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Published: September 8th 2007
From La Paz we headed to Copacobana to visit Isla del Sol (the Island of the Sun) on Lake Titicaca (the world´s highest navigatible lake found on the border of Bolivia and Peru). We unfortunately decided to follow the ´lonely planet´s'recommendation to walk for four hours to another village closer to the Island and then hire a boat across, rather than taking the normal boat from Copacobana itself. Well what was promised to be a magnificant walk was, for an aussie and new zealander, pretty average and really not worth the effort, considering what was to come! Not only that, but the drections were poor, so when it came time to take the short cut inca path up hill, instead of taking the obvious path ahead, you should actually take the path to your right that is partially hidden and made of dirt until you turn the corner! We of course, took the obvious path which led uphill to a mountain side! After following that path for more than half an hour, we worked out that it musn't be the shortcut and thought Paul thought we should climb down to the coast, rather than turn back (as it didn't look that
Blessing of the cars!
Done at 10am and 2pm everyday!hard from where we were), thinking it would be faster...... yet another mistake! That led us to dangerously scaling down a steep mountain, into an area of loose small rocks, which at one point Narelle slipped down, dramatically trying to clasp onto plants with strong enough roots to hold her there, scraping not only her legs but also the tops off all her sandfly bites..... yes, it hurt alot!! Then after trecking back to try and find the other path we just had more and more road to walk! Thankfully, at a small village an hour before the one we were meant to get to, we met an old man with an old boat who we were able to pay to take us to the Island!! So after an hour on water, with Paul scooping out the water that the boat was collecting(!) we finally reached Isla del Sol! Only to discover that all the stuff to see was on the other side...... which was to be another 3 or so hours walk.... at an altitude of approx. 4000m. Needless to say..... with aching shoulders and sunburnt bodies (our lesson in how the sun is hotter and harsher when you
are up higher!) we decided to sleep some of our pain away and start again the next day.
Mmmmm..... i wish I could say that the next day made up for the first.... but really, it was just another day of hard walking in the sun! 3hrs of not much except for what could be discovered as a beautiful, yet consistent, view! Finally, we reached the ruins called the Labrynth which was pretty cool! Although I was just too tired to really enjoy it!! We had planned to stay another night at Challa'pampa the village on the other side, which was actually quite beautiful and tranquil in appearance, however, there was a boat ready to go back to the mainland when we finally reached there.... and well, we just wanted to leave!! So back to Copacobana we went to eat some fresh trout and chill out for a couple of days before Peru!
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Ouaga
Tom Griffith
la isla bonita
Hi nelly and paul, you've reminded me just how beautiful titicaca and the isla del sol are...you will look back on that walk as being quite wonderful once you're sitting back at home, longing to be on the road again...enjoy Peru!