Tiwakanu and Lake Titicaca

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Up early and headed 72km out of La Paz to the Tiwanaku ruins. In comparison to whats ahead theyre known as quite small. Theres been some restoration work but its fairly poor quality. Patrizia the tour guide was fantastic and made it fairly interesting. Theres two museums at the site, as well as the ruins. Including the {alien} face, that began many of the hypotheses about who built the ruins. Only had three hours sleep, so was too tired to be impressed 😊

Jumped on a bus to Copacabana on Lae Titicaca when I returned. 4 hours squashed with the locals, watching the spectacular sunset across the lake and mountains. Everybody piled off the bus for a small lake crossing. Bus went on ferry, we were in boats. Tried an explosive hamburger, extra salsa on the other side then slept until Copacabana.

Beautiful morning the next day. Met Fiona the Scot and travelled across the lake to the Isla da Sol. The boat goes soooooo slowly it took 1.5 hours (theres a 4 hour walk along the islands length and a tiny museum that takes 10 minutes to look through). Then an hour across to the Isla de Luna. Complete waste of time, crumbling convent, not really interesting.

Stayed the night on Isla da Sol, climbed some more mountains and nearly died climbing up to the hostel. 600m of steps and steep paths at 3820m altitude with a backpack is appallingly hard work. Had to stop every two minutes and recover breath. Fiona had her pack carried, shes only 5"3 and couldnt move up the hill.

Beautiful trout from the lake for dinner and then crashed out. Sunburnt and a bit disappointed at the Luna. Feeling rockbound, would only stay overnight if doing more hiking next time.

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Photos

Locals at the Ruins
All of the buildings and statues are placed based on solar/astronomical measurements, so they line up perfectly.

The Isla de Sol Hell Stairs
And this was only the beginning....

Lake Titicaca
3820m alt. 230km x 97km amazing size, like a sea. People live on floating islands made of reeds further south.