Day 29 - Copacabana (Isle Del Sold), Lake Titicaca, Bolivia - 16 April 2012
We got up early this morning so we would be at the lake front at 8am for our boat trip to Isle Del Sol (Island of the Sun). We had breakfast with the Swiss who said they had to be at the lake at 8.15am as they were on a boat trip to the Island aswell. Must be a different company with different time structures. Anyway we head on down to the lake, and we wait until our 830am departure. Sure enough the Swiss arrive at 815 and are on the same boat. Turns out we were either told a different meeting time or we didnt understand what the tour operator was saying to us, could have been either really.
We hop on the boat and it is like cattle class on there, the boat is chocka block with people, the operators are certainly getting there moneys worth here! We chug along the lake at a dismal speed. We can see the Island in the distance and it is about the distance between Moana and Bains Bay, at a stretch. It would have taken Federal Offence about 15 minutes maximum to get to Isle Del Sol, well it took us and hour and 45 minutes. It was painfully slow, so painful that my large intake of water which has been occuring recently because of my condition (and high altitude) took its toll. With no toilets on board I was forced to make an emergency decision, I had to go off the back of the boat, with well over 50 people on board. It was quite funny, some people thought it was hilarious and took photos of me doing it (I only know this because they showed me the photo on their camera when I sat down). However some women did not find it so funny. The traditional Bolivian women who were sitting towards the back of the boat turned their heads away in disgust as I started to pee. I didnt care, when you gotta go you gotta go.
We arrived at the Island mid morning and it was a very nice Island. At first I was wondering why it was call Isle Del Sol, but then it cleared up and it was very nice. We went for a walking tour to some Inca ruins which are located on the Island. During this tour we had spectacular views of the lake. We then went back to the boat which took us to another part of the Island, here we had only an hour to do our thing so there wasnt enough time to go and explore. It looked pretty similar to the other part of the Island, and the Inca ruins would be nothing in comparison to what we will see on the Inca Trail and Machu Pichu next week, so we wernt too disappointed. Still would have been nice to have had the time to explore. We then jump back on the boat to begin our agonisingly slow trip back to Copacabana. This trip wasnt as bad for me personally as I didnt have the same issue as I did on the way over.
When we returned to Copacabana we booked our bus tickets to Puno, Pero for 9am the following morning (Bs30 each, NZ$6). We also did some souvenir shopping (including the customary postcard) and then went out for dinner to round off the day.
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