I woke up around 7:45am to pack and get ready for our floating island tour. Alyssa had woken me up at 2:00am the night before because she was so sick and I had finally convinced her to take the antibiotic so that she could feel better. She still was feeling awful in the morning and wasn't sure she should go on the tour. She decided she would go so we rushed to get things together. The bus driver that picked us up hurried us down the street to the bus so that we could circle around the city picking up the other passengers. We took a short drive down to the dock and got aboard our boat. Alyssa and I always choose seats in the back of the boat for maximum airflow. This boat was a little different and it appeared they had taken seats out of a coach bus and nailed them into the bottom of the boat. They were fairly comfortable, but you had a limited view of your surroundings through the window so there was an upper deck you could go up on to take pictures.
It was only about a 20 minute boat ride out to the floating islands. We had a guide who spoke Spanish and English and was giving history in both languages but his English was so impossible to understand that I actually listened to his Spanish explanations to understand what the hell he was talking about.
When we arrived at the first island, the local people who lived there put on a little skit for us, explaining how the islands had been built out of layers of reeds, how they barter using fish and dried goods and what their manner of dress symbolizes. It was interesting but definitely very touristy. The islands really are floating. You can see them move when a wave from a boat hits them and you sink about 6" into the reeds with every step you take. Apparently they have to rebuild the island with reeds once a month since the lower ones decay in the water.
Each island had a different tour agency bringing tourists to it for the same explanation and it seemed like their entire economy was actually funded by tourism. They corralled us into one of their local boats to take us to the next island but then we realized that we had to pay $10 soles each for the ride. Since there were about 15 people on the boat, they made out with at least $150 soles...not bad for a 10 minute boat ride. I try not to get too upset about the money they con out of us for the local people, obviously they don't have much and I have been fortunate enough to live a life of privilege but I really can't help but feel violated when I'm lied to. Not to mention, these people had solar panels providing energy to their houses and were all talking on cell phones...come on.
On the second island, there was truly nothing to do. We hung out and basically stared at each other for a good 30 minutes before we boarded the boat to head back to Puno. I think the floating islands are a very interesting thing to see- I mean, why people would build them and then live out there is beyond me. But the tour itself didn't do much for me.
We got back into town with about an hour to find some food and get back to the hostel so that we could head to the bus station. There isn't a lot of quick food that isn't bread, so I popped into a bar/restaurant and ordered some chicken fingers to go. Luckily, they were very lightly breaded so they weren't heavy at all. We got our bags, grabbed a taxi and headed to the bus station. The ride to Copacabana was only three hours, although we would need to cross the Peru/Bolivia border.
The ride was pretty easy and when we arrived at the border we needed to go to two locations to have our passports looked at on the Peru side (although they didn't really care and stamped our passports without asking us anything) and then we had to walk to the Bolivia side. Bolivia makes Americans get a visa for $135 when people from other countries don't have to since that's how much we charge Bolivians to enter the US. I totally understand the principle but it sucks for us! We had to make sure to have $135 USD which luckily we were able to get from a Peruvian ATM. We did not know that we needed a copy of our passport so fortunately they had a copy machine that we could use to very cheaply make a copy. The visas went smoothly and we were back on the bus within 30 minutes. Copacabana is only 8km from the border so we didn't have far to go.
Once we arrived in town, a guy jumped on our bus to explain that the "El Mirador" hotel the bus was stopping in front of had rooms for only $5 per person. I had looked up a bunch of hostels the fight before and they were all about $10 per person, so I thought $5 was a great deal although this was clearly some sort of con job. Pretty much everyone on our bus ended up staying at that hotel. Our room wasn't too bad and actually had 3 beds and hot water. We did hear that some of the other guests were not so lucky and had no hot water. Sadly no one in the hotel could get Internet even though they had two routers because it was so crappy. At one point they turned the Internet off completely and when Alyssa asked them to turn it back on, they said maybe in 10 minutes...lol! Luckily we were only staying there for one night.
Once we had settled in, we set out in search of food. Alyssa still couldn't eat anything crazy so we were looking for a place with variety. Luckily we had read some reviews on "La Orilla" and headed there first. Every review on trip advisor had said how great the chicken fajitas were so I was excited to have them, but sadly they were out of chicken so I settled for the steak fajitas and Alyssa had a Mediterranean medley of items. The food was great!
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