Isla del Sol

To say that we have been lazy during our six days of R&R in Copacabana would be entirely fair if it hadn't been for the fact that we had a busy day visiting Isla del Sol (Sun Island).

Up at the crack of dawn for the 8:30 boat, we bought our tickets and sat, bleary eyed, in the boat. We had had the foresight to by a goodly amount of water and had been advised by my mate Mike to take some biscuits for the local kiddies. We took little packets of Oreos and Chocolate chip cookies.

Ferry, cross the Titicaca

The weather here is a bit tricky. During the day it is unbearably hot in the sun, but quite nippy out of it. At night it is cold, but nothing like as bad as the salt flats. Sitting in the boat for two hours during the crossing to Sun Island alternated between cold and boiling, depending if the sun was pointing at you. By the time we arrived (and the Chocolate chip cookie presents had been all but demolished), T had a stinking headache, so we stopped for a coca tea and a sandwich.

The scenery was beautiful and the tranquility (again, once the noisy tourists had departed) was something else.

Sun Island view

We roused ourselves after our impromptu breakfast to walk up to the ruins. To be honest, we didn;t actually see much in the way of ruins, even though we must have passed them. We did, however, do alot of walking uphill; sighting of pigs, llamas, sheep and mules and took in the breathtaking views.

Snowcapped Cordillera Real in the background

We returned to the boat for an hours passage to the south of the island. An opportunity to climb 1,000 Inca steps was rejected by us both, so we sat on the shore and waited.

Two small, cute and extremely grubby children approached us and offered to sell us trinkets. T succumbed and we are the proud owners of two trinkets, one red one purple. (I hope they stay in our possession longer than the pretty rock we bought at the mine in Potosi.) We saw this as an opportunity to pass on some Oreo cookies (the few remaining Chocolate chip ones were not for disposal), we got two small packets out and gave one to each. For the next half an hour we were then approached by all the small girls on the beach (and one of them tried twice). Suffice it to say that we gave away our stash and had some happy smiling faces as a reward.

Back to Copacabana on the boat and a nice enough meal in town - even if the restaurant had discovered the 'Slow Food' maxim of La Vispera in Samaipata and tried to copy it.

After all that strenuous effort, sleep came quickly.