Island Hopping On Lake Titicaca

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  Copacabana, Bolivia
Monday, July 21, 2008

Seeing we havenīt done too much hiking and we enjoyed our first trip to Machu Picchu so much, we decided to take an alternative four-day trek to the ruins. Known as the Inca Jungle Trail, the trip starts with a mountain bike descent from 3,500m into the jungle at 1,500m, then a two day hike to the town of Aguas Calientes and the fourth day hiking up to the ruins. Unlike our last trip, it was clear from the start that this trek wasnīt going to go well. The bikes were all faulty - one guy crashed after the brakes failed, another lost his seat, Leeshīs gears didnīt work and her chain fell off constantly, while Paulīs chain snapped completely, allowing him to sit on the bike going downhill and push it on the straight sections and uphill. Despite the problems, the ride was still good fun.

The following two days were spent hiking alongside the Urubamba River, where we stopped at some excellent hot springs and walked along disused train tracks between the mountains until we reached Aguas Calientes

Amazing Ruins

. On the third afternoon we hiked up a nearby mountain which offered spectacular views of Machu Picchu across the valley. The hike was very steep and involved the use of wooden ladders, one with over 100 rungs, to get up the near vertical sections of the climb. The mosquitos during these two days were oppressive and nobody was unscathed. As we walked, we would have to swat away the constant swarm of mosquitos that surrounded us.

Things started to go wrong again that night. We were told at 10pm that the tour company didnīt get train tickets for our return to Cusco the next day - the train is the only way out of Aguas Calientes- and all the tickets were sold out. The owner of the tour company was contacted and he wasnīt willing to pay for another nightīs accomodation, instead asking us to leave Machu Picchu by midday and hike three hours back along the train line, before catching a six hour bus to Cusco. Extended arguments were had and magically there were train tickets for all of us the next day. The tickets were not in our names though, with Paulīs new name being Omah and Leeshīs being Cindy. Somewhat typical of how tourists are looked after around Cusco and the scams Peruvians try to get more tourist dollar.

The food on the trail wasnīt great either and four of us (Leesh and PT included) ended up sick by the time we went to hike up to Machu Picchu at 4am the next morning

Baby Condor on Reed Islands

. Leesh had an especially rough time that day pooing and spewing her way up the mountain but recovered by the evening, whereas PT spent the three following days making friends with the porcelan bowl, before succumbing to a course of antibiotics.

Machu Picchu showed us a very different side for our second visit. The clouds were so thick around Wayna Picchu that the ruins couldnīt be seen until 10am and in some ways, we were grateful that it wasnīt our only visit to the place. Despite this, there was a mystical quality to the misty ruins and it certainly didnīt spoil the experience. It was a shame that we couldnīt hike up Wayna Picchu though as that was one thing we particularly wanted to do on this trek, but the cloud cover was just took thick to justify the one hour uphill slog.

Returning from the trip, we realised that it had been a month since we arrived in Cusco and we really needed to get out of Peru before our visa expired. The next morning we caught the bus to Puno, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is huge and in spots you could be fooled into thinking you have reached the ocean. At 3,800m above sea level, it made for the coldest nights we have experienced in South America. We only spent one day in Puno and went to visit the Uros Islands, a unique community of 40 floating islands made out of reeds

Burial Ruins on Lake Titicaca

. We visited two of the communities and the locals explained how they construct the reed islands and keep them from sinking into the freezing cold waters of Lake Titicaca. In the afternoon we visited some burial ruins but decided that after Machu Picchu, we were īruined outī.

A three hour bus trip took us from Puno, Peru to Copacabana, Bolivia. Despite the level of corruption in both countries, thankfully the border crossing was the easiest, quickest and most relaxed of our lives. Copacabana lies on the southern edge of Lake Titicaca and is far more picturesque (and cheaper) than Puno. We took a shonky boat from town to Ilsa Del Sol (Island of the Sun) - the birthplace of the Inca people. Trekking on the mountain ridge from the north of the island to the south, we had a beautiful view over the deep blue lake. We stayed on the south end of the island overnight (freezing), before returning to Copacabana for a day of relaxation and a nice sunset over the lake.

Our early impressions of Bolivia are that the people are friendlier than in Peru and more willing to let tourists just wander around and do their thing. And itīs cheap! We paid $9 per night for a reasonable room with shower and toilet, before both enjoying a fillet mignon and a bottle of Chilean red wine for a grand total of $13. So I guess we could be in Bolivia a while.....

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Copacabana	Hot Springs	Lake Titicaca	Longest Wooden Ladder Ever Built
Machu Picchu From A Distance	Misty Machu Picchu	Reed Islands on Lake Titicaca	Ride Your Bike Down This!

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