We heard a lot of good and bad stories about Bolivia; about people who lost their passports to fake officers, about criminal tour guides and drunk bus drivers. However, we also heard (from other people) that Bolivia is one of the safest countries in South America. Not knowing what we should expect, we crossed the border at Lake Titicaca (pronounced like Lake Titikchakcha) and went on a boat to the Isla del Sol.
According to legend, the first Inca Manco Cápac emerged from the Isla del Sol. It is a beautiful small island in one of the highest navigable lakes in the world (3812 meters above the sea). We decided to stay for two nights as there are a lot of nice hiking trails on the island. After we arrived in Yumani we looked for a hostel on the island. The search proved to be quite difficult as many hostels only accepted pre-booked reservations. Eventually, we found a room with nice views, which was very cheap.
The town of Yumani
In the evening we enjoyed the beautiful sunset and went to an organic restaurant where they provided board games to kill the time. This was very necessary as the food took hours to be ready. We expected this and therefore ordered a bottle of Bolivian wine, which was acceptable. The restaurant was full of Swiss and I felt almost at home. The pizza and the lasagne (very Bolivian, I know) were ok, but I wouldn‘t put this restaurant on top of my list.
The sunset over Isla del Sol
The next day we started very early. We planned to hike around the island but were stopped right after we crossed the border of the village. Apparently there is a conflict between the people in the South and the North and it is not possible for tourists to cross the island. This blockade lasts already for nine months, which is incredible given the island is one of the main tourist spots in Bolivia. Frustrated because almost all the important inca ruins are on the Northern side, we returned back to the village. Other tourists made the same experience and we took some time to discuss what we should do. As the Southern part of the island was quite small, we decided to cut our stay on the island and travel to La Paz on the same day. After arranging the trip and booking a hotel in La Paz at one of the few restaurants with WIFI, we packed quickly and left the hostel. In our remaining time we did a quick hike to two viewpoints („Mirador“ in Spanish) and went down the 200 meters in altitude to the port to catch our boat.
The view to the South from the Mirador
The view to the North from the Mirador
Back on the mainland we got our bus (Bolivia Hop – highly recommended, also for the border crossing) and drove to La Paz. When we arrived we were still a little bit irritated and sad that we were not able to fully experience Isla del Sol. But this is now Bolivia and things are different here.
Erst einmal weg... 