Day 47 - 50: Island Wonders of Lake Titicaca
- Vik Leann
- Mar 21, 2016
- 9 min read
September 29 – October 2, 2015
This lake needs little introduction according to Leann, who remembers it from her geography lessons in high school. Vik however, never heard of it before and didn't know its significance as the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. At 3821m high, the 8300sq km lake (more than 10 times Singapore) is also the border with Peru and hence an obvious destination, though we did hear of some people who prefer to do a one day stopover or even skip it totally. We on the other hand, despite getting delayed by the La Paz demonstrations, were keen to take it slow across the lake.
Day 1
We took off early in the morning at 5am based on insider info from the demonstrators themselves, who mentioned that they would set up the blockades at 6am. We were nervous as the bus was a few minutes off the mark but somehow managed to make it through.
Reminder: we got our tickets from the “Titicaca” bus company that was recommended by a Brazilian couple we met on our Uyuni tour. Lucky for us the office was just diagonally across from our hostel so we didn't need to head down to the bus station to get our tickets. We also got a free lift to the bus station in a taxi paid for by them. We bought all the tickets up to Cuzco from there, similar to the hop-on hop-off bus service.
The journey was now smooth, and filled once again with occasional laughter as our Irish stalkers were on the same bus! They claimed that they started the protests to keep us in La Paz for one more day so as to catch up with us! What bollocks!
In order to save petrol, the bus would cross a part of the lake on a ferry. We had to board a separate ferry meant for people, which was fine with us since the vehicle ferry looked dangerously at risk of sinking. It also gave us some time to stretch our legs and grab a good first view of the enormous lake! When we arrived at Copacabana, we immediately sought out ferry tickets to Isla del Sol before rewarding ourselves with a great breakfast at an Irish cafe called El Condor and the Eagle. Apparently, Mary and the owner Jack had a mutual friend and thus had loads to talk about (discount included!). We also met "Peter Parker", 4 yr old son of Jack and his Bolivian wife, who claims that he could spin webs and climb walls, but mostly just sang "papa finger" the whole time to entertain us. :)
The ferry to Isla del Sol was a pain: over loaded, cramped and the fumes of its engine filled the stuffy interior compartment. A painful 1.5hrs later, we were glad to get off and soon began the breathtaking climb to look for a hotel. We encountered 12 yr old Rodriguez who gave Leann a big hand by carrying her load easily up the steps and spoke really good English for a local. Doing much better than the rest, Vik and Mary pushed ahead with Rodriguez to look at the various hotel options.
View from our room
Before long, we found ourselves an affordable hostel (Wilka Kuti) with a good view high up Isla Del Sol. We tipped Rodriguez for his efforts and after a much needed rest, we climbed up further to look for a famous restaurant with its renowned sunset view. Las Velas is a little hard to find as it stands alone, away from the main path, but is definitely a worthwhile trek. The door was locked when Vik finally found it, giving the impression that it was closed, but he soon found the owner on his way back from grocery shopping and proceeded lead the others to the restaurant. We were not disappointed by the view nor the food. We shared our bottle of Torrontes wine (which we had since Salta) with the Irish girls, and viewed the most magnificent sunset thus far while we waited for the chef to prepare delicious food.
After more laughs and good food, we made our way back with some moonlight and our phones. However the night was not pleasant for Leann who had a serious bout of indigestion (we doubt it's the restaurant because everyone else was really fine).
Day 2
Leann wasn’t the only one feeling unwell though 2 of the irish girls were unwell due to the altitude. With fresh air and great weather beckoning, Vik convinced Leann to take a walk up to the peak to enjoy the glorious view across the enormous Lake Titicaca. The plan initially was to walk the entire length of Isla Del Sol which would take 3 hours one way, and take the boat back somehow but given Leann's condition, we were glad to make it to the highest point on the South Side where the ruins of an old house stood.
On our way down, we bumped into cool Chilean couple Peter (Northern Ireland) and Adri (El Salvador) whom we first met in La Paz during the walking tour. Lunch and tea discussion with them included travel plans and bed bug stories! Leann, now slightly better, was able to make her way down to the pier where we boarded the painful and overcrowded ferry back to Copacabana; this time on the roof with fresher air.
We checked into Hostal Villa Imperial which we booked online. They didn’t speak English, but the room they gave us was pretty good though pretty expensive by Bolivia standards (154BOB). Not wanting to miss out on the possibility of another glorious sunset, we made our way to Cerro Calvario, an imposing hill that overlooked the Copacabana beach and faces the sunset on Titicaca directly. It was a steep 30 minutes climb with numerous stations that each represent a scene of Christ, which eventually culminated to a Catholic Shrine at the top. There was also a mobile kiosk (a Bolivian woman who carried all her stuff up the hill) that offered drinks and beer while you watched the sunset. The view point at the peak has loads of space and Vik the monkey had loads of rock outcrops he could also pose on while Leann feared for his life. We ended our night at dinner with Peter and Adri in La Orilla (a deserving no.3 on Tripadvisor).
Beautiful sunset at Copacabana
Video: Sunset Time Lapse from Copacabana!
Day 3
After visiting the remaining sight in Copacabana, the cathedral, we walked around on our own and met up with our Irish friends who were once again hanging out at El Condor & The Eagle. We concluded that Isla Del Sol is very much worth the extra day and effort to get to since there wasn’t much to do in Copacabana. We then boarded the 1330 bus that brought us across the border to Puno, Peru.
So border crossing here is pretty straightforward. After the Bolivian side (the standard unfriendly staff who tell you to shut up in the queue), you walk a block across the border to the Peruvian side, without the need to carry your backpack off for checks. Both only have 2 counters but at least things are smooth, and it is just a half hour affair. After your passport is stamped, you carry on and there are some small shops that also provide money exchange services. Rates aren’t exactly the shitty type you always get at borders, so we got some Soles to have on hand. Back on the bus to Puno, we were offered some hotels to check out. After a discussion, we agreed to check out the hotel since the location wasn’t too bad and the agent paid for the taxi.
Puno was starkly different from the lake towns in Bolivia. This port town was a lot more packed and built up, with a hypermarket and cinema (Cine planet) right across the street from our hotel. The city resembled smaller Vietnamese and Indonesian cities; rugged, cramped, and bustling with life.
When we arrived at Don Tito Inn, they showed us the room of an existing tenant by mistake (we were appalled by their clear breach of security) so the agent ran up and down the flights of steps to get the keys for another room while signalling his apologies that it was a mistake and that they never did and never will open the rooms of their clients. After some hard bargaining and showing disappointment in his recommendation, we managed to secure lower prices for the room (50soles), discounts for a full day tour of Uros and Taquile islands (60 soles incl lunch), and a free taxi transfer to the bus station (Terminal Terrestre) the following evening. After a good rest, we headed out with the Irish to explore and have dinner near the shopping area of Arequipa st. We then had drinks at Kamikarazy Pub, our first foray into the world famous Peruvian Pisco Sour, and went crazy playing Jenga.
Day 4
The two of us proceeded ahead with the tour while the Irish girls rested. The first part of the tour brought us to the Uros islands, 45mins boat ride away.
These are artificial islands made of Totora reeds that grow in the lake. The reeds are harvested and interweaved to form a thick layer of 2-3m that can float on water. The islands are then anchored to sticks that is driven down into the bottom of the lake to prevent them from floating around on their own. Although the reeds will rot over time, the surface is replenished every 2 weeks or so. In addition to the islands, everything else on it, from the houses, to the boats, to crafts are also made from these reeds, which are also edible. Each of the islands can hold between 2-10 families, and are supposedly self-sufficient, although they do have a village system, and a chief to report to. To be part of the community, they must all contribute in one way or another to the survival of the community. Understandably, fishing and tourism’s their main source of income, and they seem to do a pretty good job with the number of tourists that come in every day. More importantly, they don’t laze around doing nothing. We did have a pretty good time learning about their culture and eating their delicious quinoa bread!
Little girl chewing on the flesh of reed
Leann tried on the traditional costumes of Uro's women which are pretty thick and warm, good for the cold weather here!
Bidding goodbye to the tourists
Taquile’s another of the Peruvian Titicaca islands off Puno, though it doesn’t float. It is one of the few remaining Quechua speaking communities and the Taquilenos are famous for their mastery in handwoven textiles, done mainly by men, and honoured even by UNESCO. In other words, their economy is run similarly to the Uros with the exception that they can grow crops. The truth is that the island was pretty boring, with views that cannot rival Isla del Sol, and what we felt were disappointing and overpriced textiles. Lunch was acceptable, but we just felt slightly disappointed as we didn’t really get to feel the culture on the island.
Taquile Island
We were fortunate enough to reach the boat before it started pouring, and were not sad to leave Taquile. Although the rain subsided when we were back in Puno, it picked up again in the evening as we went out exploring the souvenir shops and food places. We were surprised to find many Chinese eateries selling dumplings and fried rice (Chifa), some sort of a common dish in Peru, but were glad to finally have some Asian food. A sense of unease arose when we were back in the hotel waiting for the supposedly “paid for” taxi to the terminal. Despite clarifying over and over again, we learnt that it was all a lie and we still had to pay for the 5 Soles ride to the bus terminal. The truth is that they never booked a taxi for us and simply flagged down a taxi when the time came, and pushed us in. Our bad luck didn’t stop there as the bus company switched buses for us to another company at a later time, and we ended up not ever seeing the Irish ladies whom we were supposed to share the bus journey with!
Our Recommendations
Most of the bus companies from Bolivia all have a hop-on hop-off kind of service. Titicaca bus company is pretty good and allowed us to change our tickets on short notice! (Read previous post in La Paz). Otherwise, if you are the type that makes decisions on the go, you could do that too. The bus timings are well arranged.
It does not matter which ferry company you take to Isla del Sol, just try to get on board early and sit at the top. The boats are always beyond maximum capacity which is why they are normally quite slow for the short distance covered.
Follow our plan by heading to Isla Del Sol upon reaching Copacabana, head to Las Velas for the sunset, and do the morning climb to the peak. Otherwise, you could spend an additional day hiking the entire Isla Del Sol.
Exchange rates at the border are ok, but you don’t have to change too much. There are better exchange rates at the changers along Arequipa St in Puno.
You can get your own islands tour or even just take public transport from the harbour in Puno, but you have to wake up really early, and the return journeys are really early too, so just do a tour. Taquile was boring for us, and not really worth the effort. Uro, as touristy as it was, was a real interesting community.