COPACABANA, BOLIVIA
- Altitude: 3840 m
- Temperature: 12ºC
- Distance by boat: 12 nm
- Distance hiking: 7,4 km
- Ascent during hike: 312 m
- Water temperature: +/-3ºC
A natural continuation to our trip was to hop on a minibus from El Alto, and ride to Copacabana, by Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. The drive up was a bit intimidating, as our trufi (minibus) was packed with locals, with hardly any space for our long legs and a driver that should seek a career in rally. Midway the journey, at Tiquina we got off the bus and paid a small fee to take a tiny boat across the strait. Our minibus was boarded to a different boat, a barge type of transport with a small motor. On the other side we met the bus driver and continued the trip over the mountains. We made it in one piece and I had Kai swear the next mountainous trip would be on a proper bus.
Our hotel “La Cupula”, was like a paradise. The house stood on the hills north of the village overlooking the lake. The views were magnificent, but the best thing was their garden where amongst trees, plants and comfortable hammocks, dwelled four cute alpacas. We spent a lot of time in the garden just looking at these beautiful animals. They did not want to be petted, but did come quite close, staring with their weird eyes, chewing and making peeping noises.
One of the must-do’s here is the boat trip to Isla del Sol. We set off early in the morning to catch the 8:30 boat with a few sleepy tourists. After 1,5 hours at a very low speed the boat arrived to the island, letting us disembark on a pier leading to an ancient Inca ruin. Then, we had to walk uphill for quite a while to reach the village. In this altitude walking uphill is exhausting and a break is needed more often than at lower altitudes. We hiked about 7,4 kilometres on the island taking in the views of the lake and mountain ranges behind it. We saw donkeys, mules, lamas, alpacas, sheep, cows, dogs and cats, and a lot of locals working in the fields. The village was very touristy, only hostels and cafes, hence we did not want to stay overnight here, but rather take the afternoon boat back to Copacabana.
The strange thing about this island is that there are no trash bins, which is surprising as one would think they want to keep the island clean and free of garbage. Kai ended up carrying banana peels for about 3 km, before we found a way to get rid of it. We saw a lot of trash on the ground on the hiking paths, and wondered what is the point..?
We could only see the southern part of the island as the northern part was closed due to a dispute between south and north villagers. We never learnt exactly why that was, but suspect it has to do with the amount of tourists: north does not want them and south does want them. Tourists bring revenue, but also problems, like littering, noise and deterioration of the ancient ruins.
One morning Kai defied all sensibility and dipped into the freezing lake. We had asked the locals what the water temperature was and the answer is during winter (now) it’s between 1 and 5C. He got an audience doing it. I think locals and tourists alike were impressed by this act. He also hiked up the hill Cerro Calvario on the backyard of our hotel. Amongst sports enthusiasts on Strava, there is a segment called “what happened to my lungs” and this Cerro was mentioned there. Kai can confirm that there is a reason it is called that.
After two nights in paradise (the room had a good hot shower, heater, hot water bottles and wonderful duvets) we boarded a big tourist bus to Puno on the Peruvian side, and from there a local bus to Juliaca. Most tourists choose to stay in Puno, as there is another tourist attraction on this side of Titicaca, the floating islands of Uros. We opted out, as I had already seen it before, and Kai was not that interested. Staying one night in Juliaca was definitely a more local experience, as here tourists are rarely seen. Walking down the street markets we were definitely a sight, constantly getting eyes, shouts and giggles. Our hostel room, cheap as it was, turned out to be a nightmare. We could not get in. First we waited an hour and a half for them to come and check us in, and later when we came back from a walk around the (not very interesting) town again the door was closed and after about 10 phone calls and messages they finally came to let us in. Not a very good experience (avoid hostel Zumaki if you’re ever in Juliaca!).
On Thursday morning we continued to Cusco. It took some detective work to find out what time and from where the buses leave, but we finally found one. Having some extra time before departure we chatted with a local lady selling drinks and snacks, and knitting a sweater. She was very impressed when I pulled out my own knit work and showed my alpaca yarn and socks made for a child. We drank probably the best hot chocolate I've had in a while, as well as fresh orange juice and avocado sandwiches - all for a few euro cents per item.
These kinds of experiences are what we are after during this trip. Not everything has to be a tourist activity - as it seems to be for so many traveling these hoods. For us it is enough to walk around town and speak to locals, or stay at an Airbnb. You get a much more authentic image of a country that way than just concentrating on tourist attractions, air-conditioned buses and backpacker hostels.
One very touristy chapter of our journey begins now: Peru. We cannot wait to get to Cusco and our Jungle adventure 4-day trip to Machu Picchu! That will include rafting, zip-lining and lots of cycling and hiking. Yikes!