After a day of torrential rain, we packed an overnight bag & jumped on a heavily overladen boat to the Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun, for those of you who don´t speak Spanish!). And true to it´s name the sun was blazing and the island was absolutely beautiful, very lush & green and really peaceful with NO motorised vehicles.
We enlisted the help of a local boy to find us a place to stay & he blithely set off up about 600 steep Inca steps, cheerily encouraging us with "it´s only half an hour away". After 4 minutes we had to stop, wheezing and choking like the couple of unfit gringos that we are. But it was all worth it when we eventually got to the top with stunning panoramic views across the lake to the snow peaked mountains above. We immediately celebrated with a well deserved beer-with-a-view.
Five hours and 11 beers later, we were still there. The view was a bit dark by then but no matter, we´d made friends with Jo and Paul from Edinburgh - and a bloody good job too as without their torch we would NEVER have found our way back to our hostel! God, it was dark. And with a pig pen right next to our hostel (and not much to tell them apart) it could have been messy.
Next morning, we skipped the shower after Jo told us she´d been electrocuted the day before and headed out for a walk across the island with fab views on both sides. We didn´t see a soul until the little village of Challa where the friendly locals were ploughing their fields with hand ploughs made from bone, ready to plant coca plants. All families do this at the same time for community spirit & sharing of the workload. A bit like in the war. Waving to the villagers we set off back to the harbour followed by a big pig.
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