Thursday, 17 November 2011

Isla del Sol, Bolivia


 To get to the Island of the Sun we required a 1½ hour boat ride across Lake Tititacca. The cost was all of $1.50 per person. Along the way the locals were fishing for Trout out of their 12 ft row boats throwing giant stones into the water to scare the Trout into their nets…quite a sight. We checked into a simple hostel for $9.00 per night with a million dollar view of the lake (So big can´t see the far shore line). The closer shore had 6400 m snowcapped mountains leading down towards the lake. Later that evening we enjoyed some fresh Trout with a 3 course meal for a couple of dollars (Did we mention Bolivia was very affordable). 

In the morning we departed on a 10 km hike from one end of the island to the other. The Island sits at 4000 m elevation so the daytime temperature only reaches about 18 degrees but the sun which is directly over your head burns in 5-10 minutes. At the far end of the island we boarded a boat to take us back to the mainland. The boats are equipped with 2 x 60 hp motors, but because the profit margins are so small for these boats he decided to only use 1 motor…. at half throttle to conserve gas.  As a result the boat went at a speed we were sure we could out swim and the 1.5 hr trip turned into 3.
 We returned to Copacabanna to enjoy some more fresh Trout and called it a night.
COLIN (also see new pictures below!)

1 comment:

  1. It looks a lot warmer than 18C, so I gather the lake is really cold too? Must have been nice to eat that fresh fish, we love the new pictures too, soo colourful!! hugs mom and dad xoxoxox

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