Copacabana - Lake Titicaca

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So after I left La Paz, I headed on a 4 hour bus ride to get to Copacabana which is on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. They told me that the local buses were brutal in Bolivia but I did not find that to be the truth at all.

As soon as I got on, I met like 5 people from England. So much for being the only tourist on the bus. The bus was not bad except for the leg room. Since I am not a midget, I could have used a bit more. The bus ride was very scenic as you will see from the pictures. The mountains in Bolivia are unbelievable. They stick out like sore thumbs with beautiful white peaks. I wanted to take a nice picture of that but I was on the wrong side of the bus. I talked to this older man who was sitting beside me and I was bugging him a lot cause I wanted to take pictures especially when we got to the lake and he had the window seat. IT IS TIMES LIKE THESE where the NO SHAME policy is applied. Eventually he lost the battle and just let me have the window seat.

It was great until I realized I was freezing as it is much colder by the window. When we got there, the locals were ready to bother us with all the accomodation that they can provide and bla bla. I ended up getting a bargain because my haggling/bargaining abilities are improving during this trip. I got a hotel with a view of the lake, private bathroom and including breakfast for 25 Bolivianos which is around $4. The breakfast is rather predictable and it usually consists of a flat pancake bread (delicious) and butter with jam. Then the choice of coffee or tea is given. I always took the coca tea, and why shouldn´t I. Once again, the question mark on this keyboard is a mystery to me so picture it where appropriate.

Hiking Isla Del Sol

That night, we just went out to eat and I got the local specialty which is the trout. It was not that bad, but later I tasted a better one. The following morning I quickly booked a full day tour to go and see Isla del Sol which means Island of the Sun. That was about a boat load of tourists. I met more Brits and went on the hike with them. The island itself is really beautiful and it takes about 2 hours by boat from Copacabana to get there. We started walking along the coast but turned back because we wanted to see the Inca ruins.

We went by a school and the kids were playing soccer so two of the guys decided to join in. I decided to watch. After about 30 seconds of kids telling them that they don´t want their dumb ass to play with them...they gave up and we continued on the hike. We hiked up to about 3900m and we saw some Inca ruins. Some guy came up and started talking to us and next thing you know the fool wanted a tip for an explanation of a puma head rock which was sacred to the Incas.

From there, the hike was getting a little hard since if you are climbing at 4km up in the air you get a little desperate for oxygen. Believe it or not, but there was a small convenience store on top and the guy was ripping people off like there is no tomorrow. The guy quoted each of us a different price for various things. One Irish guy was really hungry so he ended up paying about a dollar or more for a candy bar. That sounds ridiculous but remember people....we are in Bolivia...and for that country the price of a chocolate bar should be around 25 cents.

The Monumental Battle

We rested a bit and then continued on. Along the way, we encountered other traps such as the cute little kid and a bigger sister with a lama. They wanted us to take a picture of them and then they naturally demanded money. They got pissed off because I took two pictures instead of the one with my digital camera and so did the British girl. So they wanted double the money. After telling them to kiss both of our white touristy asses, they would not give up. The cute little girl because an annoying bitch and the bigger sister became a road block. At one point I thought about kicking the damn lama off the cliff along with knocking out the bigger sister. They more so left me alone cause they probably sensed cheapness but the British girl was just getting abused. The little kid grabbed her shirt and started tugging on it. The bigger sis stood in the way and did not want to let her go. The british girl tried the fake left and run to the right, but I think the bolivians knew the trick. They kept going with us like this for good 100 meters even running after us..well more so the british girl...I was there for moral support.

We finally lost the terminator and there was more of these lama traps on the way, but this time I decided to use the zoom on my camera and outsmart them. Then we finally descented down to the boat and took off. I was tired since the sun was really strong. On the way down, I met the Israeli guy again.

After we got off the boat, me and the british girl whose name is Amy decided to climb the mountain to get a great view of Copacabana and watch the sunset. The climb was about 30 minutes but it was gorgeous up there as you will see from the pics.

Puno - Floating Islands

The next day, we headed up to Puno which is in Peru. We didn´t stay in town. We just waited to go to Islas Flotantes. The people on those islands live like these since 1000 years before Christ which is quite amazing. The islands are made up of floating reeds. First people eat the inside of it as I have attempted because it is full of protein and other crap. Then they tie them together and somehow they float. We took a big reed boat from one island to another. The tour was not that long, only about 2 to 3 hours altogether. After the tour, we headed to Cuzco on the night bus. I realized that I have burned my entire scalp and neck, even though I applied a block 15 for like 4 hours...crazy.

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Photos

Lake Titicaca
The point where the ferry takes you from one side of the lake to the other.

Lake Titicaca1
View of the landing point for the day hike

Lake Titcaca2
Isla Del Sol - Taken by the Inca Ruins

Lake Titcaca3
Isla Del Sol - The famous lama trap. Taken right before the epic battle

Copacabana Town
The beautiful view from the hill

Copacabana Town
The beautiful view from the hill after sunset

Islas Flotantes
The floating islands. The boat we took from one island to the other.

Islas Flotantes1
I tried eating the reeds.