South America Day 33

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14th February

1 1/2 hours boat ride from Copacabana is the Isla del Sol (the island of the sun) which in Inca mythology was the birthplace of the Sun. We headed out early to buy tickets for the boat which left at 8.30am. The journey was slow, quite a big boat but powered by a single outboard motor and the seats were really uncomfortable.

We had decided to stay the night on the island as it sounded like a good place so we had our full packs with us. Upon landing at the island infront of us was the Inca Staircase, an series of ancient stairways and terraces rising to the top of the hilly island. Getting to the top was not easy (even those with no gear were struggling) the altitude as taking its toll again, however it was getting easier as time went by.

After being harassed by a local children all the way up the staircase to stay in their places we found a hostel on top of the hill in the village of Yumani. After checking in and sorting out we went for a stroll to the highest point on the east of the island at over 4000m, the walk was a struggle but well worth it. The views accross the lake were amazing with clear skies we could see East to the snow capped mountains of the Bolivian Andies and North across the lake into Peru.

The island was such a great place to just to be there so we spent the rest of the afternoon looking out over the lake from the hostels terrace until the sun disapeared leaving a chill in the air.

Neither of us had realised it was valentines day until after we had had our dinner! days, dates, times all mingle into one and this proved that we had lost track of ´the real world´at least for now.

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