Anyway, we spent the morning catching up on the internet and Chris finally bought some new pants ... that's trousers to you and I... after only having one pair which he'd worn since the Inca trek and not washed.... boys are sooooo minging!!! After a not so quick lunch that nearly resulted in us missing the bus, we were on our way.... again, a pretty uneventful bus ride... I tried to badger Chris into testing me on my Spanish but being male and irate, he didn't really excel himself as a teacher... Dawn however came to the rescue and I did manage to take in a few more things. I also made them all promise to force me to ask things and try speaking Spanish sometimes instead of relying on Dawn and Chris, as I'll never improve if I hide behind them.
We got to Copacabana just in time for sunset and watched it at our gorgeous hostel... La Cupula... (our room is the one with the light on in the pic here... the sunset shown above is the view from our room) it was prob a little pricey for a backpacker but it was only $10 each for a twin room with our own bathroom so we decided to treat ourselves... or rather, that was everyone else's norm.. i was just treating myself!!! We had a little wander round town, decided we all really liked it there, although weren't too impressed with the no ATM machine's thing, esp as Chris and I had both been unprepared for that. oops! Then headed back to the hostel restuarant... well reviewed in the Lonely Liar.. for dinner. We were up early for the boat over to Isla del Sol the next morning so it was early nights for the 4 of us again... we had trekking ahead! and this time we'd chosen to do it independently!!! hmm... interesting!!!
So, brekkie eaten, packed lunch packed off we set for Isla del Sol.... and what followed was a horrendous few hours on board the most uncomfortable boat in the world where i wasn't allowed to sit outside incase the weight at the back was too much for the boat to handle and so I spent the entire time lying uncomfortably on the hard seats trying to pretend I didn't feel like I was about to throw up everywhere!! I somehow managed to survive the ordeal and we arrived into the North of the island 2 and a half hours later!! 
We'd decided our route would be to start in the North of the island in Cha'llapampa (shown above) and walk from there to the Chincana Inca ruins right at the northern point of the island, back to Cha'llapampa for a rest stop before trekking south to Challa, where we'd spend the night then continue on the next day to Yumani, in the South of the island, spend the night there then get a boat to the mainland from there and trek back to Copacabana from there on day 3!! All sounded like hard work to me but I'm used to that now and actually quite like the challenge... the feeling when you've done it is great! But right now, we were at the beginning... and it was hot!!
The trek to the Chincana ruins took an hour or so each way and it was beautiful scenery... the Lake is certainly more picturesque on the Bolivian side, although the Peruvian side does seem to offer more tradition and culture. The sun was beating down on us the entire way and foolishly, forgetting the altitude I ended up with rosy coloured shoulders... but the walk was gorgeous and brought us beautiful views, random donkeys and some pretty damn cool ruins at the end of it... Isla del Sol is where the Inca's believe the birth of the Sun was, hence the name and there's apparently God's footsteps there too, although Dawn and i are skeptical that what we found were meant to be them... not to mention the sacrifice table you see below.... there are pics of me on the table but this one of Johnny amuses me more.... not least for one reason and there's a certain group of people that will know exactly what I'm on about... Nat, Jen and all of Nat's girlie's... I've 2 words for you; DEAD ANTS!!! Ring any Bells girls???!!!! oh the memories.. one of our finer moments I do believe!!
Anyway, back to the island of the sun... Once back at Cha'llapampa we were all ready for a little refreshment stop before hopping back onto our trekking feet so stopped for a little not so cold Sprite and then set off again, this time heading south... we were a little 
unclear of our route but managed to find our way to Challa... a tiny settlement described by the Lonely Liar as reminiscent of the Greek Islands..... hmm.... not so much!!! It turned out to be a tiny settlement on the shores of the lake, with very very little there, although it is home to the islands only Secondary school, infact i think it might be the only school at all.. so not really sure what the kids do for Primary school. It was very pretty though and although we were surprised by the lack of anything at all there as what we'd read had not given us that impression at all but we pressed on to the Posada del Inca Hostel.... it was deserted. But hanging around long enough meant the owner found her way to us.. word must get round quickly in this village... there were Newbies in town!!
We ended up checking in for 10bs each for the night (plus 15bs for dinner.. it still amazes me how you pay more for a meal here than you do for your accommodation)... our rooms were boxes with mattresses on the floor, no locks on the door, no running water and a toilet block with just the mountain face as pretty ineffective 'doors'.. but the views of the lake from our rooms were fantastic and we were paying less than a pound each for it!!! Can't really complain eh!!!
Once we'd checked in we did however venture a little further down the beach to find a brand new hostel perched on the hill that looked like it had a lot more creature comforts... oops! But in the end, we were actually quite glad to be staying where we were... we figured the family running our place were far more in need of our 100bs than the other people and the had the cutest little boy, who was soo grateful and excited when 
Johnny and I gave him soem colouring pencils as a present when we left.. he's the kid in the pic above btw). As the nightlife wasn't up to much we decided some cards (no boys, I didn't cheat, it's not my fault a girl can beat you both so easily!! ;0) dinner and bed where the order for the evening!! I do have to admit though, Dawn and I were both a little scared given we had no locks on our doors, all the locals knew exactly where we were and the owner of the hostel had gone off up the mountain to her ouwn house for the night leaving us all alone.... there was only one thing for it.... I don't know about Johnny but Chris had to push his mattress up by the door and sleep against it, astanley knife at the ready... just in case!!! Have to admit, I was pretty damn glad to be sharing with a guy that night!! Thanks matey!!
Obviously our fears were obsolete and we awoke the next morning safe and sound in our beds, with the sun streaming in and the lake outside, it wasn't a bad place to find yourself of a morning. The owners cooked us breakfast before we set off on that days trek... destination Yumani.. the islands major town in the south which is where most visitors come for the day. It was a 2 hour hike from Challa to Yumani, most of it was fairly flat but there was a little uphill and the whole altitude thing stil makes me utterly breathless going uphill.. I had also awoken to find my shoulders sore and red thanks to my stupidity the day before and also without a decent t-shirt to cover them up... so I had to borrow one of Dawn's to save my poor skin.. thanks hun!
We reached Yumani by about midday and once again the island had come up trumps with its impressive scenery... once there we managed to find a lovely little hostel; Las Islas. There were 3 rooms on the top floor of the hostel with a massive balcony that overlooked the lake and Isla Luna, the small Island of the Moon, just off shore of Isla del Sol (this is the view from our balcony in the pic here). Unfortunately the sun sets on the opposite side of the island but it was still beautiful. we headed off in search of food... we searched everywhere but for some reason all the restaurants were closed... there wasn't that many people around either and so it seems the restuarants close until the boat from the mainland arrives with more tourists.. so we headed back to our hostel and ordered from the restuarant there, sitting in the sun overlooking the lake... it was gorgeous... certainly nothing to grumble about. Once again.. it made me think how lucky i was to be on this trip, doing and seeing all these things!!
After lunch we all adjourned up to our balcony, my idea being to sit and chill with my book taking in the view... a bit later when we'd all napped, read, showered etc... we were joined by 2 peeps who were taking the 3rd room up there. Turned out they were people we knew from Cusco.... Emily (an English girl) and Chris (and Aussie lad) .. Emily had been working at Loki while I was there, although I hadn't really known her that well and both Chris' had met on a night out in Cusco too. We all ended up sitting on the balcony for hours chatting, drinking beer, mate de coca and eating biscuits then ventured down to the church, where both Chris' ended up playing football with the locals (not an easy task at altitude!) Dawn and Johnny had gone for a wander and Em and I found ourselves back on the balcony doing what we do best.. chatting..before heading off for dinner.... this time to a proper restaurant. The food was pretty good although mostly what I remember is the delicious chocolate coverd banana and Bolivian red wine.. which despite being told it's disappointing I was actually pleasantly surprised by.
and a little aside... yep, it seems, that regardless of my life long dislike of red wine, South America has in 2 short months managed to pretty much convert me... I am now addicted to the stuff!! Mat.. you can stop despairing of me not liking it!!!
but... back to the island... the rest of the evening was spent in Chris and Emily's room playing cards and oops, drinking more wine.... that 4 hour trek tomorrow was going to hurt!!
We'd decided an early start was in order as walking in the midday sun wouldn't be ideal and didn't want to make it back to Copacabana too late so were up and about at 0830... Chris and Em impressively dragged themselves out of bed and joined us for brekkie.. although the lucky sods got to go straight back to bed afterwards unlike us!! But we had a plan to complete so off we went, packs on our backs... we'd arranged for a boat to pick us up from the other ruins on the island... it was only a short walk to them so we allowed an hour and a half to get there and check them out before hopping over to the mainland to start the walk. As it turned out we didn't need quite so long.. the ruins.. hmm, not so impressive and didn't really take long. Chris didn't even bother looking at them but Dawn, Johnny and I figured we were there we might as well... it had started to look a little threatening weather wise too and rain a little.. none of us fancied a repeat of day 2 of our Inca trek so we considering our options but they were pretty limited so when the motor boat turned up we got in it! (Usually these trips to the mainland are done in a row boat but that would've been impossible in the wind that day so we'd had to pay more for a motor boat).
Luckily once we'd made it back to the mainland, the skies were kind to us and the sun came out for our walk back. Most people do this walk the other way round so we met a lot of people going the opposite way, with varied responses to our 'how far is Copacabana?' questions!! 
We passed through villages and cut over an ancient Inca road, almost totally obliterated now, saw a monument wher apparently miracles occured and finally rounded a corner to find Copacabana in view in the distance... we didn't realise then how long it would take us to reach it!! It was like a mirage... always there but never getting any closer and although the walk was flat it was soooo exhausting in the sun with your destination seemingly so near and yet so far! I think that was probably the hardest part of the whole 3 days trekking, forget the hills and the breathlessness.... it was this relentless, endless flat walk at the end that killed us all... we made it evntually though and I think we all did damn well... good work guys!!
As soon as we made it to town, Chris and I were finally able to get money out from the bank then we collapsed at a restaurant for much needed food.. it was 4pm!!! Ouch... but quite proud of myself I have to say! None of us were capable of much that evening it's safe to say, we all had much appreciated long hot showers, chilled out, caught up online and had a tasy mexican meal...... then bed.... bliss!!! It had been a wicked 3 days though, Isla del Sol is beautiful and I'm so glad I took the time to se it properly. i was worried about it eating into the time I had left but I've realised that there was no way I was going to fit everything that i wanted to see in, in a mere 2 months here so its best to not rush everything but just do less things and do them properly... anyone gets the opportunity to come here, I definetly recommend it, it's beautiful! xx
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