We probably didn't wake up early enough because we didn't realize we'd have to pay for bus tickets at the hostel from when we had booked them the night before and had to find an ATM which was not nearby.
We made our bus by two minutes, but that's par for the course with Sinead.
Crossing the border was pretty uneventful. We got stamped out pretty quickly in Peru then walked across the border to Bolivia. I had to buy a $130 USD Visa to enter, even though virtually no citizens from other countries have to pay.
I had been told earlier that if you didn't have copies of your passport photo for the Visa, the authorities would go through a book of old pictures to find someone who looks like you, but much to my disappointment, they must have caught up with the system and sent me next door to the copy machine.
As soon as we got to Copacabana we booked a boat to Isla Del Sol. The boat ride over was beautiful and we sat on the top of the boat taking in the gorgeous views.
Isla Del Sol is an island on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. At an altitude of 4,000 meters (12,000 feet,) Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world.
Though we had been warned about the steep stairs to the Loki in Cuzco, no one warned us about the stairs in Yumani, the southern tip of Isla Del Sol, where we were dropped off by our boat. As soon as we got off the boat, we were approached by a man who offered to carry our bags. Both Sinead and I were all for it.
Everything in Bolivia is super cheap,(7 Bolivianos = $1 USD,) so for 15B we were more than happy to let the man carry our bags. The hill was STEEP and it had been a few days since we had been up in such high altitude.
By the time we both went to the bathroom, the man was gone, but there were two little boys who convinced us that they were stronger than us and that it would be much easier for them than it would be for us. "For you [huffing and puffing noise,] ... for us, mas facile [very easy]."
Though I'm pretty sure it would have be considered illegal child labor in the USA - they couldn't have been any older than 12 - they were very convincing. "Muy fuerte," they kept telling us, "I'm very strong."
On the way up, we took a few breaks. At first we thought it was for us - even though we were just carrying our day packs, the altitude was a killer - but then we realized it was for them too. My bag weighed about 30 pounds when I left, and it's definitely added weight and Sinead's bag is even bigger. Our bags took up 3/4 of they bodies.
I'm not going to lie and say we didn't feel bad, but hey, we're contributing to the local economy, and if it wasn't us, they would have been carrying some other cold hearted people's bags up the hill.
We tried to walk a bit behind them so that everyone else passing us didn't know we were as pathetic as we were, but being out of shape from the altitude also contributed to our lag.
At one of the breaks the boys convinced us to go to a closer hostel. "Solo diez mas minutas," they told us, "un altro e venti." This hostel "is only ten more minutes, the other is twenty."
They told us the views were beautiful and the hostel was clean. They even knew all of the pricing. I'm pretty sure the hostel was owned by one of their family members, but these boys were born salesmen... If they ever decide to leave Isla Del Sol one day, they'll be running very successful companies no doubt.
After arriving and resting a minute, we decided to take a walk. We had read somewhere, though couldn't remember where or find it again, that there was a great hill to watch the sunset from. We headed up the hill to find the highest point.
We found it. From the top we could see beautiful snow capped mountains on the east and the Temple of the Sun - in Inca mythology, Isla del Sol is the birthplace of the the sun - and beautiful mountains and a setting sun to the west.
The only problem was that we arrived about 2.5 hours early to watch the sunset. With everything we do, we always seem to be rushing, but even though we didn't know the exact time the sun set, we could tell - based on the fact that the sun didn't seem to be going anywhere - that there was a lot of time left.
After sitting on the top of the hill for a while as the temperature dropped, we decided to walk back down a bit to a restaurant that was still on a cliff overlooking the water and order hot chocolates.
"A for effort," I said to Sinead.
"We always get the 'A' for effort," she said, "just never for results."
"That's the motto of our trip," I told her.
After our hot chocolates and another chilly hour, the sun dipped below the clouds. Sometimes this can still create a beautiful sunset, but these clouds were too thick and there didn't seem to be any colors.
We decided to head to the restaurant where we were going to eat dinner, the very highly recommended Las Velas. Since you have to walk through a Eucalyptus forrest to get there, and 99% of the island still doesn't have power, we figured it would be best to do it while it was still light out.
In what was abnormal circumstances for us, we found Las Velas easily. There were actually signs (multiple!) leading visitors along the path. (Where were these on the way to Dolce Vita, Colca Canyon, and the rest of South America?)
When we got there we realized it was also a great place to watch the subset and there were other backpackers scattered throughout the grounds who were there for the same reason.
The sunset had gotten more colorful, the sun having dipped below the clouds had illuminated the sky between the clouds and the mountains to a fiery red. You could see rain clouds storming down and lightning strikes on the mountains across the lake. Though it wasn't the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, it was one of the coolest.
At one point Sinead and I asked one of the other backpackers to take a picture of us. He was standing alone, so we asked if he had eaten and if he wanted to join us. He said he was already planning to eat with a group of people and motioned around to all of the other backpackers standing in scattered groups around the hill, but that we could join them if we wanted.
So, as the sun set, we went into Las Velas and ate dinner by candlelight surrounded by nine new friends from all over the world - Germany, California, Finland, Australia, Ireland, and more. We ordered three bottles of wine, three pizzas and three lasagnas and shared.
At the beginning of that day, Sinead and I were the only two people at that table who knew each other. By the end of the night, we had shared an incredible view, food, drinks, stories, and many laughs. This experience is exactly what I love about traveling.
"What is the best thing about traveling?" I thought to myself on the way home. "Everything," was my answer.
If the world was as happy and friendly and open-minded as backpackers, it would be a much more peaceful place.
Photos: All taken from Isla del Sol
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