What
a rush. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 7:30 but we got an email to say
it had changed to 5:30. We were given no reason why but we later found out that
it's because there are protests planned for today on our route and they are notoriously
violent. I get up just after 5 after hardly sleeping and coughing the whole
night only to be told that the bus was already here. I quickly finished packing
my bag and met Tina and Dom in reception, but Dom couldn’t find his glasses so
I picked up his and my bag and run after the bus which was starting to leave
without us. He packs our bags while we wait a few more minutes for Dom to
emerge and we are all finally on the bus at 5:30 after lots of shouting. Now to
hope we miss the protests.

After
picking up a few more people we were on our way by about 6:15 and there was a
notable police presence along the first bit of the route. A little further out
of town, in what seems like a township, there were rocks in the road and the
bus had to take multiple detours along very bumpy dirt roads. At one point we
even had to cross a small river. It was actually rather interesting to see
these communities and how the buildings were structured. The vast majority were
made of the same terracotta bricks as all the other buildings. Each house seems
to have a large piece of land with a boundary wall on it and inside a small
little house and often a half build house.

After
a while we stopped at a petrol station which led us to assume that the worst
may be over. Fortunately that was the end of it and now we were on normal roads
again. And obviously I could get some sleep. We reached a little town on the
edge of Lake Titicaca where we jumped out of the bus to get on a boat while the
bus goes on a ferry to cross the lake. The weather was not so lekker and it was
raining and it a little cold. We bought our tickets for the boat and jumped on
and chugged our way across the lake. 

On
the other side there was an immigration official who quickly checked our
passports before we got some shelter from the rain which was getting harder and
harder. After a while the bus had made it across and we run and got back on
board before heading off to Copacabana. The route promises to have some good
views but due to the rain and mist we couldn't see much. We eventually entered
Copacabana after some more sleep and we sorted out tickets to Puno for tomorrow
and then made our way to our hostels.

After
checking in we grabbed some food (not worth saying more about it) and then
sorted out a ferry to Isla del Sol. Due to limited time we were only able to
see the southern portion of the island where we walked through a hanging garden
while enjoying looking down at the dock and over the lake to Isla de Luna. We
continued walking almost along the Ridge around to some Incan ruins and back
onto the boat to return to Copacabana.

The
lake is at about 3800m and we climbed to about 4000m. The lake is also 8400
square km and is the highest navigable lake in the world.

Once
back in Copacabana we went to a roof top bar for a snack and a drink to watch
the sunset only for the clouds to block our view and for it to get really cold.
We decided to get some food and made our way along the lake front to a
restaurant which was no longer there so went to its replacement instead (cafe
London). 

The
trout is the local delicacy as it is farmed in the lake so I decided to try it.
I ordered a stuffed trout (what they known for) but had no idea what it was
stuffed with. Rowan had the same while Dom and Tina had the menu of the day.
Their soup arrived and it looked good, then their mains arrived which was the
normal stuff we had been eating for a while then rowan and my trout arrived and
it looked very inviting. There was something inside but I couldn't see what it
was and there was some grilled cheese over the top. I took my first bite and
was confused. It was sweet and after I while I realised it was pineapple and
not fish. Not what I expected. The more I ate the more strange flavour
combinations I came across. The stuffing was beans, carrots, ham, pineapple and
cheese. To add to the flavour confusion the fish had been grilled and had a
slight curry flavour. I very quickly ate the stuffing and fish separately which
was rather nice on its own.

We
then decided to call it a night after a long day and I got to watch my first
movie in 3 months. Another first in 3 months was that I also had a private room
to myself... And it is an en-suite!