After a nice afternoon in Copacabana we got up early to catch the first boat going out to the Isla del Sol at 8:30. We payed 15 Bolivianos each for the ride, and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to reach the north side.
Isla del Sol is actually considered the birthplace of the god of the sun in the Inca mythology (Isla del Sol means the suns island), and it is still thought of as a sacred place for many of the people living there.
The place used to be very rich in gold, but today you'd have to go to the museum in La Paz to see some of the treasures from the island.

Going to Isla del Sol

 When we arrived we were met by a guide who showed us and the rest of the people on the boat (who wanted to join) on a short trip around the north part of the island. We got to see the museum first, and for this we payed 5 Bolivianos. For the guide we payed 10 (plus tip for those who'd like) each.

Some kids selling stuff along the road. They were harsh businessmen though; cause they wanted me to pay them for the photo I took.. :p

The Incas also had a sacrifice table on the island

Our tourist group sitting around the table while the guide is talking. In the background you can see their Sacred Rock.

The labyrinth-ish Chicana.

 The last thing the guide showed us, was Chicana, which used to be an observatory, but today it looks more like a labyrinth or something like that. According to some stories I've heard, the building used to be covered in gold. When the fishermen looked at it from the lake they couldn't see anything because of the reflection of the sun, while the Incas in Chicana on the other hand had a good view of what was going on in the lake.

Other tourist checking out Chicana as well

From Chicana you have a good view of the sea.

 Though me and Raquel originally were supposed to meet up with our friends on the north side of the island we were told by the boat drivers that no boat were going up to the north after the boat we used to get to Isla del Sol from Copacabana in the morning. Therefore we figured out that it would be better for us to walk down to the south side of the island and meet up with the others there.
The walk through the island is really nice, cause you have a great view of Lago Titicaca all the way.

Walking across Isla del Sol

Me and some locals at a control-post along the road going to the village in the south.

 One thing that is kind of irritating though, is that you have to cross a lot of different contol posts on your way through the island where you have to pay 5-10 Bolivianos each time for passing.. It doesn't help if you have a ticket from a previous control post, cause it is only avaible for a certain part of the island.
 

The view from the island is really nice, especially when you can take a look at the local houses at the same time

El camino hasta el sur!

Anyway, we walked quite fast because we knew that the others were supposed to be on the island more or less at the same time as we were struggeling up and down the hills of Isla del Sol, but when we arrived on the south side after about 2 1/2 hours of walking we couldn't see the others anywhere..
We decided to find a hostel in the village Yumani, which was very easy cause the locals were kind of desperate in search for customers. So we payed 25 Bolivianos each for an ok room with two beds and a public bathroom.
 Actually it was Raquel's birthday and we were supposed to celebrate it all together. But it was just the two of us, without phones and without any means of contacting the others.
So we just had an early dinner (we were quite tired from all the walking anyway) with the local specialty trout, which by the way is really delicious, and then we went to try and find a cake to celebrate just a little. Which we couldn't. They didn't even have ice cream..!! So the celebration wasn't really like we had thought it would be..

Fried trout, french fries and a fantastic view over Lago Titicaca.

Sheeps and the sunset over Lago Titicaca.

Sunday
The next morning we got up even earlier than planned (not so strange since we got to bed that early) and went down to the harbour to see when the boats were supposed to leave. And we were really lucky; we got there some minutes to eight, just as the boat was supposed to leave (which they never do anyway, since it is Bolivian time;)).

A llama down by the harbour.

 So I got the chance to snap a photo of the Escalera del Inca just before the boat left..

Escalera del Inca

 But even though we arrived in Copacabana quite early we didn't get to leave for La Paz. It turned out that this particular Sunday was the first National Day of the Pedestrian, or el Día del Peatón, which is going to take place annualy if everything works out as planned.. In other words, there was no bus going for La Paz until 2 in the afternoon and we were stuck.
So me and Raquel decided to chill out at one of the nice restaurants on the main tourist street going down to the harbour; we had some drinks and when Raquel told them that we were celebrating her birthday she got a piece of cake as well. Great service and great place!
Not to mention that while we were sitting there our friends Dorte and Ida suddently walked by. It was really weird bumping into them like that especially since we were supposed to meet them on the island the day before.. They told us that they had actually found a boat going up to the north part of the island, and that they had looked for us there.. Seemed we had been quite unlucky.!
They were staying in Copacabana longer than us, so at least we had time to share some drinks with them before we had to head for the bus that was going to leave Copacabana at 14:00.

Luckily we got to celebrate a little bit before going home.

 But there was still some problems with the busses; Bolivians tend to be late, and with the Day of the Pedestrian going on at the same time it was just double chaos. Eventually our bus did not leave until 15:00, and just as the bus started to drive Raquel noticed our other friends Kjetil and Lotte sitting in the bus next to ours also on their way home. It is so strange that we never actually met any of our friends while being on the island, but instead bumped into all of them in Copacabana.. What a weird trip..
Anyway, we did have a lot of fun too.. Next time we'll just make sure that we travel together instead...

A lot of chaos when everybody wants to get to La Paz at the same time..!!

Related blogposts

Sightseeing in Bolivia: The ancient city Tiwanaku

Sightseeing in Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni

Sightseeing in Bolivia: Copacabana

Hotel Booking:

Hotels in Bolivia
Hotels in Copacabana

Morning on the inca trail

 Though originally our guide Andres (aka Tarzan) had planned for us to use around 3 hours to get to Chairo. he seemed to have changed his mind cause he speeded up to the point it was hard to follow. But still we did have some time for breaks on the way to enjoy the scenery and to stop and look for monkeys in the woods. Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys on our way, but here are some wild horses we passed by:

Some times you come across some random wild horses walking by themselves down the inca trail.

 Thanks to our last struggles we arrived in Chairo a lot earlier than we had though we would, and here we had breakfast in the local food store. From Chairo we were going by car to Coroico, and in the end we found out that the easiest and cheapest option was to call Andres' lady Carla, who runs Carla's Garden Pub in Coroico and make her pick us up.

Finally in Chairo!! You bet I was glad the walking was over.. Haha:)

While waiting for Carla Andres took us down to the river, where there also is a butterfly conservatory. Unfortunately the conservatory wasn't open, but at least we got the chance to chill out and take a bath in the river..! A bit cold perhaps, but really refreshing! ..The only thing that wasn't too good, was counting my mosquito-bites from the trip just to discover that I had more or less 40 of them on my left leg alone..
Anyway, Carla arrived to pick us up after an hour, and we could continue our trip to Coroico in more comfortable manners.

Our first view of Coroico from the car

Though Coroico is a small city, almost more like a village, it is considered the capital of the North-Yungas. It is situated up in the hillside, and from the city you have a stunning view of the surrounding valleys. When you arrive in the city you'll see a sign that says "welcome to heaven", and they aren't lying, the place is beautiful. And the air is so fresh here too, not like the dirty air in La Paz :p..

View from one of the small streets going down from the main plaza in Coroico

We were heading for Carla's bar; the Carla's Garden Pub, which was situated up one of the small street going up from the bus station to Coroico's main plaza. Here we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening, and thanks to Carla and Andres' kindness we were going to spend the night here as well. Normally the pub isn't open on Sundays, so we were really lucky! And since the place was open only to us, we really got to relax and enjoy the drinks, the food and the beautiful garden to the fullest.

The sign at the enterance to the garden pub.

Andres ready to serve a cold beer or perhaps a fancy drink:)

Our host Carla by the entrance to the pub to the left, and not to mention the garden & view!

Cheers!

 After all the walking it was really great to sit down and have a cold class of beer. The weather was great, and so was the surroundings. In the garden we could see hummingbirds in the daytime, and fireflies in the evening!

Asger got to test out the hammock. Just have to say that Dorte and Asger are such a cute couple:)

In the evening the weather shifted suddently, and it was rainy and stormy. Still, we had a good time, and for dinner Andres showed off with his cooking skills, and I must say I was impressed. It was really great!! (They can also throw birthday-parties etc at Carla's Garden Pub, and if you have the chance this is something you shouldn't miss, so don't hesitate to ask them about it!). Unfortunately he didn't want to share any of his recipes with us though, I would have loved that.. Haha.. :p

Both the drinks and the food was really great. Who would have thougt that Andres is such a good cook?!

The pub by night

The pub by day

Coroico bus station

We originally planned to stay a day extra in Coroico, but there were almost no clean clothes left, and Dortes had some nasty blisters that made it really painfull for her to walk. Besides, or plan for the day had been to hang out by the pool of one of the hotels in town, but it was cloudy and cold. So in the end we decided that we might as well go home earlier. Just down the street from Carla's Garden Pub there is a bus station where the busses leaves more or less every hour. We payed 25 Bolivianos for a ticket to La Paz with one of the more comfortable vans and one Boliviano as a fee for using the station. But because of our luggage they also made us pay for an extra seet to put our luggage on.. Hrmf..
Anyway, the trip back took us about 2 1/2 hours, and we had great views most of the way!

The Choro Trek and the time we spent in Coroico was really great. If I have the chance to come back and spend a day in Coroico when the weather is better I definately will.!

All Blogposts from Bolivia
The Choro Trek 1: La Cumbre to Sandillani

Old man walking down the mountain side with what seemed like an extremely heavy backpack

This weekend me, Dorte and her boyfriend Asger went to check out the Bolivian wildlife through the so-called El Choro-trail. The approximately 53 km long trek starts in La Cumbre, a place which lies 45 minutes by car from La Paz. Our goal was the mountain-side village Coroico, which lies about 3 hours away from La Paz by car. The distance might not seem that long, but you have to cross over rivers, ascend and descend mountains, and not to mention the winding paths will take you zig-zag all the way to Coroico.

Starting out with a break on the top of the mountain.

Going to Coroico takes you through 5 different climate sones, from the cold and naked mountains close to La Cumbre, and a change to low altitude and hot climate when you get closer to Coroico and the Amazon jungle. The big variation definitely made the trek even more amazing.

Ready for the unknown.. Oh yeah.. ;p

We started of fresh at more or less 9 o'clock at Friday, with nothing but ourselves, our backpacks and our local guide Andres (we soon gave him the nickname "Tarzan" because of his toughness..!).
The first thing we did was to climb up one of the mountains close the the lakes in La Cumbre, and from there we had a great view of some inca ruins that Andres told us is more than 500 years old. As we went down towards the ruins we could see condors flying high above us, which actually is quite rare cause they prefer to stay at even higher places. But after we had passed the inca ruins we soon understood why the birds were patrolling the area: a horse cadaver by the side of the road..
We did see a lot of other living animals too though; both wild horses, llamas and sheep were to be found in this area.

Inca ruins that supposedly are more than 500 years old

We had to register before going through Samana Pampa

After some hours of walking we came to the small village Samana Pampa which we just passed through after having registered ourself in a local office on the way.
We did not see many people on our way, and the fog limited our view.

In the village Chucura, which is situated 3600 o.s.l, we had a quick stop to eat lunch. They were celebrating the jubilee of the village, so while eating we could hear sounds of a fiesta in the neighbourhood even though we couldn't see anything.

Our guide walking through the foggy landscape

Asger taking a rest after more or less 4-5 hours of walking

 Our next stop was Challapampa, and this was were we spent the first night. One of the local ladies, who knew our guide, made us dinner, and afterwards we went to bed. I think the clock was around seven or eight in the evening, but all of us were really tired after the long day..

The first toilet we passed on our trip..

First view of Challapampa

The tent is ready for the night..!

Dinner at the house of a local lady living at Challapampa

The second day of our trip we got up before sunrise, an started heading further down the mountainsides. The climate changed quite quickly, and it was a lot more humid than the day before. Most of the day we spent walking through exotic vegetation, we bathed in a river and saw a lot of exotic butterflies. Today we also had to climb the "Cuesta del Diablo" (or the hill of the devil), which is said to be the hardest part of the El Choro track. There was a part after it though, where the guide speeded up so badly that the Cuesta del Diablo seemed like a joke.. Haha..
But also today, we had great views and a lot to see.

The three of us ready for another hard day!

Some interesting plant

Just relaxing by the river

While we were bathing in the river a butterfly used the chance to rest on a pair of  our socks.

Passing the little rest-area called Buena Vista, which means Nice View. And there was certainly a lot of nice view here:)

We passed some gold mines on our way too; here there were 4 men working in the mines. Can't really say they had a lot of security in there though..

With a lot of walking to do you better rest while you can..

But there is also time to enjoy the view!

..Some of the bridges we crossed didn't seem too safe to be honest..

After another long day with 5-6 hours of walking we arrived at a village called Sandillani where there currently wasn't anybody, except for a 80-something year old Japanese man called Hanamura, who lived alone up in the mountains with his dog. Apparently he came to Bolivia from over 60 years ago; I tried to talk to him in Japanese but he didn't really answer a lot. I guess he wasn't used to talking it after all these years. I told him I live in Kyoto, and he started talking about the years Kyoto was the capital, he seemed to have remembered a lot of dates..

A Japanese house in the middle of nowhere - gokk-mokk - Bolivia

The guide cooking some noodles for us for dinner

Our place for the night. According to Dorte there were bats flying around us during the night, probably to catch the mosquitoes that had gathered to get a meal..

Anyway, that night we slept on the ground without the tent, and we could see the fireflies dancing in the forest.
The two first days of our trip was definitely the hardest ones physical since these were the days we walked the most (the third day we had to deal with sore muscles and blisters though..), but we did have some nice experiences the last days too. I'll be back with an update about the last days of our trip tomorrow.!

Related blogposts

Sightseeing in Bolivia: Cycling The Death Road

Sightseeing in Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni

Bolivia's National Day and Sightseeing in La Paz

Hotel Booking:

Hotels in Bolivia
Hotels in La Paz