From Bolivia to Peru

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As always apologies as the blog is nearly a month behind we are....so I will try to fill in whar happened after La Paz.

We left La Paz to begin the journey up to Cusco in Peru, with the constant aim of making it in time for the inca trail, and we were on schedule. We travelled north from La Paz to Lake Titicaca, one of the worlds highest lakes at around 3,800 metres above sea level. It was an incredible experience to drive across the mountains at such high altitude to then meet what literally looks like the sea. The lake is roughly 50 miles by 115 miles spanning both Bolivia and Peru, and so is huge (and has been described as an in-land sea), and is also very beautiful. The water is a striking blue and against the yellows, browns and white snow of the mountains is really stunning.

We stayed in Copacabana (no not in Rio!) and climbed the towns large hill to watch the sunset, which was truely amazing. The stay in Copacabana was allow up to spend a day on the lakes largest island, Isla de Sol. We travelled via the worlds slowest boat to the island which took two hours (other boats did it in 45 mins!) with the intension of trekking from the north of the island to the south. The island is a very important place to the incas as this was the place they believed the sun was born, so early into the trek we managed to visit inca ruins.

The trek offered fantastic views of the lake and the mainland and was well worth the visit. After returning to the shore we crossed the border onto the lakeside town of Puno in Peru, and even the bus journey was stunning.

The Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca is much more popular and tourist friendly than the Bolivian, and as a result both the town and the water is more poluted and run down, but we still decided to visit the famous floating islands close to the shore.

There are around 40 floating islands in use on the lake, inhabited by people living literally on reads and in read houses. Around four large islands are open to tourists and it is a great was to see how these people would have lived so many years ago. Today many of the islands simply operate as tourist desinations so the magic is somewhat lost, but we enjoyed the trip nevertheless.

After a night in Puno we then continued our trip onto Cusco for the Inca Trail, which will be in the next blog.

Thanks for reading and photos to follow very soon!

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