We visited lake Titicaca and Copacabana 08 to 10 May

We left Lima early in the morning and reached La Paz the capital of Bolivia around 10 AM. The city is located at a height of 13,000 ft and fortunately for us we had got acclimatized to high altitude for three days in Cusco. We had purposely planned to visit Lake Titicaca at the midpoint of our travel to give ourselves a bit of rest from travelling, sightseeing and the entire hectic schedule.

View from the room

We had booked the best possible hotel in town to relax, unwind and just chill.Our initial plan was to proceed from the airport to the bus stand and catch a tourist bus to the lake located in the town of Copacabana.  Lake Titicaca can be visited either from the Peruvian side or Bolivia. We choose the Bolivian side to enjoy the ride from La Paz to Copacabana. On our way to the bus stand Sushama came up with a brilliant idea ‘why not go by a taxi, its more comfortable ,no unloading and reloading the luggage, stop where we want for a break and photography and so on’. We spoke to the driver using sign language and Google translator and struck a deal for 130 USD one way. We soon realized that the local busses were actually small vans with hardly any room. The luxury bus ‘Bolivian Hop’ departs La Paz at 7 AM and 1 PM, which did not suit our requirements. 

The omnipresent Andes

Coffee break enroute

Ferry transfer midway

The lake follows you throughout the drive

One of the many islands in the lake

Terrain very similar to the drive from Jispa to Leh

The road and the lake run parallel for many miles offering the tourists an excellent view. After a very beautiful four hour drive along the lake side we reached the town of Copacabana on the shore of lake Titicaca. There is the belief that the name is derived from the local language ‘kahuana’, meaning "view of the lake."The Brazilians borrowed the name for their famous beach in Rio. The town is located on the lake front at an altitude of 12400 ft.

The hotel 'La Rosario Lago' turned out to be a paradise of sorts with excellent ambiance and a lovely view of the lake. One can laze around in the bathtub whilst enjoying the beauty of the lake. The interiors of the hotel vividly reflects the art and decor of Bolivia. Hotel serves only breakfast and dinner. We went to the town for lunch on all days.

The interiors

Rest of La Rosario Lago Titicaca  from my balcony

Lake Titicaca at sunset

Lake Titicaca located at an altitude of 12600 ft is often claimed as the highest navigable lake in the world. The lake is the biggest in South America covering an area of 8300 Sq Kms. Lake Titicaca has a mind boggling maximum length of 190 Kms and a maximum width of 80 Kms. The average depth of the lake is 351 feet, although some parts of the lake are over 900 feet deep. More than 25 rivers empty into Titicaca, and the lake has 41 Islands, some of which are densely populated. The lake is pristine blue and provides a magical backdrop to the town. The lake reminded us of Pangong Tso in Leh, but very much larger. Just imagine an area of 8300 Sq Kms of Lake Titicaca compared with 604 Sq Kms of Pangong Tso.

We also visited a small island Isla del Sol situated close to Copacabana. A two hour boat ride in the beautiful lake takes you to the island and we spent better part of the morning taking in all the wonderful sights.The lake is home to a very large population of different types of birds. The visit to the island gave us an opportunity to feel the expanse of the lake.

On the island

Isla del Sol

At Isla del Sol

Navy captain on the way back

A cute little island enroute to Isla del Sol

Pristine blue all through

The place is pretty cold with night temperatures plummeting to near zero at night. Layers of warm clothing are a must when venturing out into the town. It is practically a one horse town with number of restaurants catering to the diverse needs of tourist who visit the lake. The food is excellent and very moderately priced. Vegetarian food is very popular amongst the tourist. Jai had a variety of food to choose from.Quinoa the super food of the urban rich including India is freely available in Peru and Bolivia. In addition Bolivians love eating rice and its a very popular item on the menu.

Lunch at a local restaurant

Rita waiting for her lunch

Jai very pleased

Extremely sweet person - our driver Mr Feliciano

Deserted street of Copacabana

Farewell lunch

All of us simply chilled the entire time appreciating the lake, enjoying good food and gave ourselves the much needed rest after hectic travelling for 15 days.

The same driver took us back to La Paz.