Lake Titicaca

After the last update I crashed out about 20:00 - party time!

05/09/09

Got up at 07:00, jumped in a taxi and made my way to Copacabana - a very uncomfortable 3hour journey. Got there in one piece though, found somewhere to stay and took a walk around town. The Cathedral there is stunning, and each day vehicles line up outside to recieve a blessing. They´re covered in flowers, blessed, and then sprayed with beer!

I decided it would be a good idea to take a walk up to some Inca ruins on a hill beside town - it wasn´t a good idea. The heat and the altitude nearly killed me, and there were no ruins to be seen, just rock formations... oh well, I got a good view of the town and the lake.

06/08/09

Rather than catch the boat straight over to Isle del Sol, I thought it would be more fun to walk to the headland (about 13miles away) and then find a local to take me across. On the way I dropped in to check out a small Inca site and museum at one of the small villages. A friendly old man unlocked everything for me and then showed me the Baño del Inca, a small stream that ran through the mountian, and was then diverted by the Inca´s into a pool so they could bath in it. The museum held a few pieces of pottery and stonework, nothing too incredible, until you got near the last case: then you saw a fully preserved Inca skeleton, sat with its knees by its chest with its arms wrapped around them. It was a great sight, made even more powerful by the fact that it was recovered within the same area that you were standing.

After the Baño del Inca I carried on my merry way. It took me a little longer than I thought to reach the headland, the road was a gravel track with lots of ups and downs around and over the hills on the coast, but I eventually got to where I needed to be. Just as I walked into the last village a local came running over to offer to take me to the Isle del Sol in his boat, perfect, I didn´t even have to hunt for someone.

His small fishing boat just about made it over, and I was dropped at the far southern end of the island, I had a long walk to the north where I planned on camping for the night! After a quick lunch I set off and 3 hours later I made it! It was only 5miles, but again, it was constantly up and down. At the end of each climb I felt ready to drop! As I came over the last peak though I was greeted by the site of an Inca altar, and slightly further on the ruins of a selection of buildings. Passing the two sites, the left side of the island then dropped away down to a beach, the perfect place to camp for the night.

I set up the tent and watched the sun go down, and the stars come out - by then it was incredibly cold, so I crawled into my sleeping bag and slept - but not for too long. I was woken up at about 02:30 by an impossibly bright moon. Unzipping the tent and peering out everything was bathed in a silver light. I got dressed, scooped up my camera and tripod and headed out to get some photos of the beach. I ventured part of the way back towards the ruined buildings, but didn´t get too close as to be honest, it was a pretty freaky. An amazing night though, to be camped so near ruins of one of the greatest civilisations ever.

I got back to bed around 04:00.

07/09/09

Woke up at 08:00, had a quick breakfast and started the walk back down the island, taking a different route this time through a few more of the villages along the coastline. These little villages were amazing, each with their own little port and school, with all sorts of animals walking about the surrounding tracks and hills. Donkeys bellowed up on the highest slopes, cows grazed down by the shore, and sows dropped down in any available bit of shade, closely tailed by a horde of piglets after their milk. Got back to the port at the southern end and got a ticket back to Copacabana. I had a few hours before the boat left so I chilled out on the beach in the sun watching boat loads of tourists arrive and get bombarded by hostel and restaurant owners - something I had managed to avoid coming in a different way.

The idea was to make my way to Puno that day, but by the time I got back to Copacabana it was 17:00 and I had walked about 25miles in two days (I forgot to mention the hill I climbed up first thing on the 6th, adding another chunk of walking to my trip!) so I crashed out at the same place as before.

08/09/09

I woke up at 06:00 this morning?! Oh well, packed, ate, and jumped on a bus to Puno. Got here in good time and on a good day by the looks of it. The main square and church was being used for some kind of childrens religious parade - most of the poor kids clearly had no idea what was going on and were being funneled and cajoled by pushy parents. At the same time locals were protesting about the lack of roads that they had been promised, and riot police and riot vans were crawling all over the place! A very odd mix of things! Made for some good photos though.

The clocks have gone back another hour here, so it´s only 13:35. Exploring Puno is on the cards for the rest of the day, although I have been pre-warned that its a bit of a hole...