Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. It belongs to Bolivia and Peru. We visited both sides, but prefer the Peruvian side. Why? Keep on reading 🙂
Bolivian side
The biggest town and tourist centre is Copacabana (not to mistaken with the one in Rio). It´s easy to find accommodation, food and tours. About 1,5 hours boat ride away is Isla del Sol – Sun island – a tranquil island full of donkeys. It´s possible to spend the night there, prices are the same as in Copacabana. We walked on the island but the stop lasted just about 45 minutes. Oh, and when we arrived a man collected 5 BOB for entry. But then, 10 minutes later, when I took a picture of a donkey – a donkey! – a woman demanded money. Well, no thank you. If you charge tourists to step on the island, you have to accept, they will take pictures. Otherwise the island is very popular for stargazing, if you walk to the top, you´ll get amazing panoramic views.
Peruvian side
Arriving in Puno, we were determined to sleep on one of the floating islands. First we did the obligatory touristy stuff – visited a small island, where everything was explained, entered a home, got dressed like the locals, bought a souvenir and drove with their “Mercedes”. 🙂
Once we arrived on a bigger island, where we were invited to a restaurant, we were offered a room. We didn´t liked it. Our guide called another family, which was willing to have us. The boat brought us there, the room was nice and the most important – we were completely alone on the island. The family was on the mainland, their restaurant was closed so no tourists. Perfect. We enjoyed the peace, the sun and the solitude. A few hours later a lady came, made our beds and asked about dinner. She prepared a very good grilled fish (trucha), rice and potatoes and the obligatory coca tea. As soon as the sun went down, it got extremely cold. We watched the stars for a while, then went to sleep.
In the morning at around 9:00 the first tourist arrived – no more tranquillity. We were on display like zoo animals – “they slept here” – and everyone wanted to see our room. To escape this madness, we went for a ride with a boat, Jure as the captain and I as the first officer. Seeing the other nontouristic side was interesting and the locals were very friendly. Back on our island we were picked up a boat and brought back to mainland.
Because our departure for Cusco was late in the evening, we strolled around the city, ate lunch and had a laidback day.
Sleeping on Uros price tag (per person):
– accommodation 20 SOL
– dinner 20 SOL
– breakfast 10 SOL
sLOVEnians travel 