Isla del Sol

I'd been looking forward to going to Isla del Sol ever since I met Sally in Paraguay and she showed my her photos. However, after a restless night not feeling very well, I boarded the bus to Copacabana still feeling slightly queasy. The view on the journey was beautiful, we passed through various markets and were then treated to the sight of Lake Titicaca, which looks more like an ocean than a lake.

About half way through the journey, we had to get off the bus and cross a strait on a boat, meanwhile our bus was shipped over on a raft. I can't say the boat journey helped with the lingering queasy feeling...

Back on the bus, it was a smooth ride to Copacabana where we confirmed our bus journey on to Puno, for two days later, and booked a boat ticket for Isla del Sol. We decided to have some lunch before boarding the boat (I hoped this would help me feel better) and then headed down to the beach. There was a lot of confusion boarding the boat but we finally managed to get a seat and we set off on the hour and a half journey. By the time we arrived I was feeling decidedly unwell. Unfortunately I was now faced with climbing the Inca steps, and further uphill to the ridge to reach our accomodation.

(This is me on the way down before we left, not the way up - I looked decidedly greener then)

When we finally made it (after climbing for about an hour), the best I could do was collapse on my bed, fortunately there was a great view from the room! I won't go into details, but I was very unwell all night.

Fortunately the next afternoon I managed to go for a little walk and see a bit of the island, before another early night and heading back to Copacapana the next morning.

Things started to go well from here, and we caught an early boat and had a smooth crossing, I was even able to manage some breakfast before boarding the bus to Puno in Peru. The border crossing was miraculously easy and we arrived in Puno in plenty of time for Kerry to book her bus ticket, and for me to book my train ticket to Cuzco.