LAKE TITICACA FROM BOLIVIA SIDE?
 

all the tours ive seen seem to go from peru - is there any reason for this? can anyone recommend how long to spend travelling btw la paz and cusco?

hi, i wondered about that too and i am guessing because it's easier!? we stayed on isla del sol on the bolivian side and it was just beautiful!! a highly recommended stay. here was our itinerary from cusco:

day 1 from cusco, we took the tourist bus to puno. stayed overnight in puno

day 2 drove to the border, which is a really interesting border crossing! drove to copacabana (really, a pretty beach town), hopped on the boat and went to the island. we had nice traditional lunch on the island and took a hike (stopping at ruins along the way) to our eco lodge on top of the island. just beautiful, more than i had ever imagined. i wish we had an extra day here!! the folks at the lodge were wonderful too. i had really bad altitude issues this day (strangely at the end of our trip) and our guide got the lodge to send a horse to get me. then they gave me oxygen and some muña tea to settle my stomach. the next day i was a new person!

http://www.ecolodge-laketiticaca.com/index.html

day 3 isla del sol to lapaz. lunch. stopped at tiwanaku. kind of a long day and a bit rushed at tiwanaku. again, wished we had an extra day to break it up.

i had a hard time finding a tour company that does this route, but found an AMEX travel agent in LaPaz that helped put this together and it was just great! i think, from what i can gather, AMEX runs this lodge, which benefits the local community on isla del sol. my agent's name was Gladys and her email is
[email protected]
http://www.magri-amexpress.com.bo/

Gladys also got us great hotel rates in LaPaz as well.

thanks for the info - will check out the website...

we also saw stuff about floating islands in puno - did u skip those?

as you can see, our schedule was pretty tight, so yes, we skipped the puno side completely. you can do homestays on those floating islands. our plan was to end the trip in la paz, hence the stay on isla del sol. no regrets whatsoever!

A couple questions about the lodge and your route from La Paz.

1. Do you remember about how much per night you paid for this?
2. You mentioned you wanted an extra night there. Why? What would you have done there with the extra day?
3. What was the travel time between the lodge and LaPaz, and how did you get between the two?
4. What would you have done if you'd had time in Tiwanuku?

thanks.

hi julie-

answers to your questions:

1. Do you remember about how much per night you paid for this? Do not know what price is per night at the lodge, but we paid $250 per person for the package, starting from pick up at Puno hotel to drop off at LaPaz hotel (hotel was paid separately. we stayed at Hotel Europa). It included all meals, transportation, guide on Puno side, guide on Bolivia side and entrances to all sights in between.

2. You mentioned you wanted an extra night there. Why? What would you have done there with the extra day? Relaxed! And explored the island more. As I mentioned, I had altitude sickness on the hike up, so it would have been nice to just wander around the island. The views are just gorgeous. They also offer fishing & kayaking trips there too.

3. What was the travel time between the lodge and LaPaz, and how did you get between the two? Private transportation. Seemed like forever, we started out around 10 and got to Tiwanaku around 3:30. Lots of mountain passes. In between we stopped for a nice lunch and had to also take an overloaded ferry across a river. It was pretty funny now that we think about it... 20 people and 5 sacks of potatoes in a tiny boat. eek.

4. What would you have done if you'd had time in Tiwanuku? Not rushed! We got there close to closing and they were trying to shush us out and I wanted to linger a little longer.

We stayed in LaPaz an extra day just to decompress from the trip and to do some shopping at the market. There are some really nice textiles to be had and the Coca Museum was small but really interesting. Just be on guard there, LaPaz can be a bit sketchy, especially at night.