Lake Titicaca - my final days in Bolivia and onto Peru

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Overall, I was in Bolivia for 10 fantastic weeks, which makes it the country I have spent longest in throughout my travels. Thus, I warn you in advance, this blog contains a fair chunk of pensive reflection on what I thought about this vibrant and diverse country!!!!

Though it is the poorest country in South America, and has had one of the most turbulent politic histories in the continent, I found the country absolutely fascinating to travel through. Both the landscapes and people I encountered were just incredibly diverse, considering I only really travelled the more densely populated south western section. I moved from the rich 4x4 owners of Sucre, to the impoverished Campesinos of La Paz, while the tiny villages I, admittedly, only viewed on bus journey rest stops were quite an eye-opener.

The physical attributes of Bolivia are incredible too. Known as the "elbow of the Andes", Bolivia is the only country in which South America’s grandest mountain range splits, thus creating the Altiplano - a vast expanse of entrancingly beautiful nothingness ranging from 4,000 metres to 5,000 metres - in between. From the highest peaks of the Andes you can move to the wetlands and the rainforest of the north, to the Yungas around La Paz - a steep series of valleys linking the Andes with the lowlands, there’s the cloud forest around Samaipata, the world’s highest navigable lake, Lago Titicaca, arid desert in the far south and if you’ve got the time or the money to tour the extreme east of Bolivia you can visit Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado - a place so rugged and isolated it is said to be the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s “The Lost World”.

Politically the last 2 centuries have been very turbulent for Bolivia, with short-lived military governments being the standard. (Between 1840 and 1849, there were 65 attempted coups d’etat). Bolivia has also lost huge swathes of its territory in a series of unsuccessful wars. Coastal access was lost to Chile in the “War of the Pacific” in 1879 - but Bolivia got a railway built for them as compensation!! Brazil took the next chunk, annexing the Acre territory in 1903 - handing over another railway as compensation but the crafty Brazilians never bothered finishing it!! Paraguay didn’t even bother throwing in a railway-based sweetener when the Chaco War of 1932 saw Bolivia lose ¾’s of the Chaco, a vast area in its far eastern frontier.

However, recently things seem to be on the up for Bolivia on the political front. There was a return to democracy in 1982, and in December 2005 Evo Morales became the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, (Indigenous peoples, the Quechua and Ayumara, represent 55% of the country’s population with Mestizo - mixed white and indigenous, 30% and white 15%), after he ran on a promise to change the country's traditional political class and empower the nation's poor majority. It seems to have had a galvanising affect on the nation as almost everywhere I viewed “Evo” happily daubed on the side of houses.

Morales’ proclamation that the growing of Coca for tradition uses - which the Quechuans and Aymaran had been doing long before the discovery Coca leaves could be refined into cocaine, for instance they chew it as a dietary supplement, or use it in teas - should be encouraged not discouraged, seems to be very popular with the Campesinos, who get through an incredible amount of the bitter tasting, teeth staining stuff!! (Incidentally, Morales is very much against the refining of Coca leaves into Cocaine, but from what I could gather Bolivia doesn’t have the ability or technology to refine the leaves - it is always done in other country’s, i.e. Chile, Argentina, Columbia, using the Bolivian raw material).

On the world scale, Morales seems to have made quite a mark for his disregard for traditional protocol (he was a coca farmer before entering politics), not wearing a tie to important functions, and also for his cracking line in knitwear which I’m sure Alger Jnr is going to be a firm fan of!!! I didn’t actually get to see the great man in one of his famed patterned jumpers but have managed to track down some piccies so you can all share in the great taste of Bolivia’s leading man!!!

Another thing that I really enjoyed about Bolivia was the fact that everything seemed to happen at street level rather than in an organised fashion in shops. The fact that the towns and cities were dominated by markets - especially when they were run by the traditionally dressed campesinos as I alluded to in my La Paz blog - was something I loved, perhaps because it reminded me of SE Asia. Walking the streets of Bolivia was always a great experience, be it the variety of slightly dodgy foods on offer any time of day, the micro (minibus) drivers hollering their destinations at you or the shoe shiners politely asking if I wanted my filthy trainers given a good scrub!!

Anyway, I loved my time in Bolivia. It is the place where I managed to get my Spanish to conversational levels and contains some of the top highlights of my trip, for instance visiting the mines at Cerro Rico, living with a Bolivian family and summiting the 6,088 metre Huayana Potosi. I really hope that some day I’ll be able to return, to explore more and see what has changed.





My final stop was the small town of Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca - the highest "navigable" lake in the world at some 3,830 metres. (I think the navigable caveat means that it is the highest lake in the world with regular boat traffic).

Anyway, for some reason I wasn't really looking forward to Lake Titicaca all that much, as I had heard mixed reports from other travellers and, to be honest, I've seen many a lake, and many a mountain, and I didn't think the combination of the two would be anything to write home about. But it most definitely was, and I absolutely loved my time there wishing I could have had an extra day or two.

Copacabana was a very pleasant little town, from which I climbed to the top of “Cerro Calvario” to watch a cracking sunset However, the main reason I had gone to Copacabana was to visit the “Isla del Sol” - supposed birthplace of the Incas. Legend has it that Viracocha, the creator god had his children spring from the waters of Lake Titicaca to found Cusco and the Inca dynasty.

Rather than take a ludicrously cheap day trip (less than a pound for a full day on the water and exploring the islands), I decided to complete a really pleasant 3 or 4 hour hike from Copacabana to the tiny peninsula fishing village of Yampupata the closest mainland settlement to the Island. I found my way across with an English couple - luckily we plumped for the motorised transport, rather than the kindly old man who had offered to row us across. Our motor boat took well over half an hour, so if we took the rowing option - especially as our potential captain didn’t look in the prime of health - I might still be out there!!!

Deciding not to stay in the more populated south of the island where my boat landed, I enjoyed a beautiful hike to the centre of the island where the tiny hamlet of Cholla awaited me. GBP1.35 got me a double bed en-suite with a comfy table and chairs in a kind of attached sitting room - very nice!!! From here I was able to enjoy a cracking twilight as the setting Sun turned the Lake a series of purples and reds, and a local fisherman picked an opportune moment to sail back to shore creating a postcard perfect scene, (well apart from the single power line to the hotel - grrrr!)

Next day I blagged my way back to the mainland and then finally left Bolivia, arriving in Puno in order to investigate the Peruvian side of the lake. The main draw for me here was a trip to the Uros, or floating islands as they are better known. Again continuing my independent theme I rejected a tour with the intention of heading down to the docks and organising a trip on the cheap directly with a boat’s captain. Here I put a bit too much faith in my guidebook’s words of wisdom, when it suggested getting down there as early as possible in order to beat the tourists. Well beat the tourists I certainly did, however I beat so many of them that I had to wait over two hours until there were enough gringos stumping up the cash to convince the captain to weigh anchor!!!

The floating islands didn’t blow me away but were very pleasant indeed. The sensation of walking on the spongy reeds from which the islands are created was quite strange and I was afforded some great views from the tower viewpoints that the locals had constructed. Although the tour was most definitely very tourist orientated, wandering around and chatting to the locals who were just cooking or going about their daily lives was very rewarding. I never did find out what they do about going to the toilet though!!!

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Photos

Lake Titicaca Sunset
It semed to entire Gringo population of Copacabana had trekked up for the sunset, but it was very much worth it.

View from the Isla Del Sol
The simple dwellings of the island, framed by Lake Titicaca and the Andes.

The Uros
The view across some of the "floating islands" from a high watch tower.

Evo's wardrobe
I'm sure Thabo Mbeki is asking where he can get hold of one of those fine pieces of knitwear!!!