3970m
After a leisurely start we were picked up by our guide and new driver for our trip to Lake Titicaca and Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun). It was supposed to only take 3 hours to get there. However, as in all things South America, it took us slightly longer. We had to compete with all of the minibuses in La Paz, and when we finally made it into El Alto, we had to deal with the roadworks, diversions and pop-up-markets. El Alto sprawls out worse than Perth with no real planning guide for the buildings. In Bolivia you can get a loan from a bank to start your house, so they do; possibly outer walls or the exterior walls of the house, or maybe even a door. And then the money runs out and the building stops. This also applies to multi level buildings so you drive past a number of 5 storey buildings with interior walls and stairs, and that’s it.
We make out of La Paz/El Alto and continue into the altiplano, although with a lot more communities than we saw near Uyuni. Eventually, the lesser section of Titicaca comes into view and we have something different to look at and appreciate. All of a sudden, the van pulls over into one of the houses along the road and our guide informs us that this is the house of the man who helped Thor Heyadryl build the boats that he used on the Kon Tiki, Ra and many other expeditions across the oceans. The son showed us many photos and maps of the journeys while a number of women tried to persuade us to buy miniature reed boats. We got to see how they made the reed boats they use on Titicaca and how they make the string they use out of dried grass.
We continued on the road until the end of the peninsula where we had to get out of the van and cross by boat to another part of a peninsula, although this one is joined to Peru, not Bolivia, hence the boats. The crossing is only 800m wide but separates the 2 Titicacas. Watching the van cross on the barge reminded me of Indonesia back in the 70s. They were flat bottomed barges powered by two outdoor motors and trudged across the 800m crossing slowly, and slightly diagonally. Apparently at Easter there is a line stretching over 2km for cars making the pilgrimage to Copacabana trying to cross with the barges. Apparently a bridge is in the plan, but will cost $30mil and as such will have to wait for a less corrupt government to fund it.
It was a shortish drive from here to Copacabana which originally translated as ‘place of the watchtower’. It is now home to the Saint and Mother of Bolivia and as such the name of Copacabana has been used in other countries including Brazil, Columbia and Cuba. We visited the original church, which was built less than 100 years after Columbus arrived but unfortunately, due to the fact the every pilgrim lights a candle and makes a wish to the saint, at some stage in the 90s the interior of the church was burned. A new church has been set up across the street where you can light a candle a make a wish. The candles do come in different colours for different wishes; red for love, blue for a job, purple for education and so on. We got to do the same. If your wish comes true you are to revisit the site and say thanks. We walked through the town and found our restaurant, playing “Land Downunder” of all things, where we were to have lunch and leave our bags. As trout farming is huge on the lake, you can guess what was on the menu.
From here we had a small taxi shuttle us to the end of the peninsula to catch a boat, firstly to the Isle of the Moon and then to Isla Del Sol. The journey to Isle of the Moo took about 40 minutes and we came here to see the Temple of the Moon, a form of school for Incan virgins who, if they were lucky enough, would learn enough to be able to marry a prince. Those unfortunate ones who didn’t? Well there were always sacrifices to be made to the gods. Quite a small settlement, the facade still exists but not a lot else.
Then it was a ride to Isla Del Sol which took slightly longer than expected as the boat driver had to stop the boat in order to make a phone call. We were deposited on the shore in front of the Temple of the Sun, in about the same condition as the temple of the moon. And then the hike began. Bear in mind that we are starting at around 3500m we had to climb up another 300m and then walk along a path to our hotel. Our guide kept saying, “Just past those trees” or “Just around that hill”. The walk took around 50 minutes to complete. The eco resort is rather basic, but comfortable, with a fixed menu that consisted of quinoa soup, and, of course trout!