Lago Titicaca
Saturday, March 9
After three weeks in Cusco and many beautiful hikes in the Andes, we moved on to the next destination of our trip. Cusco is located in southern Peru, so it made sense to head south and go to Bolivia.
On Friday evening, we got on a comfortable night bus with all our luggage, and 12 hours later we crossed the border into Bolivia. Then we headed to the small village of Copacabana. We wanted to visit that village because it is located next to Lake Titicaca. From Copacabana you can then get on a ferry to visit the lake's islands.
We arrived safely in Copacabana, got a ferry ticket, and half an hour later we were sitting on the "ferry," which was actually more of a small boat. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world, sitting at an altitude of 3,800 meters. The lake is so vast that when you stand on the shore, it feels more like an ocean than a lake. From the Bolivian side, there are two main islands you can visit: the larger of the two is Isla del Sol and the smaller, Isla de la Luna. Since we had found a nicer accommodations on Isla del Sol, we booked a room there.
The boat trip from Copacabana to the island took just under two hours. During the trip, we enjoyed the beautiful blue lake, the surrounding green mountains, and the tranquility that surrounded us on the water. Arriving on the island, we were very surprised by how steep the island was and how steep the climb from the harbor to the guesthouses was. Because there are no roads, no cars, and no other motorized vehicles on the entire island, we had no choice but to climb the many steps to the guesthouse on foot. Usually this wouldn't have been a problem for us, but with heavy luggage and at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters of elevation walking and breathing became really difficult! We quickly decided to accept the offer from the locals and let one of the farmers and his donkey help us carry our heavy luggage to our room. The climb from the harbor to the guesthouse still took about half an hour, and we were so glad when we finally arrived. The owner of the guesthouse, a lovely elderly Bolivian lady, greeted us warmly and showed us to our room. From there, we had the best view ever of Lake Titicaca glistening in the sun.
We spent the rest of our time on the island mainly exploring the island, going for walks, and enjoying the unique view of the island and the lake. Because very few people live on the island and there are no motorized vehicles, there was an incredible sense of peace and quiet, something we hadn't experienced anywhere else in the world. Unfortunately, we were only able to spend a weekend on Isla del Sol — next time we'll definitely stay for longer!
