The Wandering Chocoholic

Copacabana, Bolivia

Hi again from Copacabana. I spent the day island hopping on Lake Titicaca today, visiting ancient Incan ruins, lounging on a boat, and climbing lots (and lots) of steps.

More breakfasts with views

When I look back on this trip, I suspect that one of the things I’ll remember the most is all the breakfasts I’ve had with breathtaking views. I woke up with a splitting headache, and reluctantly crawled out from under my warm blankets into the freezing air. It gets really cold here at night, and none of the buildings are heated, so mornings are tough. But, hey, when you get to have breakfast while watching the sun come up over Lake Titicaca, it doesn’t seem so bad.

I had some eggs, bread, jam, and the coca leaf tea that has pretty much replaced my morning coffee at this altitude. A girl from Brazil was also going to the islands this morning, so after breakfast we shared a taxi and headed to the port.

A boat on the lake

The all-day boat trip to Isla del Sol is a tourist staple here. A number of boats from different companies all depart at the same time and travel the identical route, dropping backpackers off for a day of exploring the islands. I lined up at the port with all the other tourists, and we boarded our boat and set off.

The boat had rows of comfy seats on the lower deck, and a few benches on the top deck. We waited for the boat to fill up, and then a bunch of local people boarded, too, which was great and made me feel slightly less weird about the whole thing. I’d taken some motion tablets before getting on the boat, just in case. As it turns out, I felt fine, except that the tablets made me groggy and tired, so I slept for most of the first leg of the ride — about an hour and a half to Isla del Sol.

We docked at Yumani, on the south side of Isla del Sol, briefly, but only the locals disembarked. We tourists were being taken straight onto Isla de la Luna first. See, normally, the boat would go to both the north and south sides of Isla del Sol, and would skip Isla de la Luna altogether. But, due to some sort of conflict happening between the communities on the north and south sides of Isla del Sol, the north is off limits to tourists at the moment. I wasn’t quite clear on the details, but it seems they’re fighting about tourism revenue and how it’s shared between the communities.

For the half-hour ride between the Sun and Moon islands, I went topside and enjoyed the lake breeze, while chatting with some British and Kiwi travellers. Finally, around 11am, we docked at the much smaller Isla de la Luna.

Island of the Moon

We disembarked and started the steep climb up from the port to the island, stopping to pay the admission fee to the women collecting 10 Bolivianos from each tourist. Isla de la Luna is tiny — its population is maybe 100 people, tops. There are no roads, no motor vehicles, no electricity or running water, and only a small simple farming community on the island. The admission fees help sustain the community.

The main thing to see on Isla de la Luna is the ruins of the Temple of the Virgins, an Incan-era temple in quite good condition. It’s no Machu Picchu by any means, but it was still cool to see — especially since, most of the time, tourists don’t make it to this island at all.

After checking out the temple, I also made the steep hike up the Incan steps to the top of the island to check out the 360-degree panoramic views. Climbing stairs at 4000m of altitude is not much fun, but the view was worth it.

Island of the Sun

An hour or so later, we headed back down to the port, got back on the boat, and chugged across the lake back to Isla del Sol. This time, we did disembark, and were given a couple of hours to explore.

The Sun Island is the main one on Lake Titicaca, and is steeped in local legend and history. In Incan times, the island was revered as being the home to the god Inti, and the birthplace of the original Incan ancestors. Today, the island is home to about 800 families who still live a very traditional lifestyle in small villages around the island. It also has an abundance of ruins. It, like Isla de la Luna, has no roads and no motor vehicles, though donkeys are everywhere and appear to be the main mode of transport. That also means you really have to watch where you step.

From the port up to the village of Yumani, there are over 200 steps straight up to get to the main village. Yeah, those were about as much fun as they sounded, especially at altitude. I stumbled up them as best as I could, but the altitude is humbling and I found myself pausing to take a breath every few steps or so. Since pretty much everyone else was doing the same, I didn’t feel so bad.

On the boat, I’d met a Swiss guy named Gavin who — it turns out — is going to be on my tour that starts in La Paz on Thursday, as well as a German girl who is on my bus tomorrow, and — believe it or not, a fellow Montrealer named Michelle who lives in the Plateau only a few streets from me. Yes, it’s a really small world sometimes. Anyway, the four of us set off in search of some lunch. Yumani has a number of tiny, family-owned restaurant/pizzeria places. Oddly, when we inquired at a few of them, we were told that they were closed. I mean, the boats only show up twice a day, and it was lunchtime. Seems like a logical time to close, no?

Anyway, we ultimately found one small house with a very friendly owner who kept trying to greet us in our respective languages. Lunch was very simple — just some sandwiches with not much to them — and took ages, since they had to cook everything from scratch. There’s no running water on the island, so they brought a basin for us to wash our hands, and all the toilets require a bucket to flush. There is, however, WiFi (albeit very limited), because no place can truly escape modernity. As we left, the owner introduced us to her kids and her mother, and wished us a pleasant journey.

(Side note: They were listening to music in the main part of the house, and the song playing was the Hebrew prayer Shalom Aleichem. The family was clearly Christian of some sort, with crosses and Jesus references on the walls, so I couldn’t figure that one out. Anyone have any ideas? Maybe someone gave them the tape?)

After lunch, we realized we had taken so long that we only had about twenty minutes left to explore the island. Oops. Michelle was staying on the island overnight, so she set off to find a hostel or guesthouse. Gavin, the German girl (whose name escapes me now) and I headed back down the million stairs, stopping to take a few photos and to find a much-needed bano. Then, we had to get back on the boat to head back. So, not much of the island explored, then. But hey, at least we got to see some cool views. And a lot of donkeys.

On the way back, we docked for ten minutes at the Temple of Pilcocaina, another cool Incan ruin on the south side of the island. So I did get to see some ruins on Isla del Sol after all, albeit only briefly.

Return to Copacabana

I stayed topside on the boat for the return journey to Copacabana, chatting again with the Brits and Kiwis who seemed to be the only other people on the boat who liked fresh air. The clouds had rolled in while we were on Isla del Sol (yes, I recognize the irony) but the skies cleared up a bit and the sun came back out as we approached Copacabana harbour.

We pulled in around 5 and disembarked. It was a lovely day spent on the lake. I decided to stop in at the restaurant across from the port for a drink overlooking the water to watch the sunset. The view never gets old.

Before heading back up to my hotel, I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner. In Copacabana, that meant going to the restaurant where meals cost $10 instead of $4 or $5. It was totally worth it; my coconut curry was delicious, the owner was really friendly, I ate and chatted with a Dutch backpacker who I met there, and best of all, the restaurant had an indoor heater. Totally luxurious.

Then, I caught a taxi back to the hotel and spent a quiet evening watching Bridget Jones and snacking on local cookies. Because, hey, I’m on vacation.