Lake Titicaca and bye-bye Bolivia

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The end of my trip is fast approaching, and I'm running out of time to do everything I want to do. So my trip to Lake Titicaca could best be described as fleeting! After a night in La Paz re-adjusting to the altitude, I got the bus the next morning to Copacabana, my last stop in Bolivia. The town is like a little outpost of Bolivia on the western side of Lake Titicaca, which is otherwise Peruvian. To get there, you have to go to the east of the lake, and then cross the Straits of Tiquina by ferry. We were told beforehand that all the passengers would have to get off and get a separate ferry from the actual bus, which seemed a little strange to me. Until I saw the so-called 'car ferry'! (see the photo belowfor what I mean!) As a happy coincidence, one of the people I'd met on the trip across the Salar de Uyuni, Tiffany, also happened to be on the same bus, so when we arrived in Copacabana we got a hotel together and arranged to go to the Isla del Sol together.

Lake Titicaca is stunning, and huge. It's the world's highest navigable lake, at 3812m above sea-level, and is over 8,000 square kilometres. That's pretty big. It seems more like a sea than a lake - in some directions, there's nothing but lake as far as the horizon. Copacabana is a pleasant enough little town on the shore of the lake, that mainly seems to serve as a base for trips to the Isla del Sol. Tiffany and I arranged to go for a day trip the following day. I would have liked to have spent the night on the island, but due to the aforementioned impending end to my trip, I didn't have time.

There are loads of agencies in town which sell tickets to the island, but as it turns out they're all for the same boat. Which takes absolutely bloody ages to get to there. The island itself really isn't that far from the town, but on a boat powered by what seemed to be a hairdryer, it took two hours at a snail's pace. And because I'd forgotten to bring anything to read or my iPod, they were two extremely long and boring hours! The main appeal of visiting the island is walking, with the beautiful views across the lake, particularly towards the snowcapped mountains. There are ruins, but from the pre-Incan Tiwanaku civilisation. As the island was important to the Incas as being the site where the first Inca, Manco Capac, emerged from, I had been expecting there to be more evidence of the Incas. But perhaps I hadn't read my guide book properly, as there was nothing except for the rock that Capac supposedly sprang from.

Having got off the boat at the north end of the island, we walked back to the south end to catch the boat back. It's not a particularly difficult walk - at least it wouldn't be, if it wasn't for the altitude that makes every slight uphill feel like you're climbing a mountain. But the views are more than worth the effort. The only thing that slightly spoilt the day was being made to pay a 'tourist tax', twice, along the way - for no obvious reason or benefit. Many people said they simply refused to pay and walked on past...maybe Tiffany and I were just pushovers, and we should have done the same.

The boat back to the mainland was just as long and boring as the boat there, with the addition of a stinking headache. So my last night in Bolivia was pretty quiet - after an early dinner we were on our way back to the hotel for 9pm. I know, I'm such a dirty stopout :-) And the next morning I was up bright and early to get the bus to Peru.

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Photos

Church, Copacabana
This fantastic Moorish style church was the main highlight of Copacabana itself