Into Bolivia (Lake Titicaca)

Lake Titicaca from Isla del Sol
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With all of our paperwork in order... application with passport photo, copy of yellow fever certificate, copy of credit cards, passport, a 3 week itinerary, and of course the $100... entry into Bolivia was a relatively easy process. The 3hr bus ride ended with us stopping at the boarder on the Peruvian side where we went through outgoing immigration (2 stops: The police for an exit stamp and then the immigration office for a passport stamp). We then proceeded to walk across the boarder to the Bolivian immigration. As everyone else proceeded directly to a desk for an entry stamp, Adrian and I got shuffled to a different desk first. We handed in our paperwork to the person in front of us and he quickly reviewed with efficiency before placing a fancy $100 postal like stamp in our passports. We then got our final entry stamp and hopped back on the bus for the 8km ride into Copacabana (Copa). On the way into town there were fires lit everywhere, including some very large ones, as the local people celebrated some Saint I can’t remember.

The main plaza in Copacabana (Copa)
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We stayed one night in Copa, and upon waking up we realized that there was no ATM in town. Running low on cash we took out our reserves and decided that we only had another 1-2 days here. After that we would have to head to La Paz.. Given this plan, we took the 2hr ferry to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), the legendary Inca creation site and the birthplace of the sun in Inca Mythology. However, despite the scarce ruins and location you wouldn’t know it. Upon docking, we hiked up 100m with all of our stuff in picked one of the first hostels we came across for 15 Bolivianos, roughly $2. The people here were really friendly, but generally tended to their business. On our second night in Bolivia, we drank wine and watched the sun set over Lake Titicaca. As darkness set in we were treated to some of the best night time sky viewing so far on our trip. With relatively no light pollution, the milky way was phenomenal and the southern cross became just another set of stars in the sky.

Copa and Isla del Sol