Picked up by Bolivia Hop at 7 for the journey to Copacabana (yes I did sing the song once or twice!) Crawled through the La Paz traffic then the suburbs until finally reaching the countryside. We needed to cross an arm of the lake so the bus had to cross on a different ferry to us - about the same length as it was! Back on the bus for the last push to the lake and time for a sit down before the boat trip to the island.

We stopped off at some ruins for those on a quick visit to walk along the island for 40 minutes before getting back on the boat to go back to Copacabana (not sure what the point was there!) We got off the boat at the main harbour and were immediately offered accommodation on the island at a reasonable rate so took the first option. The kind man carried my big rucksack up the Inca steps for me - very glad as we were at nearly 4000m and the altitude (and lack of general fitness) kills me! I ended up in a room with 2 young Americans and met up with an Aussie guy who was also staying 2 nights. Pete and I quickly (well as fast as we could at altitude) set off uphill for a beer and decided to wait there for dinner rather than stagger back up later.

The nights are very dark in Isla del Sol with no street lights, cars or large buildings so good star gazing again. Early night and next morning a group of three of us headed to the north of the island. Here we visited the ruins of the Temple of the Sun and then walked back along the island. The walk took about 4.5 hours in total - about my limit especially with (did I mention) the altitude. Back to Yumani in time for lunch and a relaxed afternoon. The evening meal was made more exciting as the power cut from the afternoon lasted until 8pm so cooking and eating happened by moonlight!

Another relaxed day until the boat arrived at 3.30pm, chatting with a Welsh couple at the hostel then an Irish couple who were on the same boat as me. Getting back to the boat and our trip home to Copacabana and then the ride across the border to Puno was all very easy and we stopped there for a good pasta/pizza dinner before getting back on the bus. The next part of the journey wasn't so good as after 3 hours on the bus the Arequipa crowd had to change to a different bus for the last 5.5 hours. As a result and the fact the next bus was not so comfy I was very glad to arrive in Arequipa and find my room was ready and sleep!