It was cold this morning so we lingered in bed a little longer than we had planned. As a result we did not get to canvas the tour agencies in town about the day tour to the Isla Del Sol and Isla De la Luna before those tours had departed (at 8:30). Our tardiness was rewarded as the only way we could then do the day tour was to hire a private boat - which we did for a whopping US$100.
After some delay, to find the captain, get some gas and generally get organized we set off onto the beautiful blue water of Titicaca with a bright sun shining, in our own tour boat that could easily have accommodated 40 people. It did not take long to realize that this could be a long day as the boat was not fast - again a 40 hp motor pushed us along at no more than 10 mph. And this speed was considerably reduced when we were required to make way into a wind driven swell heading east to Isla de la Luna.
Isla de la Luna was a little disappointing. We spent most of our time there talking to the local souvenir ladies about how and whether they could change a 100 bs note so that we could buy a couple of souvenirs from them.
Isla Del Sol on the other hand was simply marvelous. After lunching on fried egg sandwiches (the eggs are safer than any meat) we set off to walk to the local Ayamaran and Inca ruins. We never got to them but the walk through the village and up onto the slopes of the island gave great views of this fabulous place. It was hot - mid 70°F - and the water of the lake was bright blue in the sunlight (like all the postcards of the Adriatic) the sand on the beach white and in the background were snow capped mountains of the Cordillera Real.
The walk also gave us a chance to get a close up look at the farming on the island. As I may have mentioned before, all the hills in this area are terraced for farming, hundreds of square miles of them, and all this terracing has been done by hand. The terracing consist of a series of hand built stone walls, between which is laid gravel topped with soil to make a field for growing plants. Right now it is late harvest time so many of these fields are either newly tilled for the planting of the next crop or are stubble from the cutting of the recently harvested crop.
The trip back to Copacabana was a slow pleasant couple of hours in the sun. Unfortunately Nina - the birthday girl - got a bad case of sunburn on the face. Though she did not realize that while she was in the sun.
