Isla Del Sol, Bolivia

I’d read really nice things about the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. The largest island is called Isla del Sol and is the birthplace of the Incan sun god Inti. It’s supposed to have amazing views and sunsets as well as a great network of hiking paths. Since my flight was scheduled to go back to Lima on the 19th from Puno, I had just the right amount of time to make the trip to Copacabana in Bolivia and spend one night on the island. And besides, my new passport needs some more stamps, other than just crossing back and forth from the States a bunch of times. On Saturday morning, the day after visiting Los Uros and Taquile, Tim and I caught the bus at 7:30 am to make the trip East. Tim was heading straight to La Paz, Bolivia, but it was the same bus.

Crossing borders over land is always interesting. Go into this building, get a stamp, walk 100 metres, get another stamp, sometimes even a third, then get back on the bus. Much like moving cattle.

Stamp 1: Exiting Peru

Stamp 2: Entering Bolivia

And a pit stop in between, if needed

Shortly after crossing the border, we arrived in Copacabana- the gateway to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. I sorted out my return ticket to Puno, grabbed a bite to eat and then had to head straight to the dock to catch the last boat over to Isla del Sol at 1:30 pm. There were about 3 boats all leaving at that time and it turns out that I picked the right one. Once we got out of the bay, the driver put down a second 40 hp motor and we “sped” ahead of the other boats. It still took well over an hour to arrive to the island, and I really had no idea what was waiting for me: a LOT of stairs heading up to Yumani, the main village on the south side of the island. A lot of stairs, high altitude, huge backpack, yeah- fun. It didn’t help that there were all of these little, well-acclimatized boys nipping at my heels asking to carry my bag and show me to a hostel.

Is there an escalator somewhere...?

These were really the only few days of my trip that I had to figure out on the fly since before I was making trips from Lima and then everything was organized in Cusco. I didn’t have a guidebook so I took a few pictures of pages in Tim’s guidebook, but I still didn’t really have any concept of the size of this village or what to expect in terms of hostels. If I climb higher, do I get a better hostel, a better view? I passed one nice looking place, walked another 5 minutes and then just turned around and went back to it. Eighty bolivianos for the night, a private room, private bathroom. The conversion rate is about 6 or 7 bolivianos to $1 USD. Twelve dollars, I’ll take it. Yes, there were other rooms that cost about $3, but my budget isn’t that tight. I’ll leave those for the travellers who stretching out their funds for another 3 months and take my quiet room.

Despite sleeping well the night before I was still pretty sleepy. I took a short nap (in my nice quiet room) and then set out to climb the rest of the way up the island. Turns out I was on the east side of the island and had to climb to the top to catch the sunset. The hillside was already dotted with other people and I found a nice quiet spot for myself to sit and enjoy. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy and the colours were somewhat dulled, but you still got a wonderful sense of being alive from being there, watching the orange and purple sky turn to dark. I grabbed some dinner (more trout) before retiring to my room for the evening.


The next morning I woke up at 8:30 am, which I think is the biggest sleep in I’ve experienced the whole time I’ve been in Peru. No taxi horns here, no one announcing that they’re selling things outside your window and definitely no car noise. Unfortunately, it was raining and I wasn’t able to set out walking until about 10 am, after catching breakfast downstairs.

The island was much quieter now than yesterday when the boats had dropped off about 150 people all at once. The majority of people had got back onto the boat to go back to Copacabana that night, or had continued onto the North end of the island. Who knows where everyone else was, but I only met local people on the paths for the next 4 hours that I spent walking around and sitting and enjoying the sites. There was a pretty amazing network of sometimes stone, sometimes dirt paths all over the island. Most had been well worn by local people moving their small herds of sheep, pigs or cows (or any combination of those animals!) or transporting things by mule. In the more populated areas, kids played on the paths or in the fields. I chatted with two small children named Karem and Arthuro for a while who were playing with their 6 month old llama named Domingo. The llama was about the same size as they were and it was almost like their pet dog as they rolled around in the grass with it. When you come across kids on the roads here they have only a few things to say to you, unless you ask otherwise: one is if you have caramelos (candies) and the other is if you want to take a picture of them (after which they expect a tip). I was trying to wrap my head around the concept that when these poor children see white people they only expect candy or money. And if you refuse, they quickly carry onto the next person. A few are more curious and ask where you’re from. I wonder if they have any idea where Canada is on a map- have they even ever seen a map…? It would be pretty facsinating to stay on one of these little islands for a while and get a better idea of what their lives are really like.

Two children watching over their mule

Here are some other views around the island:

The llamas also get to enjoy the views

Potato fields

Tending the animals on the countryside

Stunning

Nuzzling mules

Return to Copacabana

After a wonderfully relaxing day wandering the island, I hopped the boat back to the mainland and Copacabana to spend the night there. I was pretty surprised to find that many of the hostels near the water were full. There was one a little higher up, but still overlooking the bay that turned out to be a good deal and very comfortable, so I settled on that for the night.

Leaving and looking back at La Isla del Sol


The Copacabana harbour

The view from my Copacabana hostel, La Cupula

Finally Getting to Puno: Lake Titicaca

So before I mentioned the troubles I had in getting to Puno the first time (see this post), which involved a road closure and returning to Cusco. A Kiwi guy named Tim and I ended up teaming together and figuring the next bus we could possible take was overnight to Puno. We visited one bus company and the boy told us that the bus would leave at 11 pm and arrive in Puno about 5:30 am. I got his phone number so that we could call before coming out to the bus station and be sure the highway was open again and the bus was leaving. That’s the day I spent bumming around Cusco visiting a few museums. Tim and I went for dinner and then back to the hostel we had stashed our bags at for the day to call the bus company. I called about 10:15 pm and asked if the bus was still going to leave at 11 pm. “Yes, the bus is leaving at 10:30 pm” is the answer I get. What? I clearly had it written down on this piece of paper that it was leaving at 11 pm, but now the guy insisted that it was leaving at 10:30 pm. “Are you coming to the station?” he asks. “Well, we’re going to try!”

We threw our backpacks into a taxi and sped off to the bus station. I left Tim to carry in the backpacks and pay the cab when we arrived and I dashed into the station. Tim’s Spanish is pretty minimal, so it was best I run ahead. Sure enough the bus was getting ready to leave and unfortunately it was also full. I guess everyone else had gotten the right information. The girls at the counter were speaking quickly between eachother and then made a suggestion to me that we could take a taxi somewhere to catch another bus. I wasn’t sure if I was understanding. Either we were catching up with a bus that had left the station earlier or we were going to a different station to catch a bus that was also leaving soon. They were speaking really quickly and were on and off the phone with whom I assume was the driver of the other bus. There were definitely two empty “cama” (bed) seats available on that bus. Tim comes hobbling in under the weight of both of our huge backpacks as I’m paying for our tickets and then we are rushed out the door to another taxi to take us to another bus. We’re still not entirely sure what’s going on but the girl told the taxi driver where to go, so we were in his hands. Of course he then chooses this time to announce he’s going to be charging us way too much for the ride, to which we protest but have to agree as we don’t have any other choice. I insist that he at least goes quickly. And quickly he does. One of those situations where you think about “it’s a good thing Mom can’t see this happening right now”. The driver erratically drove down the road and about 10 minutes later announces “San Luis!” as we pass a (our) bus. Sure enough, it had left the station about 30 minutes earlier and we had caught up to it! The taxi driver passed the bus and then dropped us off at a random bus stop about 5 minutes ahead. We were now in the San Jeronimo neighbourhood of Cusco, not a lot of tourists here! We waited for what seemed like too long, but finally the bus showed up. We flagged it down and got on. Talk about adrenaline rush! I wasn’t really sure what was happening there, but somehow it worked out. It took me a while to calm down and fall asleep… although Tim managed to do so right away.


Exploring Lake Titicaca

When we got of the bus there were people ready to maul us and convince us to go on their Lake Titicaca tour that day. One thing about tourism in Peru is that the companies are quite aggressive. A representative is always right there when you get off the bus/plane to set you up with a place to stay and as many tours as you’re willing to do. It’s somewhat useful, but if you have no idea of what to expect or look for you also don’t know if you’re getting ripped off. I had looked into the day tours of Lake Titicaca a little before leaving so I knew that they could cost $15 to $30, depending on whether lunch was included, etc. Sure enough, one man latched onto Tim and I and even went so far as to ride in the taxi with us to the hostel. The package he was offering included a visit to Uros Floating Islands and then to a natural island called Taquile, pick up and drop off at the hostel and a bilingual guide for the trip. All of that for 35 soles (3 soles ~ $1 USD, so about $12 USD). There would be a stop for lunch, but that would be paid separately. I thought it was a pretty good deal. Tim was hesitant. He’s traveled to a lot of different countries and is a little more wary about being ripped off. It seems like you have to worry a little less about that sort of thing in Peru (like the guy isn’t going to just take our money and run) and so I figured we should take the deal. Money exchange, paper signing and Luis was off to find his next victim. All this and it was still only 5:45 am. We had time for about an hour of restless sleep in the hostel living room until our pick up time.

Los Uros

Our boat left the Puno harbour at about 7:30 am and headed straight for Los Uros, the Floating Islands. There were about 25 people on our boat, mostly older, but a few groups about my age. The boat was slow, but it was nice to take in the scenery of the island. Lake Titicaca is the “highest navigable island in the world” (although I’ve read there may be higher ones in Bolivia and Ecuador). I’m still not entirely sure what they mean by navigable (what lake is unnavigable?) so if you do, let me know. The altitude of Lake Titicaca is 3,810 m and covers an area of 8,550 square km. The deepest point is 283 m. Sixty percent of the lake is in Peru, while 40% of the lake falls within the Bolivian border.

The Floating Islands are a network of about 40 islands and have a population of 2000 people. The islands are actually made up of “totora” reeds and are completely floating! The base is chunks of totora root and then there are layers upon layers of totora reeds on top of the roots to form the island. Every two weeks they have to almost completely rebuild the island because there are parasites in the reeds that break them down. It’s like a constant work in progress. Each island is home to about 10 families and their houses are also made of totora. Their main livelihood is fishing and artisan crafting.

We visited Chumi Island and two men about 6 women and children were there to greet us. The rest of the island’s people were out fishing and/or at school, but these folks had stayed behind today to show us around their place. The president of the island, identifiable by his special toque, gave a short presentation on how the islands are constructed and what life on a floating island was like.

Chumi Floating Island

An intricate tapestry made by one of the women of the island that describes life on the island.
If I had a house, this would definitely be an interesting wall hanging.

Unfortunately, due to the humidity of living on a reed island, many of the older residents suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. The life expectancy for these people was only abot 60 years old and it’s quite likely that they’re unable to walk for the last 5 to 10 years of their life. It was interesting to learn (later on, when we were back in our tour boat) that the population of these islands was diminishing because young adults were moving to the mainland to enjoy a better quality of life. However, another community of islands that does not accept tourism was not experiencing this phenomenon, as the children are not exposed to the outside world in the same way.

We had a chance to wander around and explore their simple but well built living spaces and purchase crafts from the women. The president threw a rope tied to a rock off of the edge of the island and asked us to guess how deep it was (between 5 and 20 metres). I guessed right on at 17 metres deep and won a mini totora boat necklace.

I don’t think she made any of those necklaces,
but she sure was convincing to get people to buy them

There aren’t any electrical lines going out to the islands,
but they do collect solar power to give themselves a few extra hours of light everyday

The view from the lookout tower on the island

Neighbouring Floating Island

After the presentation we went on a ride in one of the big matrimonial boats to the island across the way, where we met back up with our tour boat and headed on our way to Taquile.

This matrimonial boat can hold up to 40 people

Waving goodbye to the people on Chumi Island

Taquile

On this natural (hard land, not made of reeds) island, we did a lot of walking. The first ascent definitely has us huffing and puffing up the stairs, again. Seems like a pretty common theme to this week!

More hiking at high altitudes

This is what the paths look like on the island-

of course there are no roads or motorized vehicles

We stopped at a local house that had a nice layout of picnic tables and tents for us to eat lunch.
Lunch was delicious. We started out with my new favourite Andean soup: quinoa soup. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a grain native to the Andes that I do often eat at home, although had never thought to put in soup. The soup also featured a new-to-me herb called muna that has a fresh minty taste. Next, we got to choose between a tortilla (omelette) or trucha (trout). Tim ordered the trout, so I got the omelette- that way I’d be able to try both! Both dishes were very fresh and tasty. Of course we also had a gorgeous view of the lake, which may have heightened our sesnses a little.

Our lunch table view

Tim and I enjoying our omelette and trout

After lunch we walked up to the main plaza, took a few photos, wandered around, and then headed down the other side of the mountain to the opposite dock, where our tour boat was waiting. The walk along the rock walkways was definitely easier from the top down and we were better able to enjoy the views. What a gorgeous, peaceful spot.

This marker in the main plaza confirmed I was pretty far from home…
6886 km from Montreal and 6302 from NYC

On the island the boys and men knit their own toques and belts.
This little boy is sitting on the steps near the plaza working on a new toque

Heading back down the opposite side of the island to the boat dock

The locals always burn by the tourists on the paths, be it going up or down

On the slow two hour ride back to Puno we enjoyed the sun on the top of the boat and chatted with some Swedish girls who had made their way to Puno via Bolivia. They had done a four day tour of the high altitude salt flats there (another place I definitely want to see at some point) and had some interesting stories. Life is pretty good.