Lake Titicaca, floating islands and Isla Taquile

We got picked up at 7 the morning - on foot. The road outside the hostel is being renovated which means one big construction site. So we walked with our guide to Plaza de Armas, got in a taxi and headed for the port where we boarded one of maybe 50 passenger ferries waiting for tourists. After a while we left and sailed slowly towards the floating islands.

There are a few thousand people living on floating island communities around Puno so there was busy traffic with all the tourists coming this morning. We stopped at one of the islands, our group only being about 10 people made it quite nice to sit and listen to the island chief telling about island construction, maintenance, culture and everyday life. It also included the possibility to taste the marrow from the straw growing in the lake. And of course also a visit to one of the houses. AND also the option to buy tons of souvenirs.

We left the island and spent at least two hours slow boating towards the island of Taquile. We arrived there in time for lunch and had a short hike to a family place where we were served good food for lunch with the most spectacular scenery of the lake. The stop also included a chance to hear a bit about island life - not being to different from Isla del Sol even though Taquile is much smaller they still have different communities and families.

There was plenty of time to relax and talk to the other guys in the group being from Panama, Argentina, Italy, Mexico and Israel. And hear a bit about how they farmed the island, the meaning of different hats and clothing, roles and responsibilities in the community and within the families.

We left the island the same way we came - by boat, walking down the other side of the hill enjoying the sun reflecting in the lake. From the outside it looks good, but Titicaca is a polluted lake and coming closer to Puno it is visible how the water turns green and ugly. It took what seemed like forever to go back. Our skipper decided on slow boating all the way.

As we approached Puno the mountains were covered in black, dark clouds. Lightning was visible and the wind was picking up. We headed for our cafe from yesterday - kick ass cappuccino waiting for us. When we left an hour later for dinner it was pouring down, the street being filled with water and we hurried to the restaurant we had found on Tripadvisor only to realise that there was a queue. Popular place.

Hurry down the main street, getting the shoes and feet soaked from all the water, find a new place for dinner that had Peruvian food on the menu. No more pizzas and soups. Then try to make it back to the hostel. With the road being a construction site it also meant that there was a nice lake off water preventing us from getting to the front door. New route around the block getting even more soaked. We made it back, wet, tired and ready for a warm bed. Heading for Arequipe tomorrow morning.

Cathedral in Puno

Puno harbour

Leaving Puno

Floating island visit

How the floating islands are constructed

Isla Taquile

Lake Titicaca

Heading back to Puno with dark clouds arriving

Half boat, half bus

First stop, coffee

From Bolivia to Peru - Hello Puno

Today we said goodbye to Boliva and hello to Peru. Months ago when we first started to talk about Bolivia it probably wasn't the top country of the list, it was more a "travel through country" between Chile and Peru. Why - we don't really know. Maybe because we thought we had seen some of the nature Bolivia offers 5 years ago in Argentina and because we would see more of it in Chile before entering Bolivia. Furthermore when we got to Chile we heard a lot about drunken drivers on the guided tours especially in Southern Bolivia, unsafe bus tours because of the crazy bad roads and a lot about people having their things stolen in Bolivia.

What can we say?? We all have to make our own experiences. We loved Bolivia and spent 3 weeks there instead of the initially 2 weeks we thought we would stay.

We spent time in some truly unique nature - i.e when we visited Topoco and his llamas, when we flew from La Paz to Sucre and when we hiked around Sucre. We met nice and helpful people - Malene forgot her walking shoes in a taxi, luckily only in the small village of Rurrenabaque, and she managed to find a nice taxi driver who drove her around town asking all his taxi colleagues about the shoes, and they managed to find them. We enjoyed all the traditional colorful dresses and hats many off the Bolivianos still wear. We discovered that Bolivia is not only chaos and big cities like La Paz but also charming and quiet towns like Sucre. On top of all we spent some amazing days in Rurrenabaque in the Amazonas seeing heaps of animals, fantastic to see there's still a bit of nature and animals left in the world.

When that is said we also were influenced by other peoples experiences and recommendations. We decided not to go with the busses in Southern Bolivia and flew from Chile to Bolivia instead. We also flew from La Paz to Rurrenabaque instead of taking the bus. This gave us some interesting experiences with turbulence and small planes, where we for a short time wished we had taken the bus instead.....but only for a short time.

So saying goodbye to Bolivia this morning is perhaps more of a "see-you-later". We would like to come back an experience more of this beautiful and diverse country. The local bus left after a lot of filling in forms and having the bus driver going back and forth inside the bus asking us for passports and tickets. Then we drove 10 minutes to the Bolivian border stop, had a very angry man stamp our passports, walked 300 metres across the border to the Peruvian side and had a very nice man stamp our passports. And we were in Peru. The landscape, houses, people and everything else completely unchanged. Borders are a curious invention.

The drive to Puno took around 2½ hours from the border but crossing into Peru meant gaining an hour - which makes borders even more weird. At the bus station we bought tickets for our next leg - to Arequipe - having at least 20 different departures to choose from with departures leaving early in the morning to late in the evening. Then we found a tuk-tuk that took us to the town centre. Plaza de Armas always works. We found a cafe and booked a hostel and walked there with our stuff.

Puno has plenty of good cafes and since our hostel had a slightly different outdoor area than we expected - garden vs construction site - we found a place with a courtyard and good food and coffee for lunch. Then we spent part of the afternoon walking around town. We booked a trip for tomorrow to the island of Taquile and a visit to the floating Islands.

For dinner Mikkel had found a great place with vegetarian food - which turned out to close at 6 PM, way too early for our dinner. Instead we walked back through town and had the last table at a local place that served pizzas and soup. The pizzas were great - the tomato soup today was not instant but definitely from a can.

Morning view from our hostel

Lots of paperwork before the bus leaves

Goodbye Bolivia

Hello Peru

Funky light at the bus station in Puno

Peruvian Tuk-Tuk

Killer cappuccino

Not a day without a parade

Day trip to Isla del Sol

Today we went on a full day trip to Isla del Sol. Not one of those package trips - simply show up at the beach and buy tickets for the first boat that would take us there. Pretty easy since they all leave at 8:30 in the morning. We got on the first boat, sat on the roof top seats and waited for the skipper to decide when the boat was "full". Not being the high season Copacabana feels a bit slow also when it comes to day trips to Isla de Sol. The advantage was that it gave us time to shop for food before the boat left. A guy selling sandwiches right next to the boat.

Then we headed out and slowly made our way up the coast enjoying the scenery and the morning sun. In the distance Peru was visible and to the other side the coast of mainland Bolivia with the mountains in the far distance. Very nice for the 1½ hours it took for the boat to make it to the first stop at Isla de Sol. Only a short stop since we were heading to the other end of the island for the start of our hike.

After having bought some extra food for lunch and doing other practical things we set out, the first stop being the ruins of a small village some 30 minutes walk from the docks on the northern tip of the island. We knew the walk, the distances and most importantly when to be at the boat at the other end of the island to make the return back to Copacabana. Originally we considered staying on the island but there would be too many one-night stays that way.

The walk was fairly easy with good foot paths from the beach going up in the hills. There are three different communities on the island and each one charge a small fee for using the trails and it seems that most of the money goes back to maintaining the paths and the surrounding areas. Which is good - we had a great experience walking. Stopping a few times for food or for enjoying the scenery. The sun reflecting in the lake everywhere you look. Impressive. We made it back to the other village on the island with plenty of time to spare so we sat down for a cup of tea.

Our boat back to Copacabana left at four in the afternoon - almost. We just had to wait a bit more. 4 PM Bolivia-time. We only sailed for a short while before stopping at some temple ruins that were accessible from the beach. We just wanted to get back to Copacabana. After the stop at the ruins our skipper decided to slow-boat back to the port going so slow until after 1½ hours he stopped the boat and started to check tickets. We made it back to the hostel, a bit sunburned and had a shower and rested a bit before heading out for some dinner. Trying to find a place with other people turned out to be difficult. Eventually we ended at place that served maxican-ish food. Mikkel had instant-soup for starters and the hottest burito in the world 50% pancake and 50% chopped chili. Sharing the place with two other couples best describes how quiet Copacabana was.

We headed back to the hostel noticing a few extra people looking for places to eat but still very quiet. Last full day in Bolivia this time coming to an end. The bus for Puno - and Peru leaves at 9 tomorrow morning. Got to get the back packs ready, again.

Super charming place for breakfast

Copacabana bay

Tilføj billedtekst

Isla del Sol in the horizon

Always room for juice

Hello world

Ruins

Lunch stop

Pay 2 Bolivianos for llama photo

Temple stop on the way back to Copacabana

Later afternoon arrival in Copacabana