3800m
Well, I think we just had another TISA moment (This Is South America) as last night we had a massive thunderstorm and hail. Big bolts of lightning and obviously one of them took out the power. As we are staying at an ecolodge the bathroom has a Perspex roof and the sound of hail hitting it kept us all awake for over an hour. In the morning a solid cold drizzle had set it with us all getting somewhat damp on the way to breakfast. The weather forecast was supposed to be ‘overcast’! All of this on Isla del Sol - The Island of the Sun! The kitchen was cooking by candlelight and luckily with gas but there was no power for the toaster, and it meant no hot coffee!
At just after 8:30 our guide arrived with plastic ponchos for us all and we began the trek to the boat. He stated it would take about an hour but in fact we made it in 40 mins (might have been the drizzle driving us). The boat then took us northwards as we deposited damp bags undercover and tried to get the altitude/cold tingling from our fingers. It was about 40 mins later when the boat deposited us on a rocky shore and we once again began a hike to the top of the hill to see the ruins. What is it with Incas and high places? The ruins were worth it and we scrambled through archways built for people around 5’. It was built like a labyrinth with all of the rooms being interconnected and covered with one roof. The roof being made of reefs and grass has naturally all gone.
We were then led to a sacrificial altar and explained that on this island the Inca did not sacrifice to the Sun, they sacrificed to a rock located behind the altar resembling (with a good deal of imagination) a puma; the Incan word for puma being titi. As it was a big rock; the Incan word for rock being haca but of course the Spanish changed this to ‘caca’ and so you get the name of the lake; Titicaca.
It was a long journey back to the mainland, and apparently the weather was too rough to sail straight to Copacabana so we sailed back to the peninsula where we were dropped off yesterday and then caught another hair raising taxi ride to Copacabana with a car that had no working seatbelts and the driver would take his eyes off the road to talk with our guide, all on a twisting road with no safety rails. Once again we are reminded of why there are so many crosses on the roads in South America.
Lunch was your usual 3 course; soup, meat and, as Charlie has named desserts here, ‘goo’. It was a short trip to the Bolivian/Peruvian border and the formalities were extremely easy. Stand in line, hand over passport, get stamped, leave country. Repeat, enter country. We were picked up by a new car, handed the wifi password for the car and headed off. It was a two hour drive to the hotel, broken only by the roadworks which required a diversion onto a rough road of crushed limestone.
The hotel is modern and large and definitely catering for tour groups. However, when we arrived and went off for a coffee we were the only around. Do we need to book for dinner? Oh no, just rock up. Then it was time to check into the rooms, except I couldn’t, so went back to the desk to explain. Apparently the keycard works, go back to room. No, it doesn’t. TISA. Go back down to reception. Other manager comes up. Oh look, it doesn’t work. Workman called for and takes apart the lock for it to work. Going down for dinner we suddenly were confronted by a flood of humanity. About three bus loads of travellers had descended on the dining room without much space. Dinner was good, but when I went to pay the waiter explained in broken English that if possible not to put a tip on the bill but pay him cash as they personally would not receive any money for it. Not happy about that.