La Paz to Juliaca - Getting to know beautiful Lake Titicaca

Leaving La Paz meant cycling up to El Alto again, meaning about 500 m of altitude gain in only about 12 km... And on our slow ride uphill we had plenty of time to enjoy the amazing smell of the exhaust fumes of the cars and the sewage :p However, eventually we made it to El Alto and after a long ride through this town we finally made it out of the agglomeration of La Paz and soon found ourselves in the middle of nowhere again. On our way towards Lake Titicaca we had beautiful views of the Cordillera Real and could now enjoy the view on Huayna Potosí from another angle.

Huayna Potosí from the backside

Unfortunately, I suddenly felt sick again, so we had to stop at the little village of Palcoco, where we didn't find a hospedaje, but after talking so the people at the local health center, we were allowed to camp in the backyard of the health center. After leaving Palcoco the next morning, we soon spotted Lake Titicaca for the first time :-). However, for the first few km we rode along the shore of the lake, it didn't look very spectacular yet... After lunch it got more and more hilly and soon we found ourselves above 4000 masl again. It was hard, especially as I still felt sick, but the views over the lake got more and more spectacular!

The good thing about climbing passes is that usually you also get a good view...

After the last pass the road led down to the lake, where in San Pablo de Tiquina we had to take one of the may little ferries to get across to San Pedro de Tiquina. It was really strange to see on what kind of ferries they transport all kinds of vehicles across the lake: Cars, buses, trucks, bikes...

Interesting ferry transport from San Pablo de Tiquina to San Pedro de Tiquina

From San Pedro de Tiquina the road lead uphill again, and after a few km I was just too tired to continue. So we set up our tent a little hidden from the street, with a gorgeous view onto the lake and the Cordillera Real. The next morning the street continued to lead uphill, we climbed higher and higher and in between we always got some good views onto the lake again. And then, after a long time we finally reached the highest point. From there the road led down toward Copacabana.

Our first view of Copacabana

After checking into a hostel in Copacabana, we headed to the Costanera and had lunch on the roof of one of the many restaurant just next to the sea. It was beautiful, but with the wind we soon got cold and left for a walk along the shore of the lake. Later in the afternoon we made a small trip to the Islas flotantes (floating islands), but we figured that they were really nothing special and the best thing there was a nice rock we could climb to get a good view over the lake... After a good nights sleep we headed again to the harbor, this time we wanted to get to the Isla del Sol. The weather was nice and we enjoyed the long boat ride. Once on the island, we started hiking across the island. First we got to a nice bay with lots and lots of fishing boats.

Little boy on Isla del Sol

Then the trail led uphill, we came across some Inka ruins and soon found ourselves on the ridge of the island from where we had amazing views over the lake! There were so many small islands all around, turquoise bays, and of course the Cordillera Real in the background...

Isla del Sol - The view over the lake with the Cordillera Real
in the background was breathtaking!!

The end of the day we spent in a small restaurant drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the sunset. At the hostel we met a French couple that joined us to Isla de la Luna the next day. There we visited some more ruins and hiked to a sleepy, little town located on the opposite side of the island than were the boat took us. On the way back to Copacabana, my stomach made me feel really bad again, so that the only thing I did once we got back to the hostel was sleep...

After leaving Copacabana it didn't take long to get to the border; and soon we found ourselves in Peru! :-) It was still pretty hilly and by the time we made it to Juli I definitely needed a break, so we decided to stop for the day.

Yes! We made it to Peru!

From Juli we had a days ride left to Puno. For a long time we saw nothing of the lake anymore. After climbing another hill we saw this amazing lake again and then Puno was just a short ride away.

On our way to Puno, very hidden but just next to the road
I found this beautiful place...

Once we got to Puno, I decided to get medical advice, as I was still feeling bad all the time. It proofed to be a good idea, as the antibiotics I got finally seemed to help! The next morning we made a trip to the famous Uros islands. These are about 80 floating islands in the middle of the lake inhabitated bythe Uros people. Although it was one of the most touristic places we visited, it was extremely impressive to how these people still live without toilets (they have to take a boat to get to the "toilet island"...), without drinking water (they have to boil the water of the lake for everything), and mostly without electricity (some now have a solar panel that gives them enough energy for one lamp inside their hut...). However, they are completely dependent on the mainland, as they need trunks to anchor the islands, ropes to construct their boats, wool for their handcrafts, and much more...

The one of the Uros islands we visited...
People really still live like this out here!

Another Uros island

One of the luxurious reed boats

Uros island with typical houses and one of their "taxis", a simple reed boat

The next day we left for Juliaca. It was a short ride and in the early afternoon we got picked up the the plaza by Geovanni, our WarmShowers host in the city. And there, together with Geovanni, the two Koreans we already knew from La Paz, Sungjong and Jihyun, showed up as well. What a pleasant surprise! We spent the whole afternoon talking to them and then decided to tackle the remaining few hundred km to Cusco together. In the evening we went out for dinner with Geovanni and then he told us a lot about his life in Juliaca and his experiences with all the other cyclists he already hosted. It's always amazing how openedly we are welcomed in these peoples houses and this time I was completely speechless as Geovanni came back up an handed us both a little present... I thought that in any case we would have to be the ones to give him a present, but no, he wanted us to have a souvenir of Juliaca and so I got an alpaca-scarf and Stefan got some alpaca-gloves! :-)