotel, I had another freezing shower (agua caliente must be some sort of code for 'we used to have a little trickle of lukewarm water at six this morning') and in the evening, I met up with Susan, who was exhausted from the walk, and we went to have dinner together down the road. We met an Aussie couple from Adelaide and a couple of girls called Marie (France) and Robin (US. She said 'but don't hold it against me').

The service was extremely slow, as the lady was the only cook and we had all ordered at the same time... It was worth the wait though, my trout was very nice! Robin and Marie invited me to walk the north - south walk with them tomorrow.