Once more and most definitely not for the first time it was time to catch a night bus. I had decided to pay a little extra and go with ‘Cruz Del Sur’ a company that had a good reputation and comfortable buses.
We set off at 10pm and arrived in Puno at around 5am. With a 2 hour wait for our connecting bus across the border and on to Copacabana, it was a good time to get some breakfast, some coffee and change some Peruvian money into Bolivian – Bolivianos, which involved remaining confident that the same old lady who cooked our breakfast, would return with our newly converted money.
Catching the second bus from Puno to Copacabana was very straight-forward and the information on what we needed to do, what we needed to fill in as far as documents were concerned was great. This is actually a surprise and quite unusual for a border crossing – to be armed with information and knowledge! We were even taken from place to place; each section we needed to get our passports stamped, before boarding the same bus on the other side of the border and then onward, for a further ten minutes into Copacabana. Very easy, very organised and in a few more moments we were picked up by the hotel we were staying in for a couple of nights; Hotel Utama.
The hotel was a very pleasant offering with a large internal courtyard and the rooms based around the four edges. Like the initial impression of Copacabana, the hotel was bright, but not ghastly in any way and the manager/owner a very welcoming chap who was there to help in any way he could. I was shown to my room where, after a quick siesta, I made my way out to have a look around Copacabana, the town on the edge of the largest lake in South America; Lake Titicaca.
As previously mentioned, the colours of the buildings in Copacabana are quite striking and add a very resonant, uplifting vibe to the place. There are also countless restaurants and cafes offering good food at, well, to be honest; tourist prices. This is one thing that is prevalent in Copacabana – it is most definitely a very popular place for tourists. A big reason why it is such a popular place for tourists is that Copacabana is the launch-pad for visits to Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna; two of the larger islands on Lake Titicaca and that is where we were bound for in the morning after arranging a ticket for the boat over there through the hotel which cost around 75 Bolivianos (around £7.50).
We were up early for our breakfast which was included in the rate for the room and then picked up at 8am to be transferred to the boat and the one and a half hour journey to the Northern side of Isla del Sol. The boat ride, although occasionally cold (take layers, Lake Titicaca is at an altitude of 3,800 meters above sea level) was very pleasant, calm and picturesque as you hug the peninsular of the mainland and then move on to the smaller islands.
As we cleared the land, one thing that did become more noticeable and apparent were the mountains in the background; their snow-covered peaks reflecting the sun and towering above the hills and mainland foreground; stunning and imposing in equal measures.
A little further on and we had reached the Northern side of Isla del Sol where we disembarked and…spent 15 minutes being thoroughly confused. Even with a grasp of Spanish, it was unclear what we were meant to do and where we were meant to go. After some asking around, it turned out that if you wanted to complete the mountain walk and go from the North of the island, to the South and pick up the return boat, you first had to visit the museum and buy your ticket which would then permit you access to the northern part of the island.
Eventually, we found the museum and the ticket office, paid our 15 bolivianos each (about £1.50) and we were off. The walk takes you first through a beach, a very picturesque beach that if the wind were at bay would be a lovely place to stay for a sunbathe, but there most certainly is a chill in the breeze on the island. One interesting and not-seen-before addition to the white sands were pigs! There were several pigs rummaging in the sand and to be totally honest, it was a welcome change from the dogs.
This was also our first look at the primary income for most of the people on the island; farming, as we passed huge hills that had been stepped in terraces on which the people could farm a variety of crops. Plodding on and the next place we came to was a small village and a school where the children were enjoying a game of football – I still wonder how anyone can run and continue the theme of running at such altitude.
The track began to wind skywards now, increasing in altitude as we rounded a corner and were rewarded with a view of a stunning, turquoise water bay; slightly unexpected and a lovely juxtaposition with the rocky, harsh environment that lay ahead.
Walking a bit further we witnessed our first evidence of ‘Incan’ ruins as a small village appeared on the horizon, along with a sacrificial table and a rather high peak that we thought we should probably climb/clamber/walk while we were here. The effort was well rewarded with stunning views of the island and to look back at the Incan village from this height gave you a better impression of its structure, layout and the manpower that must have been involved to build it.
After descending the rather large hill and asking a guide to point us in the right direction we were off once more, trekking across the mountain tops (again, large hills really) and admiring the landscape. It was actually pretty hard going with the altitude and the constant present of everyone’s favourite terrain; ‘uphill’. About three hours later we had reached the Southern port of the island where we had time to sit down for a bite to eat before getting the boat back to Copacabana.
It was a long day and actually harder going than first assumed but well worth it for the views, the exercise, the views and the culture. A bite to eat in the evening and a well-deserved rest that night as we would be catching the bus to La Paz the following day at 1pm.
With time this morning to enjoy a bit of sunshine, grab a bite to eat and have one last little look round Copacabana, particularly the Cathedral there which was set in a classic Latin American plaza and was actually a rather pleasant walk round! At 1pm our bus would be leaving on the three-hour journey to La Paz.
