After almost four weeks in and around Bolivia it was time to move on north. Next stop Lake Titikaka – the highest navigable lake in the world at almost 4,000masl.

I took one of the local busses – big mistake again. For one they avoided the toll roads to El Alto, the higher part of La Paz, and it collected passengers from the street outside the bus terminal. With this you safe 2 Bolivianos terminal fee. The drivers goal of course is to fill the bus so there is quite a focus on picking up people – long story short: The bus was supposed to leave at 10.00, then re-scheduled to 10.30, needed 2 hours to get out of the city and a bit more than an hour for the journey to Copacabana… Could have been done in 1,5h but all in all took 4,5. 😂

Maybe half an hour before Copacabana you reach Tiquina. Everybody has to get off the bus and the driver just tells you to get over on the other side…

 

The buses go on floating pallets with a little motor and we took a little boat which was steered by a boy which I would say was maximum 12 years old. He safely steered us through the little channel and we boarded the bus again. As simple as this!

And then I arrived in Copacabana. What can I say… The church and the market places around are nice.

But the rest of the city is just a touristy hot spot and looks like one of the old Spanish or Italian tourist villages at the sea. Nothing missed out on.

So I decided to climb the little hill to get out of the hustle and enjoy some space. The climb was steep and pleasant. But on the way up again you could see the shocking impact of plastic in Bolivia. The entire hill looked like a big waste dump – plastic bags, plastic bottles, paper, broken glass and you name it. It’s for sure also a lot of tourists who don’t clean up after themselves but many Bolivians in general don’t have the sense for “waste-management”. It’s a very common thing to just drop whatever you don’t need anymore right where you are or the open the car window and just throw it out. I have talked to many but no one has a real answer. Maybe the fast roll-over from organic packing material which of course were and are compostable to plastic has created this false understanding of handling it the same way. I am not judging but it is sad to see.

Anyways, I met my travel companion for the next day – Vivian. We decided to stay for the sunset and enjoy the view away from the city. Super-espectacular!

We decided to leave the city early in the morning and move on the the Isla del Sol – the biggest island in the Titikaka Lake. Looks like a 20 minute walk or swim but the high power boats take two hours to get there – chill out time. But before we embarked the boat a I bumped into a well known face. Tino who I had met in the jungle suddenly stood next to us and had bought a ticket to the island. Three we were 😊

On our search for a place to stay we bumped into another German traveler – Mareike. After a bit of negotiation we took two rooms with view and decided to continue together. Our deck (@ can’t stop thinking of the Kiwi “deck-paint” commercial… 😂) had a great view.

We went for a little stroll on the south island and what can we say – we were the only ones. Away from the hustle in the city and extremely beautiful! It almost looks like the Mediterranean area of Europe – only that we are on more than 4.000masl. And that the entire island a full of terraces which were built by the Inkas for farming.

 

 

Insanely beautiful and we all enjoyed the peace.

We also explored some old Inka ruins and went swimming in the Lake Titikaka. A refreshing jump but worth it 😎

 

We skipped dinner and went straight to wine and rum on our deck and enjoyed the view and watched the shooting stars. Next morning we wanted to watch the sunrise from one of the hills. But Vivian and I woke up in the middle of the night and were both hit by the flew. So we stayed in bed and instead watched the sunrise from our beds – actually a really cool and also a lot warmer option 😎

Whilst Tino and Mareike hiked to the north tip of the island the two of us took the boat instead to meet them on the northern tip. Exactly what a doctor would probably recommend with a flew: Yes, go in high altitude. So around 4.000m and then hike up to some ruins that are even higher… 😂

Before we got on the boat we were able to watch an amazing get together. All men, mostly elderly came together at the port and sat infant of an old stone wall. One of them held a little speech and everybody got up. They started carrying big rocks and working on the grounds. When we asked one of them they told us that the entire community came together to repair a part of the old Inka wall which had come down due to the rain. Great to see that this community spirit still exists!

But we took it easy and almost crawled in our sense. A bit tough and a day in bed would have probably been better but the northern part is not to be missed!

 

 

 

We all could have spend a few more days on the island. If you have time, do it! Such an relaxing place. But we went back to the mainland, said good bye to Mareike and took a bus and crossed the border to Peru. Next stop Puno.