The Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, Copacabana and Isla del Sol

Posted by Dave and Zephie

After the hustle and bustle of La Paz we were dying to get back to the countryside and find a bit of tranquility - there probably is no better place than Lake Titicaca!!!

We took the bus from La Paz to Copacabana which is on the shore of the Bolivian side of the lake. Here is our first view of the lake, which is absolutely IMMENSE! It's so huge it looks like an ocean - you can't see the other side from wherever you are!

Copacabana was not quite what we had expected...in fact it was a little bit of a tourist trap and everything was quite tacky and crap! There were some pretty bits though....

We also found a BRILLIANT Mexican restaurant. It was decorated like some kind of fairy grotto inside and served brilliant spicy food! This was a welcome development since Bolivian food can be bland to say the least!

We had booked into a hotel to ensure we had somewhere to stay, but it was a bit expensive and when we got there we spotted an alojamiento (verrrryyy cheap and basic accomodation) and thought we'd give it a shot! At first glance the room looked ok, so we thought for the huge saving we would make it was a pretty good deal. Little did we realise that there were bloody dirty tissues on the floor, the ceiling was falling in and there were huge BUGS in the bed! EURGH!!!!!!!! So this is how we slept that night....



It was a good thing in the end because it meant we moved on sharpish! For about £1 each, we hopped on a boat to the Isla del Sol, which is the site of the Inca creation myth! The name means puma rock and surprise surprise! There is a rock that appears to show the head of a puma on it! According to thone version of the Inca creation myth, this is where the first Inca Manco Capac first appeared after he was brought from the depths of the lake by the sun god to bring light into the world. You can certainly see why the Incas believed this as the island is not of this world!!! It is stunningly beautiful...

We found a lovely little hostel right up on top of the cliff overlooking the port where we arrived. The views were incredible!!!! From here we could see the bay, the Isla del Luna and the mountains in the distance. It was a truly magical place. Life here was much more subdued than on the mainland. Most people were farmers and lived really traditional ways of life.

We arrived mid afternoon, so by the time we got out to do anything we didn't have much time before the sun went down and the island was plunged into darkness. We took a walk up the Inca steps (we came to realise that the Incas LOVED steps, much to my legs' disappointment) into the village for something to eat. Although we had a crap meal, we were rewarded with the most incredible views.

This is the most incredible sunset I have ever seen...the light was incredible, almost like the northern lights! And you could see the mountains in the distance...oh my, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and one of the only things I can remember that has actually taken my breath away!



















Because the island is so small, we decided to walk round the whole thing the next day! In total we probably walked about 20km. It was hard going but we did it in good time and got to see all the ruins on the island. I somehow managed to miss a spot on my neck with the sunblock and as a result got the WORST sunburn of all time...It was so disgusting and painful and turned a very disconcerting shade of dark brown the next day!! Luckily I have healed!!!

In the morning we headed for the west coast of the island, which takes you through several farming communities and some gorgeous countryside. We were approached by quite a few children asking for 'caramel' or sweets and chocolate! We had bought some Oreos that morning as a little treat, but ended up giving them all away!!!

Quinoa plants...

All along the route we saw loads of lovely farm animals, including some brilliant pigs and loads of donkeys!

The communities themselves were small and peaceful and all the people were so friendly!!! This was a noticeable change from the mainland, where, to be honest, we thought people were a bit rude!

We reached a small village in the north of the island and stopped for a bowl of our staple quinoa soup YUM! We went to the Inca museum there, which was overstepping the mark slightly in calling itself that, because essentially it was just a dusty room! There were a couple of interesting artefacts from the island there, but I think we spent about 10 minutes in there before heading off to see the Inca ruins in the north of the island.

The whole way we were astounded by the scenery...

Then we reached the Inca Labyrinth (again, a bit of false advertising...!), but it was really beautiful, especially when looked at from afar with the lake and hills in view.

Here is the piedra sagrada, the sacred puma rock itself. A man there explained that you can see the visage of a puma on the rock. I could see what he meant but am not convinced it's a puma!














Then we started the trek back to the south of the island, which was supposedly quicker as it takes you directly across the island instead of weaving round the coast. We didn't realise this way would be up and down though so it was a bit tiring...!! As in many of our treks in South America we had a canine companion for much of it! A tiny but INSANE spaniel followed (well, led us really) us back to the village we were staying in. He was super happy and hyperactive and absolutely hilarious!!!

We made it back and were exhausted! But at this point we were seeing ourselves as in training for the Inca Trail so pushed through the burn!! We treated ourselves to a nice bowl of pasta and made it back to the hostel for sunset! Perfect!

The next day we decided to head back to the mainland so we could head to the Peruvian side of the lake. It was on this day that we discovered that national holidays in Bolivia mean it grounds to a halt, NOTHING happens, noone helps and people try to rip you off big time as a result! We waited for the boat that was due to sail at 10:30ish, along with quite a few other people who wanted to leave that day too. After a while we were informed that there were no public boats running, but that we could get a private boat altogether as long as we paid FIVE TIMES the price! We were really annoyed but decided to go for it because we were against the clock a bit as we had to get to Cuzco in time to finalise our Inca Trail arrangements. As we approached the mainland we realised that we weren't heading to Copacabana port at all...there were some very irate Spaniards onboard, who we were struggling to understand, but we assumed we were making a stop before arriving at Copacabana. Ooooh no, in fact, we were being dropped in the middle of nowhere! There wasn't even a port, we had to jump off the boat with our huge backpacks onto a random wall in the middle of the water, then climb over barbed wire fences!!!!! The guy refused to take us to Copacabana (I wanted to stay on the boat until he bloody well took us there, but noone backed me up...grrr!), so we all started the walk back to Copacabana, which actually only took about 10-20 minutes so it wasn't too bad, but it didn't stop me shouting at the guy who ripped us off!!! We were all so mad!

Anyway, it was nothing a hot shower, comfy bed and good feed wouldn't sort out!