Huffin & Puffin in the Sun Island

En route to Cusco, Peru, we had a stop in Lake Titicaca - a massive high altitude lake that sits between Peru and Bolivia. We weren't especially excited about heading to the lake, as we'd heard that the Peruvian side was a bit of a tourist trap, so decided to check out Isla Del Sol on the Bolivian side instead. Well, we were in for an absolute treat as it was totally stunning.



First stop was Copacabana, a small town situated on the lake from where you catch a boat for a few hours to Isla Del Sol. Copacabana is another tourist hub, my cousin Jonny described it as having a similar vibe to Khao San Rd in Bangkok and that description could not have been closer - lots of tacky souvenir shops, gringo food and try hard hippies. However we found an awesome hostal perched on the top of a hill overlooking the lake and the town, with manicured gardens, hammocks and top food. So we pampered ourselves for the night.









The next day we caught a rather rickety looking boat to the island. Half way through the journey, it lived up to its shoddy appearance, and a window fell out (no surprises though as it was held on with sticky tape!!) Luckily the woman in front of us caught the window pane before it smashed onto her head. Hmmm health and safety standards hardly exist in this part of the world.



Upon reaching the island we soon realised what we were in for - lots and lots of uphill walking! In order to get to our accommodation for the night we had to walk up a very steep hill for 300m with our ridiculously heavy backpacks. At 3800m above sea level, only a few steps and you're wheeezing like a 90 yr old. Luckily for me a lovely local guy offered to carry my backpack for a small fee, an offer which I of course jumped at. Poor Tom didn't have any help though, however he's pretty tough so could handle it!



The view from the top of the island was absolutely beautiful, with snowcapped peaks of the Andes in the distance. Fortunately for us, we had a room with this view to wake up to. It was freezing at night though, close to -7 degrees, with no heating and the usual Bolivian cold cold showers.




Tom speaking llama!

The next day we trekked around the island and caught a glimpse of local life, there's no roads and no transport, so the only way that the locals ferry their goods is via donkey or llama. From what we could see, the women appear to do everything - they look after the animals, the children, the home, while the men...I don't really know what they do. They hardly seemed to make an appearance. The Bolivian women are tough and all credit to them, the colourful bags that they carry on their bags all day everyday were much heavier than our backpacks and they usually pop a kid in there too! Respect.










Having a chat with a local kid