The lake straddles Bolivia and Peru and has a surface area of 3,232 square miles - about three times the size of Luxembourg. It is also at least three times more interesting than Luxembourg. One of the many islands that pierces its surface is Isla del Sol (Island of the sun), where the Incas believed the sun was born.
I arrived at the town of Copacabana (not the beach town in Brazil), perched on the shore of the lake.
The journey there would have been routine, had we not crossed a small lake. At this point we had to exit the bus and take a small boat, while our bus was transported on another boat. We all wondered why we couldn´t just stay in the bus - until we saw the vessel it was transported on.
Anyway, the lake is HUGE! It is so big that from the shore you can´t see anything other than water on the horizon - it feels like being by the sea. Apparently it takes 12 hours to cross it by boat.
I´d arrived with Joel and Annemarie - who I´d bumped into again in La Paz. We took a boat ride to a ´traditional´ floating island. These floating islands are made from the reeds that grow on the shores of the lake and were created by the Uros people, a tribe of fisherman. The main purpose of the islands was to isolate themselves from the more aggressive Inca and Aymara tribes who were on the warpath at the time. You can probably tell from my use of quotation marks that the island looked less than traditional.
Anyhow, we climbed up the headland to a great lookout point and were treated to a meal of Trucha (fresh trout) - we picked each fish right out of the water!
The trout was cooked up by a woman who lived on the island in a mere 15 minutes and it was fantastic - some of the best fish I`ve ever eaten!
We finished the day on the top of a hill watching the sun go down....
The next day five of us (we were joined by Ade and Chloe who we´d met watching the sunset) caught the boat over to the North of Isla del Sol.
I could immediately see how it got its name - the sun was scorching and shone all day every day! The island is about 8km from North to South. The others were going back the same day but I spent the next three days trekking to the top of 4,000m peaks, along picturesque beached coves and through lush green farmland.
My accommodation in the North cost about two pounds. It wasn´t worth it. Not many people stay in the North of the island - the only restaurant was closed so I was forced to eat five cheese empanadas and some Bolivian Watsits for dinner. The second night more than made up for it - I stayed in a hostal right up on a ridge overlooking a beautiful bay. There was also real food available - success!
I also took in some Inca ruins while trekking around. There are, in order, Chincana (a labyrinth-like building), Escalinata (Incan steps) and Pilkokaina (a large meeting hall-type building). There was also a large stone table which was quite impressive too (it probably has a special name but I´m going to christen it el stonio tableo).
The next destination was Puno, on the Peruvian side of the lake. Yes, I´m now in Peru!! Here I was able to see some real floating islands. There are around 50 of them in all, supporting about 2,000 people.
We were shown how the islands are made - by joining together huge chunks of reed roots, covering them with fresh reeds and tying them to an anchor so that they don´t float away. We also got to ride in a boat made only from reeds - I even got stuck in with a bit of rowing! This time I ate some Cevice (fresh prawns cooked up with lime and spices), washed down with some Peruvian beer.
The next day I went to visit a ship called Yavari. This ship is one of two that were built in England in 1861 by Thames Ironworks. The most interesting fact is that the ships were dissembled into 2,766 pieces, so that they could be transported by mules over the Andes mountains, and were then reconstructed in 1870 when they finally reached their destination.
The ship had fallen into disrepair and, over the last seven years, has been reconditioned by a team from the UK. Amongst other things, there is a letter from Prince Phllip expressing his interest that the ship be restored to its former glory!
After all that I´ve got some kind of cold. I´ve attempted to combat it by buying lots of antibiotics (you can buy them as easily as Asprin here). Hopefully I will improve because I am hiking the Inca Trail to the magnificent kingdom of Machu Picchu in a couple of days (whether I am sick or not!).
So, next stop is Cuzco and 6 days of hiking up to and around Machu Picchu. Here are a few more pics since I last posted...
A stunning view from the highest peak on Isla del Sol (4,076m).
An interesting picture on a building in the North side.
Paintings on the side of the school on Isla del Sol - each is the flag of the local district with the provinces next to it.
Looking down on yet another beautiful bay. I´m trying to look cool but really I´ve almost passed out due to the vertical track and high altitude.
A horse. And a bay.
Isla del Luna (island of the moon), where the Incas believe the moon was born.
This was the view I had as I was calmly munching breakfast. I´m not sure if the bottom of the boat survived, but they got it in the water in the end. The captain rewarded each of the guys with a glass of coke (the drink, not the powder). If only labour in the UK was that cheap. I might get them to build me a house.
Yeah, these are probably getting boring, but a beautiful bay, yes?
Copacabana from an Inca observation post. The observation post was rubbish, but the view was nice.
Now we´re in Puno - a big cathedral in the main square
A blue building - not sure why, but I quite like it.
The funniest thing about this photo is that I actually paid real money to dress up like this.
