I spent a night in Copcabana, a small town on the southern shore. I hiked up the little hill in town Nino Calvario for the sunset. It absolutely kicked my butt! I could not believe it. Here I had summited a 6,088m mountain 2 weeks prior and I barely could summit a 3,000 hill in town without huffing and puffing the entire way up. It was hilarious. I learned, a week in the jungle does not help with altitude. But as soon as I had summited, I felt instantly better. Plus Nino Calvario had some great rock formations.
They had these boats on the water near the "beach" and were similar to our paddle boats but much bigger.
The next day, I took a 2 hour boat ride over to Isla del Sol. We had a great, clear and sunny day. I decided to spend my last 2 days in Bolivia backpacking and camping on Isla del Sol. I am sooo glad I did. It was incredibly peaceful and beautiful. There are no motorized vehicles or paved roads on the island. People have to travel by foot. It takes about 3 - 4 hours to get from the south to the north and probably even shorter if one had their mind set on getting from one place to the other. There are two pathways, one closer to the coast and the other right down the middle of the island. There are 3 towns on the island and have about 6,000 inhabitants.
Isla del Sol is believed to be the birthplace of the sun and the moon in the Incan and Tiahuanaco cultures. There were sites of ruins from both cultures.
I was so pysched to camp on Isla del Sol because I made another landmark - camping in 5 out of the 6 countries I visited. Well it was beautiful but quite cold at night - Lake Titicaca is at an elevation of 3820 meters. I went to bed early, woke up to use the bathroom and saw the moon rise. It was beautiful - an orange half globe - at about 1 am. But about 4 am, it started to rain a bit. It stopped for a brief time and then really started up again around 6 am. I tried to wait out the rainstorm in the tent but got tired of waiting. I packed everything up and started hiking. Luckily as I started walking, I saw the storm was clearing. So instead of walking into the rain, I waited where I was, dried out my things and then continued walking when the sun was out and all my things were dry. I was so much more grateful for having spent two days on the island because the Cordillera never came out from behind the clouds during my last day.
I am sad to leave Bolivia and say goodbye for now. It is an incredible country with sooo much diversity - in culture, people, languages and the natural landscape. I want to thank the following people for making it such an incredible adventure: David (otra vez), Martine and Phillipe (otra vez), Tanya, Sophie, Clem and Johnny, Audrey and Hylton, Lyndsay (otra vez), Danielle (otra vez), Shannon (otra vez), Justin, Matt, Katherine, Amy, Julie, Roberto, Karin and Yusof, Karen and Gert, Barbara, Yashira and all the folks at Fenix.
On our way to Cuzco, Peru, Karin, Yusof and I stopped in Puno and visited the Islas Flotantes. Quite a different way to live. The Uros, a native culture of Peru, wanted a more peaceful existence separate from the aggressive Collas and Incas. So they created islands on Lake Titicaca made completely of the native Totora reeds. They start with bricks of earth and then layer the reeds in crisscross fashion on top. They continually to add more layers as the old ones become soft. It was really interesting walking on a spongy ground.
Dress up hour with my host Ruth. I went into one of the houses on the island to check out the bed which is also made of the reeds with blankets on top - it actually was quite comfortable. Well my 9 year old friend Ruth, decided that she wanted to dress me up. After the third try, I decided to amuse her, which in turn amused my friends and all the other people on the tour. Dressing up the gringa once again!
Our first course of our lunch:
Ummm, what was for lunch? Baby alligator?
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