• Bron PlaskowskiTravelerIt Started As A 2 Week Cruise
    Looking at the jetties, the water level looks like it does vary over the year.
    The open barges that vehicles are loaded into for the crossing.Surprising how much the barges can move.We on the other hand took a small boat.Our bus arriving about 10 mins after we did.There are so many people selling all sorts of things on the roadside.The Virgen of Copacabana.In the grounds of the church.Some unusual accommodation.They've squeezed a few in there.A little wobbly looking, but they do the job.They said, after lunch at 12:30 to meet at the white anchor, we thought it was a pub!The guide said this bird was a Gaviota, after several miutes I translated it to a........ Seagull.Interesting ponytails.The trail just before it starts to descend.The harbour we had to descend to at the end of our hike.This must be called Two Tree Island.

    Lake Titicaca

    February 5 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Before leaving for our trip today we asked the hotel if they could book us a taxi for early Friday morning. They said if we had Bolivians we could pay the driver directly and it would be 100bs. If we wanted to pay in US dollars it would be 25 dollars, which is 175bs. Just goes to show if you make some effort to exchange money how much cheaper things are. In fact it dawned on me this morning we should not be using our credit cards in Bolivia as the bank exchange rate would be based on around 7 Bolivians to the dollar and for cash we can get 11 Bolivians. No brainer, cash is king!

    Today's excursion, 6:20am pick-up, was to Lake Titicaca, with a stop for lunch in Copacabana and an hour's boat ride on the lake to Isla Del Sol. A couple of hours in we arrived at the Strait of Tiquina a narrow point at the southern end of the lake. We had to get off the bus and board a small boat while the bus boarded an open barge that looked as though it was powered by a couple of outboard motors. Watching the bus go across I was really glad we weren't on it.

    It was then onto Copacabana, no show girls, where we had lunch and had time to look around the small town. The main industry does seem to be tourism, with maybe with a bit fishing on the side. Part of the Peruvian and Bolivian border goes through the lake which makes Copacabana a hub for people travelling by bus between the two countries.

    After lunch we took the boat to Isla Del Sol. Opposite Sun Island was Moon Island, so named by the Incas who had settlements here. Men lived on Sun Island and women on Moon Island. If they married they would both have to move away. There was mention of a hike on the island, visiting the Inca temple. However, no mention we'd have to hike up for 15 minutes and back down another 15 minutes further along the coast. With a bit of huffing and puffing we got there, we must be creating new red blood cells by the thousand.

    On the 2.5 hour bus journey back to LA Paz they put a film on and gave everyone a bag of popcorn. That was a really nice touch.    Read more