Merry Christmas From Lake Titicaca!

After gathering our strength in the warm Coroico sun for a few days following the downhill madness we moved on and arrived to Copacabana, a small town on the Bolivian side of the fabled Lake Titicaca. The birthplace of the sun in the Inca mythology, the lake resides at some 3800 meters above sea level and is one of the world's highest navigable lakes as well as home to one of the largest trout there is. The trout are farmed here and taste delicious with Criolla topping :). While there's nothing really special about the town, it is the penny-pinching traveler's wet dream; we got offers for hostel rooms for as little as 3.5$ and a really nice three course set dinner including the local trout as main course went for under 4$.

After a night in the town we headed out to Isla del Sol, some 2-3 hours away by boat. The island is a central place in the Inca tales of creation and home to a few hundred indigenous folks scattered across the island. We stayed overnight in the northern end of the island which hosts the most important ruins that can be covered by a 2-3 hours hike from the town. On the hike we spotted plenty of very cute small asses - or baby donkeys if you prefer - as well as llamas and sheep that roam the hills. December is rainy season here, so very few tourists were present. Around the town there were a few tiny shacks acting restaurants offering the local trout to us brave souls who stayed through the cold night.

One day after returning from the island it's time to move on to the other side of the lake, to the Peruvian town Puno where we meet up with Riikka's family for christmas. Puno is rather big and I take the opportunity to try and find myself a new pair of shoes since the old ones are pretty much coming apart. But it seems it is impossible to find shoes of size over 42 in latin America so the attempt is futile once again. But I do manage to buy a few pairs of new socks from a market to replace some destroyed ones.

On a day trip, we pay a visit to the Islas de Uros - the famous floating islands of Lake Titicaca - as well as Isla Taquila which hosts a community of Quechua-speakers with funny hats and colorful clothing. While the floating islands seem quite fake and nowadays only exist to benefit from tourism, the visit to Taquila is pleasant. We take a little stroll over the island - whose highest point reaches just over 4000m - and have the local trout for lunch in the village on the top.

We spent christmas eve pretty much lying in bed enjoying cable TV and planning the next stops of the trip. Later we go out and enjoy alpaca and some more trout for the christmas dinner. I have to admit I miss the traditional foods ham and caviar!  On christmas day we have lunch with Riikka's family before going our separate ways with them heading to Cuzco and us starting to make our way towards the coast, finally descending down from the altiplano.

See all the pictures from Bolivia here!