Lago Titicaca is the largest lake in South America. It sits at 3812ms on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It has two basins separated by the narrow straits of Tiquina where all people and vehicles need to cross by ferry. It was supposed to be a days ride from La Paz to the lake-side city of Copacabana but I forgot to check my map and left La Paz a little too late to make it there before sunset. Cyclists heading South have the benefit of a nice tail-wind and they also don't have to spend an hour and a half climbing out of La Paz. I had to cycle the motorway route to do this as the old road is too steep in sections to drag a loaded bike up. The motorway was longer but was an awful lot less stressful as I could just sit in the hard shoulder and spin my way out of the pit that is La Paz. Thus, I ended up riding until I could literally ride no further. I ran out of both sunlight and road at the ferry crossing for the straits of Tiquina. I had passed a really serene camping spot which sat high above the lake overlooking the snow-peaks of the Cordillera Real but I needed food and so I went to town not expecting to struggle with accommodation. I could only find a half-built alojamiento where I would sleep on a mattress of two stuffed bags but the next day I would be in Copacabana, which is gringo central by all accounts, so I was able to suck it up for one night.
The city of Copacabana is nicely situated on a beach between two hillsides. However, the beach is not where people tend to hang-out. People are generally hiding in the sun-traps of the gringo cafe terraces. The vibe is pretty relaxing as there is not much to do except eat and chill-out. I hiked up one of the hillsides, Calvary, to take in the sunset. The sun would end up setting behind a cloud and so it wasn't too dramatic but the changing light allowed me to have some fun with the camera. The following day I planned on heading to the largest island on the lake, Isla del Sol. This is where the first son and daughter of the Incas were born and so is a sacred place. I wanted to take a boat out to the north beach to catch the sunset. I could hike from there the following morning to the south shore to catch a boat back to the mainland but it turned out that the afternoon boats out only go to the south shore. This would mean I would have to trek the island both ways. Hiking the hilly and rocky island was not the problem, the issue was that I wanted to catch the sunset and to do this I would have to hike pretty quick to see it from the look-out. I met Jason from La Jolla on the boat who was also looking to head to the north beach and so we ended up hiking together. I had ruled out catching the sunset as I'm the slowest walker in the world but we managed to catch it and had some good chats along the way. The sun island disappointed in terms of the sunset but things started to become random and fun. We had to hike down from the hill-side in the dark not expecting the ground to be so difficult. Close to the bottom we eventually found a path and made our way to the small town of Challapampa under the cover of darkness. Due to a power-cut there was no street-lighting and it was only the candlelight of some diners in the window of a shack that gave us some indication as to where me might be able to find food and a bed. Inside Tarek, Fiona and John were having dinner. What started as a solo trip had now become a five man crew.
It's always nice having company on these trips as it's as much fun talking to other travellers in English as it is struggling to communicate with the locals in gringo Spanish. The locals on the islands were a bunch of jokers however. In all my travels I have not once been asked to pay a local tax to see something. Of course, there might be an entrance fee to sites but not a 'tax'. The locals had basically decided to charge taxes to tourists to travel across the island but then made a farce of it by having six different taxes. Basically, they were having a laugh and trying to coin it from the tourist. The overall amount of money was not large, but to have to meet these guys every 5 metres was annoying. No tourist would mind paying an official entry fee but to pay an unofficial entry fee six times is a nuisance. The islanders had made a joke of the whole thing and while they protested that it was a municipal tax from Copacabana that obviously wasn't the case. The issue I had was while the island is traditionally farmed and still is, such hocus pocus rotates people from the land to the tourist trade due to the lure of money. Do you want to be the guy who is toiling on the land from sunrise to sunset (literally) or do you want to be the guy on the hill sitting in the sunshine all day listening to the radio and coining it from tourists? If there is a tax of 10Bs and fifty tourists come through seven days a week then you are a mint in a place where lunch in a restaurant might cost you 10Bs. There were two older guys who I couldn't tell where to go because they were physically placed under an arch and so I couldn't pass without throwing punches but everyone else I had words with and refused to pay. It was all a little comical and all part of the Isla del Sol experience.
It had been a nice couple of days in a very relaxed part of Bolivia. For certain it was nice to see water again having not seen it since the beaches of Rio. As I live in Dublin near the coast it is always strange not to see water for so long. It is only when you travel that these things come to light. It seems that we are biologically programmed to have a strong connection with the landscape that watches over us as we grow up. The lake itself would just be another side to Bolivia. If it had any more sides it would be a cut diamond.
Just an 8k hop to cross the border into Peru.
Take it handy
Marco
ps - photos are up in the gallery. It was a nice couple of days with the camera. I'm not carrying a tripod so it's always difficult to shoot in low-light. All I can do is hold my breath, hence some blurriness etc.