¡Buen viaje!: Lake Titicaca

We arrived in Copacabana Bolivia (after having to get out and push the bus that got stuck in El Alto), found a really great hostel - the restaurant served trout fondu, which was delicious - and next day headed out on a boat to the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). The island is where the Inca believed the sun was born. It was easy to see why - it appeared the lake was continually surrounded by clouds but the waters were always bathed in sun. Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America and is shared by Bolivia (40%) and Peru (60%). It is named by the Inca because it looks like a Puma from nearby mountain peaks. The people who live there are still very traditional and while Copacabana is very touristy it isn´t overwhelming like San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. The people still either speak Quechua or Aymara as their first language, depending on where they live. Our boat left at 8:30 and at 11:30 we began our walk of the small island. It is some 7.5km from top to bottom. On our first day we saw Incan ruins and walked trails that had been improved by tourist dollars, but that had been in use for over 500 years (probably more). Most people go to the island for one day, walking north to south and then taking a boat back to the mainland at 4pm. We decided to camp halfway down on the coast. What a place. This was a ´real´ place, not affected by tourism in the slightest. We politely asked if we could camp on the soccer field - yes, but after the soccer game please - and sat on the beach as motorless boats fished (two boats, drag netting), herders brought their sheep home and donkeys walked around. We saw the sunset over the snowcapped Andes across the lake - beautiful - and then made supper with 7 kids swarming around us. I think it was one of the best nights of the trip. The next day we began our walk south when we bumped into a local man who told us we were going the wrong way. Not only did he point out the right way he walked with us for an hour or so, pointing out to us what the different plants were, talking to us about life on the island (¨muy tranquilo¨ = very calm) and differences between Bolivia and Peru. It´s funny how neighbours never look kindly on eachother - ¨very dangerous in Peru, be careful¨. After giving us some habas beens for our walk and pointing out the way he went off to plow his potato fields. We made it to the southern port, caught a very slow boat pretty quickly and went back to Copacabana. The next day we lazed around and booked our bus to Puno, Peru for the following day.

All the male passengers had to push on the side to help get the bus out.

The same bus on a ´ferry´ on the way to Copacabana - we went with a boat that didn´t inspire much more confidence.

The trip from Copa to the Isla del Sol.

Isla del Sol. Beautiful. Hard to imagine we´re over 10,000ft up.

Mike on top of the island.

Incan ruins on Isla del Sol. Near here is the rock where Inca believed the sun was born.

It looks like the Carribean or the Mediteranean.

Fishing as it must have been done for centuries.

The Andes at sunset.

Two of our dinner ´guests´. They spoke Aymara with eachother and spanish with us. We taught them a little english.

The view south from the island. Off to the left (not in the picture) is the Isla de la Luna (island of the moon).

The next day we took a bus for 8 hours, crossed the Peruvian border - saying goodbye to Bolivia for good (sad to leave) - and made it to the town of Puno. Puno isn´t much to look at and is, from a tourist point of view, only a departure port for the islands of Peruvian Lake Titicaca. After sampling some local Peruvian food (cau cau - tripe, yuk) the next morning we were off on a tour of the Uros Islands, Amantani Island (where we spent the night) and Taquile Island the next day. It is obvious that the tourism industry is more ´advanced´ in Peru than in Bolivia. The Uros Islands are a fine example. These islands are floating, cleverly built with reeds that also make the houses that are found on them. They were originally thought up when the Inca came conquering and the mainland people fled to these islands, where the Inca left them alone. Now, however, they are a tourist trap. Our boat pulled in to be met by singing islanders, which would have been great, but we saw the exact same scene being played out on several other islands. We were given a short, rather tacky, explanation of life on the islands before being given ´free time´ which basically meant we were able to walk around the various goods being offered for sale. After our visit to the islands we motored for another 3 hours to get to Amantani Island where again we were met by islanders. This time it wasn´t nearly as bad and was in fact great. The island has 10 communities who rotate over who get to accept toursits who arrive on a daily basis. We were put up in a house with a young Peruvian couple from Lima. There we ate with the family, were brought to the top of a ceremonial mountain and were considered ´guests of honour´ at a party where we wore traditional clothes and danced traditional dances with about 100 other tourists. Elise and I drank beer with the Peruvians and our host. It was much more organized than in Bolivia, but it was obvious that it was being done the way the islanders want and that it was working - the island was full of toursits and the houses were in much better shape than those we´d seen on the drive from Bolivia the day before. Our host told us that the reality was the islanders culture was dying because young people, his kids included, didn´t want to stay but instead went to the cities - ¨it´s a nice life but doesn´t make sense economically - recent years have been very dry too¨. And again, when talking with the man of the house we saw how neighbours are perceived - ¨you´d be crazy to travel to La Paz in Bolivia¨. Apart from the island being beautiful it was also interesting to talk with the young Peruvian couple. He´s in the navy, she´s a nurse and by all accounts they live a totally western life. What they were seeing was as new to them as it was to us. Next day we went to the nearby island of Taquile where we hiked around, had a nice traditional meal (quinoa soup again!) and then back to Puno. Lake Titicaca is pretty amazing, but I liked the Bolivian experience more.