From Puno, we took an early morning bus departing at 7 AM. The bus agency provided pick up from our hotel picking us up at around 6.40 AM. It’s only a 5-minute drive to the terminal, but before boarding the bus you have to go to the terminal stall to pay the terminal fee of 1.50 PEN1. We were the last people that boarded and the bus left promptly. En-route to the border, the bus operator announced that there’s a 2 PEN toll charge per person and there’ll be a stop at a currency exchange place. We were annoyed by this since we weren’t told about this when we bought our tickets and had spent all our PEN the day before. We spoke with the bus operator and he said we can pay in BOB2 as well. It took about an hour and a half to get to the currency exchange place before the border where we changed some USD3 for BOB. It’s then another 15 minutes to the border where everyone has to get off and queue up for customs. It took about an hour to get through customs, walk across the border, and board the bus again. From the border, it’s then about another hour to Copacabana.
The Town and Finding Tours
We reached the town at around 11 AM and there is no proper terminal in Copacabana, so the bus dropped us off near the town center. Copacabana is smaller than Puno and we walked to our hotel which was about a 5-10 minute walk away. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we dropped off our bags and walked to the town center. At the central plaza, there are several stalls and a market in the area. On the main road leading to the lake, there are several tour agencies and restaurants. We started looking for island tours and we chose a tour for transportation to The Moon Island and The Sun Island. Since there is no terminal, we also asked the tour agencies about transportation to our next destination – La Paz. We found one for a bus leaving the next day at 6.30 PM after our tour, so we opted for this to save on spending another night in accommodation at Copacabana. Our final task was then to find out where we could get a SIM card to get data on our phones. This proved challenging but we managed to find an office for the national Telecomms company – Entel. Being a national company, this was the cheapest option with the SIM card costing 10 BOB and a top-up of 50 BOB for 2 GB of data. Once we had everything sorted, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit. Then in the afternoon, we decided to hike up to a viewpoint at Cerro El Calvario just north of the town. It’s quite a tiring hike but the views of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca are amazing. We headed back down at around 5.30 PM and went to a lakeside restaurant to catch the beautiful sunset over the lake.
Isla De La Luna
The meeting point for the tour is at the docks and the departure was at 8.30 AM. We handed the tour ticket to the boat operator and boarded the boat. It took about 1-hour 20-minutes to get to the island and we were given about an hour to roam around. After getting off the boat, you’ll find the locals charging the entrance fee for the island. It costs 20 BOB and you’re given a receipt. We walked up for about 10 minutes to the temple of Iñaq Uyu and there was a guide there offering his services for tips. Once a group gathered around, he gave a history of the site and explained the temples. Once he’d finished giving out the info and taking questions, he went around the group gathering tips. It’s a small site and can be completed in under 20 minutes. Since we still had some time, we headed back via a detour to a viewpoint of the lake. It took about 20 minutes to walk there and then 10 minutes to head back to the pier via the beach.
Isla Del Sol
It takes about an hour to cross over to Isla del Sol. On the way, a guide offers his services and explains what he’s going to take us to see. This island is much bigger and it’s always best to go with a guide, so when he went around to collect the money we opted in for 25 BOB each. Once we reached the island, once again the locals are there to collect the entrance fee which is another 20 BOB. The guide then first takes you up to the ruins of the Templo del Sol. At the ruins, he points out a tunnel and explains that it’s believed to connect to the Isla de la Luna, but is closed off and hasn’t been fully excavated. He then takes us around the island for about 1-hour 30-minutes, stopping at some viewpoints until we arrive at a small village. In the village, he gives some history on a holy water fountain at the foot of the Inca Stairs. The village pier is where we take our boat back and we have about 40 minutes here to wait for the boat. The guide recommended a restaurant overlooking the lake to have some lunch while we wait. The boat arrived at around 2 PM to take us back to Copacabana, reaching the town at around 3.30 PM.
