Bolivia - Copacabana and Isla del Sol

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First of all thanks to everyone who comments it’s great to know you are enjoying the blog and we love hearing from you!

After another over-night bus (we are getting used to these now and quite liking them!) from Cusco we arrived (along with Mindy and Joel) at the Peru/Bolivia border around 7.30am. We got off the bus and headed through to passport control. We then realised we didn’t have any Bolivian currency on us and there was no cash point so with a mixture of Dollars, Euros, Pounds and a few Peruvian Soles that we found in our pockets and bags we managed to scrape together enough cash to exchange at the only money shop at the border for some Bolivianos and carry on through to passport control. After getting our passports stamped and filling out Bolivian immigration forms we left Peru and entered Bolivia (one step apart, literally!).
We then waited for a small mini van to take us to Copacabana, our first stop in Bolivia, which is on the famous Lake Titicaca (the highest lake in the world sitting at 12,500ft above sea level, and the biggest lake in South America, it also borders Peru and Bolivia).We reached Copacabana and had breakfast - Fresh OJ, toasted sandwiches, yoghurt and coffee for £1.80 each (Bolivia seems even cheaper than Peru!) whilst waiting for the ferry to take us across to Isla Del Sol. Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun) is a tiny island, 6m2 which has very harsh hilly terrain in the middle of this huge lake, which seemed more like the Ocean it was so big, and no motor vehicles are allowed on the island so everyone gets around on foot or by horse/donkey.

After arriving on the island by the ferry which was actually nothing more than a tiny speed boat which didn’t go very fast at all (we were told it would take an hour to cross to the island- it took more than 2 hours- South Americans love a delay!)and paying a small tax (Bolivians love a made up tax) we spoke to a guy who said he had accommodation with hot water and amazing views of the sunset and sunrise (our reason for coming to this island) for just £2.50 per person so we jumped at the offer and started following him up the island (the only way is up) to see where we would be staying. After 20 minutes of walking up hill (which Vic swore she would never do again after the Inca Trail) with our heavy backpacks we arrived at the accommodation- it was basically the guys house, on a farm, with a couple of double rooms he hired out to tourists! By this point though we were hot and tired and couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere else, plus the location was perfect right at the top of the island so only a 4 minute walk to watch the sunset and we could watch the sunrise from the terrace/roof of his house, so agreed to stay.
We then went to the local shop to buy some cheap Bolivian wine and Pringles so that we could have a little feast while watching the sunset. The sunset was amazing probably the best we have ever seen, and sitting there in the cold with wine in plastic cups whilst watching the sky change from bright blue to pink and red was incredible and it made us realise how lucky we are to see it and how pleased we are that we have done this trip! We were then all hungry so we went to the nearest pizzeria, which seemed to be the only food on the island anyway, for what we thought would be a quick pizza before heading back to the farm house for bed. However, this is Bolivia and nothing goes according to plan, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when two 7 year old boys came to take our order. At first we thought it was really sweet that they were playing shop while their parents must be in the kitchen cooking, but after 45 mins they were the only people we had seen in the restaurant and our pizzas still hadn’t gone in the oven! It was really funny though and we played cards whilst waiting for our pizzas, which eventually came (served by the kids) and were really tasty. It was only 8.30pm but we were all so tired so went back to the farm house but as it was so dark we got a bit lost and ended up in a field with loads of donkeys! Eventually we found the house and went to bed to get up early for the sun rise at 6am.

So we got up at 6am and saw the most beautiful sunrise over the lake, it was so peaceful it felt like we were the only 4 people on the island. We then went down to the small port to wait for our boat back to Copacabana so we could then get on the bus to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. After a breakfast of cheese rolls, which were supposed to be ham and cheese but there was so ham in them- another Bolivian rule, you never get what you order- we got back on the small boat to the mainland, (the two kids from the pizzeria were also on the boat and making the 3.5hr round trip to get some more ham and corn for the restaurant - so bizarre!) and got on a bus to La Paz, which was meant to go all the way there but ended up stopping after an hour on the edge of the lake, where we all had to get off, pay another small made up tax, and get on boats to the other side, while the bus went on a wooden raft with all our bags on it to get across! So surreal- Bolivia is mad like that and always presents you with the unexpected and we are loving it so far!

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