Isla del sol

From La Paz we took an organized transfer from our hostel at 7.30am (because hijackings are notorious on that stretch of road if you do it at night) on a bus which seemed to be continuously beeping it's horn and driving on the wrong side of the road. We arrived at Lake Titicaca three hours later and our bus had to get into a big rowing boat and cross separately to us. It was still carnival going on and there were people dancing in the streets in mad orange, silver and blue costumes with full face masks. There were stray dogs and cows, donkeys and sheep grazing at the side of the high mountain road on the way to Copacabana and the scenery was endless green.

We got to Copacabana and tried to get some food. We walked out of the first cafe because they told Kerri she couldn't stay seated in there if she wasn't eating (the guy was English, typical).

We walked out of the second place because the waiter came to apologise for  the long wait due to it being carnival, everyone being drunk and no one being at work. (Bolivian carnaval has lasted way longer than scheduled!)

We took the boat, starving, to Isla del Sol for one and a half hours. Kerri was sat by the window so she boiled alive in the sun while I fell asleep next to another Viking type guy (only Viking by sound, not appearance like Hercules)

When we arrived we had to climb about 5 sets of Inca steps (which are huge) up to the nearest hostel, at altitude, with a 30kg backpack on. We were greeted by a cross-faced four year old girl, a fat toothless Bolivian hat balancer and a donkey who said there was room at the inn. Thank Jeff for that because the other hostels were about 18 sets of inca steps up, at least.

The BHB fed us trout from the lake while the four year old asked for some of our coca cola and told me the bumble bee in the window was dead. I gave her my sun glasses to wear and she helped herself to more coke until the BHB came in and told her off for being rude. Then we played catch with a balloon. It's easy to talk to Spanish-speaking kids because our level is pretty similar! Then she wanted to play catch with a mirror and introduced the game by running in with a mirror and throwing it on the floor which we took as our queue to leave.

The island was so quiet, we loved the contrast after the craziness of La Paz. We climbed right to the top (3800 meters altitude) and spoke to some donkeys, pigs, llamas and more beautiful dogs. So serene. It was hard to keep remembering it was a lake because of it's  vastness. It was so good to be near water again.

We went to bed at 8.30pm. Yes, La Paz was that harsh.

The next morning we woke up to an incredible view of the lake and a cold shower and decided to walk up to the top to get breakfast but the altitude killed us as we hadn't eaten since 4pm the day before and, dunno if i mentioned it but, La Paz was harsh!

We spent the day exploring the island, walked past a BHB who had a herd of llamas, donkeys, pigs and sheep all running together in mutual agreement! The llama had run ahead but the rest were tightly packed together, their heads down, a collection of different heights, colors and noises no objection, like they do it everyday. It was too funny.

We went back to the mainland and tried to go out for dinner but walked out of two more restaurants for lack of service as everyone was still partying in the main square and not at work yet. We chose a place, sat on the sofas outside and ordered from the lanky waiter who looked like he belonged in England in the early hours after a rave.

While we were waiting a dog came and sat on the sofa next to me (hiya!) and our waiter tried selling coke to passers by. 

The food was whack and we ended up running inside with it because a massive dust storm was coming up the road towards us!

We went back to our hotel and actually listened to the carnival music, which sounded like a clown laughing and a load of organs being banged at both ends. 

Ear plugs in, we went to sleep.