Footprint of the Sun

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Lake Titicaca

Set at 3,800+ metres above sea level, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable body of water on the planet, and our next destination.

We couldn't decide whether to see it from Copacabana on the Bolivian side, or Puno on the Peruvian side, so we decided on both in the end!

Copacabana

We had an interesting journey from La Paz to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. The bus stopped a bit before we got to Copacabana, and almost all of the passengers got off. We couldn't understand why we had to get off, but followed some others who spoke English and Spanish. It turned out that we had to cross the lake at this point, and that the bus would be going across on a barge, whilst the passengers had to take a local boat. So we think that the few people who didn't get off the bus were avoiding the fee for the boat! It was a very short crossing but we had to wait awhile for our bus on the other side.

We arrived in Copa just as it was getting dark and found a hostel, with a view of the lake from our window😊.

Isla del Sol(Island of the Sun)

The Incas believe that this is the birthplace of the sun. It even left a footprint behind so we just had to go see it! To get there we took an incredibly slow boat from Copacabana. The basic drill is that the boat drops you off at the north of the island, and then you walk for about 3 hours (10km) to the south of the island where it picks you up again. Our boat left almost an hour late, so that cut down on our time on the island and put lots of pressure on us for the walk back to the pickup point. Luckily we made it, with a half hour to spare!

The walk itself was amazing, with incredible views of the lake, as most of it is on a ridge through the centre of the island. It was quite a challenging walk as there were lots of inclines, which with the lack of oxygen (due to altitude) makes it a struggle at times, but it was very rewarding.

There's a museum at the start of the walk, which is the probably the worst we've ever been to! There's some objects inside, but no explanations. Where there it was something along the lines of

this pot was found far away from here......

......etc. Basically, rubbish. There are some Inca ruins on the island too, including a labyrinth, which mostly seem to be 'restored'.

The only other 'annoyance' was having to pay three different entry fees, as we walked along - one for the north, centre and south of the island. I don't know how 'official' the people collecting the charges were (especially that centre one!), or what they actually do with the money they collect. Very Bolivian!

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Photos

Cathedral
Copacabana

Novel transport
Reed boats - they don't last forever!

Bolivian flag
Arriving back in Copacabana

Coca tea...mmmmm
They make cocaine out of these leaves :-o

Our bus crossing Lake Titicaca
on the way to Copacabana

The passenger crossing
Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Lou in Copacbana
We ordered food here but it wasn't even cooking an hour later so we left!

Sean at the beginning of out 10km hike
Isla del Sol

Footprint of the Sun
and Lou

Looking back at the Footprint of the Sun
Isla del Sol

There's an underwater city down there
Isla del Sol

Isla del Luna
Island of the Moon

Almost at the end of our hike
Isla del Sol

Blessing of the cars
Copacabana

Comments

[Kieran]

Wow!!
Loving your blogs guys! you both look like your having an amazing time! take care x Kieran