I met Fenna the next morning on our bus to Copacobana where we would join Evil Jess for the next three days on the beautiful Isla del Sol. I was happy to discover the vomiting had ended so it was a relatively peaceful bus trip. There was however one amusing part where we all had to disembark our bus, board a rickety boat, with no life jackets and cross a section of lake Titicaca. We watched as our bus drove onto a giant raft, with all our possessions, and sailed across the lake. It would be the beginning of a series of boat trips, and with it, my never ending, illogical fear of boats.
We met Jess in Copa, where she´d spent a few nights, and headed straight for, joy, yet another boat, to Isla Del Sol.
Isla Del Sol is an Island in the middle of what people like to say is the highest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca. It however is not the highest lake, but that doesn´t stop it from being beautiful and the closest thing to beach I´ve seen since Chile. The two main Island on this massive 8500 sq km lake (thank you Lonely Planet...) are Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna. These two Islands are where the Inkas believed the sun and the moon were created and are damn impressive. There are no cars on Isla del Sol, and when you arrive you are forced to carry what is now a very heavy backpack up incrediably steep Inka stairs. If theres one thing those Inkas loved its hills with stairs. It is however worth it, the prettiest views of both sides of the island are from the top where the best hostels are. We celebrated our grueling climb with a bottle of wine on the terrace of our hotel watching the sunset.
That night however we were in for a bit of a scare. After dinner, Fenna began to develope a strange rash that started on her legs. After a half an hour however it had spread all over her body. It was 9.30 pm, and knowing that there was no doctor on the island, and the last boats had long departed me and Evil Jess could do nothing but fain calmness, reassuring her that it looked just like a heat rash. When ever she left the room however we let our facade of calm fall and freaked out. We had no idea what was causing it and when her lips began to swell we decided to go to speak to the lady of the house. Upon looking at the rash she immediately stated it was an allergic reaction, which seemed a little odd as Fenna has no known allergies. She squeezed some lemon juice and told her to drink it and to rub the lemon on her rashes. She did so, but when we returned to the room Evil Jess gave her an antihistamine and we set off to sleep. The next day me and Evil Jess both confessed to having seperately checked in the night that she was still breathing! Like some sort of miracle however, the rash had completely vanished the next day... it still remains a mystery...
The following day I hiked the Island, which, I mistakingly thought would take 4 hours in total. In fact, it was 4 hours to the end and 4 hours back, which wouldn´t have been a problem, except I was alone, I returned a different route which continously caused me to get lost, I was losing sun light and had no torch. The way to the end of the island was a pleasant, but hot walk. The end brought me to Inka ruins, and way back I visited many strange little villages. I was slightly panicked at the prospect of being lost in the dark on the island, so the return trip was not so pleasant...
When we finally left the wonderful Island we were all rested and healthy and began our trip to cross into Peru, to the city of Puno. Lake Titi is divided between Peru and Bolivia, and the attraction of the Peruivian side is the Floating Islands, where the Uros people live on Islands made out of many layers of heavy duty reeds. We had been warned however of the seriously touristy nature of the Islands, but it also happened we would be there for Puno day, a strange ancient celebration of when the Inkas arrived to mainland Puno.
Fenna left the next day, but me and Evil Jess stuck around for the strange celebrations, which involved many parades, and a llama being sacrificed in a football stadium, and the king and queen Inkas drinking its blood from a bowl which also contained its heart. Nice.
That afternoon we visited the floating Islands, which indeed, were possibly the most touristy thing I´ve come across so far, but nevertheless interesting and fun. The locals dressed us in traditional dress, and on one island, we became the tourist attraction, local boys wanting there photos taken with us!
The following day Evil Jess and I went our seperate ways in South America and I headed to the Capital of Peru, Cusco.
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