After visiting the Floating Islands in Puno, we hopped a bus to cross the border into our tenth country – Bolivia. Due to bad relations between Bolivia and the US, American citizens are required to shell out $135 each for visas to enter the country. Luckily, we had already taken care of processing the visas in Lima, allowing us to slip through the border fairly quickly.
We arrived in Copacabana, situated on Lake Titicaca, and found a room at a nice hotel, La Cupula, which was highly recommended in our guidebook. It was a bit far from town, but is situated on a hill overlooking the lake so we had a great view of the sunset from the restaurant above. Besides the sunset, dinner was terrible and expensive, as well. Welcome to Bolivia.
The night just got worse.
There must have been a fiesta in the town because loud music was blasting all through the night. Even though we were far from the center of town, we couldn’t escape the racket and got very little sleep. To add insult to injury, the place was a mess – uncomfortable beds, no Internet and it was so pricey – so we moved early the next morning.
Boats in Lake Titicaca at the Copacabana harbor.
After a tasty breakfast at a cute cafe, we bought tickets for the morning boat out to Isla del Sol. This island is the main attraction when visiting Copacabana. We started out sitting on benches on top of the boat. It afforded great views, but it was freezing so we moved down into the warmth.
An island with snow-covered Andes mountains in the background.
After two hours, we finally arrived on the island. This place is gorgeous. It’s a lake, but the water surrounding the island in some places could be mistaken for a crystal blue ocean. We hiked the island for about 3 hours and saw some interesting ruins and landscapes along the way.
Heather taking a break on some Inca ruins at the North part of Isla del Sol.
We wound up near the dock and saw the famous old Inca steps and Inca fountain.
The original Inca steps leading to the village of Yumani.
That night our friends Michele and Jessica arrived in town. We went out for a nice dinner and drinks and played cards – our new favorite activity.
Trout (trucha) from Lake Titicaca – a popular dish in the area.
The next day, we said goodbye to Lake Titicaca and boarded a bus to the highest capital city in the world – La Paz.