Lake Titicaca (Copacabana and Isla del Sol), Bolivia

While generally Bolivians are nice, they are not always the most helpful, at least regarding information that we consider important. One example was getting a direct bus from Sorata to Copacabana (“Copa”), the hub of activity on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. We asked the bus company if there were direct buses and, if so, how often. Their response: “Every day at 10 am.” So we showed up the next day before 10 am, only to be told the bus only leaves if there are 10 or more people “so go find 8 of your friends.” That would have been helpful information before we made our plans.

Not having 8 friends who wanted to immediately leave for Copa, we went to the other bus company, took a bus to La Paz, and got dropped off at the town with the turn off to Lake Titicaca. Turns out that that “town” was a dusty intersection of roads without food, bathrooms or anything else to occupy our time. We sat on our backpacks for over an hour eating a mashed avocado, stale crackers, and old beef jerky – our poorly planned reserves of energy for the journey. After watching seemingly hundreds of buses and minibuses going to the wrong destination, we finally caught a bus to Copa.

Copa is a funky little rastafarian town in an ideal location on Lake Titicaca with the best (and cheapest) trout I´ve ever had in my life. Michael decided to eat only trout for the duration of our time there – breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and, for the most part, succeeded. Shops with hand-made jewelry, people with dreads, and restaurants blasting Bob Marley marked the main street leading down to the port. We dropped our bags at a hostal, found a place to eat on the beach, and soaked up the beautiful sunset.

Copacabana, an hour before sunset

The moment the sun went down, the temperature dropped precipitously. Despite its Mediterranean feel by day, the cold reminded us that we were still 13,000 feet above sea level.

The next morning, we boarded a boat to Isla del Sol – an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca.  The boat was packed with tourists like cattle, a cacophony of languages jumbled together with the excitement of leaving for the island. We had finally joined the official Gringo Trail. Surprisingly, however, we were the only ones to get off on the South side of the island near Yumani (the largest of the three small island settlements) and we hardly saw other tourists during the rest of our stay. Our theory is that most people take day trips around the island and few actually stay overnight, at least this time of year.  The reason why evades me, as Isle del Sol is a wonderful place to hang out for a few days.

The sheer size of Lake Titicaca is astounding. It´s more like a stranded ocean in the mountains. The blue-green water, the terraced hilltops growing crops, the Mediterranean feel, and the surrounding snow-capped peaks put this spot on our list as one of the most special places we´ve seen.

Storm clouds brewing over a small fraction of Lake Titicaca

There are two well-maintained trails on the island (no roads or motorized vehicles of any kind): one follows the ridge and the other winds around the coastline through the other two communities. We spent most of the second day taking both these trails as a loop around the island, sharing the path with herds of sheep, groups of mules and the occasional runaway pig. We passed the school right as it ended, and found ourselves walking home with the schoolchildren from the next community over. The girls talked in small clusters while the “cool” boys blasted Bolivian techno music on a hand-held radio, a poor mule frantically trying to stay ahead of the pack and away from the noise. The whole island is an interesting mix of historical and modern ways of life; tourist shops set up next to the field being tilled by a family with – no joke - a large animal horn as a hoe.  

As the sun started to set, we found a little un-cultivated terrace overlooking the lake, shielded from the wind, and enjoyed a cheap bottle of wine. After dusk, we made our way back to Yumani for yet another meal of delicious trout.

Our wine spot

While we could easily have lounged there for several days, we had done about everything that we wanted to do. So the next day we caught our cattle boat back to Copa and the first bus leaving for Cusco, Peru.