Lakeside relaxation

Our next stop after the parties of La Paz was Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable body of water. We had decided to spend two nights here, one in Copacabana, a lakeside town, and one on Isla del Sol, an island in the middle of the lake. After around 5 weeks of hostel beds, Jen and I had decided to treat ourselves and stay at Hotel La Cupula, a beautiful hotel with dome-shaped buildings that looked out onto the lake, and alpacas in the garden. It was so nice to be able to sleep in a comfortable bed for the night, and we made sure to feed the alpacas in the morning before we headed to Isla del Sol.

Alpacas at Hotel La Cupula

Tim and Adam, who had stayed at a nearby hostel, joined us for the boat ride to Isla del Sol, which cost 25 bolivianos, equivalent to about £3, and took about an hour, if I remember correctly. We passed the time with games of 21 questions, and finally arrived at Isla del Sol in the early afternoon. What we didn’t expect was the walk up several hundred stairs at high altitude to reach our hostel. Once we reached our hostel, we headed out on a walk to the Piko Kaina ruins, which, truth be told were somewhat underwhelming. On our way we bumped into a kid called Diego, who, after chasing us away from the ruins, gave us a plant to chew on to help with the altitude, in exchange for a few bolivianos.

Piko Kaina ruins

Ironically, given that Isla del Sol literally translates to Island of the Sun, it was raining pretty much the whole time we were there. Despite this, the island has some breathtaking (literally) views, and is definitely worth the trip if you’re in the Lake Titicaca area. We also got the chance to go to an amazing restaurant called Las Velas, which was run by a man who did everything from the cooking to the order taking by himself, and had no electricity, meaning the place was lit by candlelight.

View over the lake

While we sat eating our delicious dinner, a huge spider snuck onto Tim’s shoulder. We all noticed before him, and when he clocked our faces, he jumped up in fear, running round the restaurant whilst yanking his top off and screaming. This caused quite the scene in the peaceful atmosphere of the restaurant, and the owner emerged from the kitchen in fits of laughter, and when things had calmed down presented us with Bolivian flag badges to take with us as a memento.

A puppy we met on the island

The next travel blog will follow us to Cusco, which I’m so excited to write about as it was one of my favourite places. Until then, thank you for reading!

Un abrazo,
Lola