One of the highlights we had planned for our week in Bolivia was a visit to one of the islands, said to be the birthplace of the Incas, in the middle of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world.
After an overnight bus from Cusco, with a quick stop at the border to have the worst border crossing experience of our lives, we arrived in the town of Copacabana, Bolivia, just past the border with Peru, and on the banks of Lake Titicaca.
Copacabana was a touristy little town, but we managed to get the very coolest accommodation there, and one of the most interesting places we have ever stayed.
These crazy buildings were high up on the hillside, which made it kind of a pain to get into town, but were totally worth it. This place even used alpacas as lawnmowers!
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Copacabana, A was about 36 hours deep into a fever, and L had developed a fever as well! So, at that point, we had to make the executive decision to split up, and those of us still feeling healthy would head to Isla del Sol (well, minus a responsible adult to stay with the sick kids), while the rest would stay behind.
We managed to get an extra night at our cool Copacabana hotel, and N and I headed down to catch a ferry to Isla del Sol, leaving the rest of the boys behind.
The ferry ride took about an hour, and was very smooth and slow-moving.
As we approached Isla del Sol, the guy who seemed to be in charge of the ferry suddenly stood up and offered his services as a guide on the island (many people on the ferry had plans to return back to Copacabana that night, and as such, only had a few hours on the island). The tour was only 15 Bolivian Soles (just over $2) per person, and so N and I decided, along with the majority of the boat, that it was too good of a deal to pass up. The guide let me know that as a bonus he would help us figure out where our accommodation was!
So, as we arrived at the first boat stop on the island, we got off along with the rest of the tour group, and headed up to check out a ruin of the Sun Temple and listen to the guide as he explained the origin story of the Incas.
The Incas were thought to have come from the island, after having lived there for thousands of years, before drought drove them away to Cusco where they gained power and prominence and became the famous Incas we know today (because the whole Incan Empire lasted only just over 100 years, the people that were the Incas had to have come from somewhere pre-empire!)
The tour was pretty interesting and totally worth the couple of bucks we paid for it. Soon, we wound our way up to the top of the island (no small feat at over 4,000 meters in elevation!) and left the rest of the group as we found our accommodation for the night.
After getting checked in, we walked along the top ridge line of the island in search of the town, and some dinner.
As we wandered around, we came across a few shops and eventually a few restaurants and houses that seemed to be the main drag.
I had read about a restaurant that was supposed to be great but very slow, as each item is cooked on demand once it is ordered. N agreed to give it a try, and we wound our way through some (even smaller!) streets and eventually a path through the woods that lead us to this small house holding the restaurant.
It was about 5:15pm by then, and there was one other group of french 20-somethings who had already ordered their food and were sitting outside enjoying the views while they waited for it to be cooked.
N and I went inside and glanced at the menu, while the chef/owner explained it would be about an hour for our food to be prepared. We agreed, and N ordered a pizza while I ordered a trout. Then we headed outside and sat on some benches with a table, while we watched the sunset and played every card game I could think of. Fortunately I remembered to throw a pack of cards in my backpack!
After more than an hour outside, the sun had set and we were getting a bit restless and cold, so we decided to sit inside.
Now, here is where I will mention the restaurant’s name was Las Velas. Why was it called “The Candles”? Who can guess why? I couldn’t, but it soon became very clear when the chef/owner came around in the fading dark of the restaurant’s interior with candles to light our table.
Shortly after we went inside, our food was served. My trout was not bad, but N’s pizza was DYN-O-MITE!
While the entire pizza may rank somewhere in our top few pizzas ever eaten, the pizza crust itself was far and away the best we have ever had! I sneaked as much of N’s pizza as he would allow, and grumpily reprimanded myself for not ordering my own pizza instead of lame trout!
By the time we were done eating, it was pitch black out, and the chef/owner made sure we had a light to see our way back to our accommodation (thank you, flashlight app).
Our walk back to our accommodation was interesting – there was no light on the island and really the only light to guide us was from my phone. However, the advantages of being on an island in the middle of the largest lake in Bolivia on a moonless night was the STARS! The night sky was among the most amazing I had seen in my life – the entire sky was full of stars and we could even clearly see the Milky Way. That walk home may be one of the best moments of our entire South America trip!
After peeking out our windows a few times to see the stars over the lake, we had a great night sleep and woke up the next morning and headed down towards the boat dock for our boat ride back to the mainland.
On our way, we stopped at a few small tables set up with souvenirs and N selected a few items to remind him of our time on the island.
This time, we decided to sit on top of the boat on our way back to Copacabana.
It was a scenic and calm ride, yet in typical “you wouldn’t get this in the US” fashion, it was interesting how low the railing deck was, considering we were sitting on the very tip-top of the boat!
However, we made it back safely, and we were all excited to be reunited after our first night apart of the entire trip!
The boys were still feeling a bit rough, so we took it easy for the rest of the day before limping off to our evening bus into La Paz.
