Today I was up and ready for breakfast at 615am! The Peru hop minibus came and picked me up around 7am and took us to the pier in Puno where we met our guide Hugo Saul. As we got into the boat I saw Alice from England too, a girl I met yesterday on the bus from Copacabana, so we sat together and chatted.

After about 20 minutes in the boat, around 5km from Puno port, we came to an area that was full of reeds and then we saw the floating islands of Uros.

There are around 42 islands in total, some much larger than others and they are at 3810m above sea level.

We stopped and got off at one of the smaller islands which had 25 inhabitants across 5 families. It was really wierd walking on the reeds as your feet sunk in a little bit and you could feel the island move in the water.

Our guide, with the help of one of the local men, explained to us how the islands are built with a miniature model. Basically the roots from the reeds grow quite deep into the water and interweave to form a solid block. This is around 1-2m deep. Several of these blocks are brought together and anchored using eucalyptus sticks and then tied together with ropes. More reeds are then laid over the island to form a layer to walk on. Obviously over time the reeds dry out and break so every 3-4 months new reeds are placed on top. The reeds right underneath start to rot too as the moisture gets through to them. For this reason, every now and then they place more reeds underneath the houses too to lift them away from the moisture.

The people on the island were very welcoming and friendly. Obviously they make money from tourists as you pay an entry fee to visit the islands and they also sell textiles to tourists. It did feel a bit staged but it was still really interesting.

We took one of the massive reed boats to a more commercial island where there was a small cafe and more wares to buy. It was a very relaxing 20 minutes boat ride between the islands.

After the visit to these islands we then travelled onto Taquila island which took around 90 minutes. This island has no modern transport but also no mules or llamas so the people have to carry everything themselves. It’s one of the most famous areas for weaving and is around 12 square kms.

Taquila island is mainly used for agriculture and for that reason has many terraces to help with retaining the water when it rains.

We walked uphill for around 10 minutes to a small family home where we had a delicious lunch of quiona soup and grilled trout. During lunch we learnt about the clothes that the men wore which included their matador type jackets adopted from Europe, their woven belts which are really strong so help support their backs when carrying heavy loads and their hats which differ if they are single or married or if they are a leader in the community.

After lunch we then headed to the main plaza and visited the small church where there was a mass going on.

There was also a sign showing distances to some major cities.

After a quick puruse of the main square we headed over to the north side of the island.. It was a nice 30 minute stroll.

We got to the boat in plenty of time but one of our group had wandered off in the wrong direction after the visit to the main square so we all had to wait around an hour until he was found. Eventually he was so we sailed back to Puno.

We were dropped back at our hostel and I’d arranged to meet up with Alice for some dinner. We went to a really lovely restaurant Majosa where I had alpaca and Alice had guinea pig, we also shared a bottle of lovely red wine. We had a really good conversation about loads of things and then I had to leave to catch my bus to Arequipa.

It turned out that Alice was on the same bus! At around 1130pm we had to swap buses which was a bit of a hassle, especially as the seats on the first bus were much more comfortable.

This morning I woke up and then had a snooze as there was no rush to do anything. I had a leisurely breakfast and then checked out of the hotel.

I decided to climb Cerro Calvario. To get to the start of the climb you go past a small church.

A bit further on you come to the start of the stairs which take you to the top as you walk past the stations of the cross.

Being at altitude the climb is pretty hard going. Around a third of the way up there is a resting place, although I rested a couple of times before this. It’s also a place where the locals carry out rituals as well as a great viewpoint. It’s called Mirador Sagrado Corauon de Jesus.

So after a long rest I tackled the rest of the hill. The top of the hill is at just over 4,000m and the views of Copacabana are fantastic.

Some people are buried at the top of the hill and there are a number of shrines along the side. There are also stalls selling goods to tourists. When I went up it was pretty quiet.

I spent a bit of time at the top as it was a lovely sunny day. And then I headed down again. This is one of the views looking back up.

When I got back into town I wandered over to see Basilica Virgen de Copacabana. This is a very impressive building from the outside and the inside is stunning, lots of gold and intricate artwork. You weren’t allowed to take any photos inside unfortunately and there were security guards who made sure you didn’t. I also visited the chapel of candles which was basically a place you went to to light a candle and say a prayer.

The photo below shows the hill I climbed in the background.

After all this exercise I needed some refreshment so I went back to stall number 12 and had more grilled trout, this time with lemon. It was delicious.

I then changed up some money from Bolivianos to Peruvian Sold before heading back to the hotsel.

At the hostel I just chilled and read my book and ocasdinally petted one of the pet alpacas who were wandering around freely.

Around 4pm I sorted out my bags and had a cuddle with this little guy, before heading down to the White Anchor to catch my bus to Peru.

At the meeting point I saw Adam and Louisa briefly, they were having a beer at one of the rooftop terraces above the road where I was waiting.

The bus journey to the border was around 20 minutes. We had to get off, take all our bags with us and get checked out of Bolivia. We then had to walk down the road and get checked into Peru – it all took quite a while and we are now a further hour behind.

In Peru we jumped on a different bus (Peru Hop) which took us to Puno. In Puno we transferred to a minibus that then dropped us off at our hostels. My hostel was really nice. I just sorted some things out for the trip tomorrow and then went to bed.

The breakfast this morning at my hotel was amazing, it was huge so I managed to make a sandwich for lunch too and take an additional boiled egg with me!

After breakfast I met up with Adam and Louisa and we walked to the southernmost tip of the island. Currently you can’t go to the centre or north of the island as it is blocked off. There is some sort of conflict going on over tourism. I think someone started to build too close to one of the sacred ruins and then someone else blew up the building and now there is an ongoing conflict between the south and the rest of the island. It’s a shame as there are more Inca ruins in the north of the island.

We walked past the temple ruins again and a couple of ecolodges. We also made friends with some mules along the way. There are a lot of mules here as they are used to transport everything up and down the hills as there are no other means of transportation on the island.

Once at the tip of the island we had to backtrack a bit and then take a left to get to the southern lookout point. We passed some wierd wickerman like structure on the way.

We then walked all the way back to the top of the village where Adam and Louisa bought some take-away lunch. In total it was around an 8km walk.

We then decided to walk down to Playa Japapi. The walk down was lovely but when we walked back up that was a bit of a killer. On the way down a lovely dog befriended us and stayed with us all the time until we got back to the village.

On the beach we ate our lunch and then Louisa and I decided to go for a swim. It was freezing, the water was around 9 degrees. So the swim was very short. Louisa braved it a second time too. We did actually get all the way in and swim!

Now I can say I’ve swum in the highest navigable lake in the world as the lake is at 3,810m. It is also the largest lake in South America.

Once we’d dried off we then had to walk all the way back up to the top which was a difficult climb. But with a couple of stops on the way we made it.

This was the walk we did.

I said goodbye to Adam and Louisa (again) and headed down to the port – going down the Inca stairs is so much easier than going up them!

I managed to just catch the 3pm ferry and I met a group of French travellers on the ferry and we chatted throughout the journey (in English).

In Copacabana I’d booked into the same hotel as before and picked up my bags. This time the room I have is up in the attic but really spacious, with a small conservatory and a great view of the lake. It’s a shame it was so cloudy tonight so you couldn’t really see the sunset.

This evening I ate at the hotel restaurant. I took a break from trout and had lasagne and salad. The food was delicious. I also tried the typical Concepcion wine which was actually really nice.

This morning I had a lie in and then had a lovely breakfast of egg and toast. It was so nice not to have sweet bread, sweet pancakes or cake for breakfast! This was the view from the dining area.

After I had checked out and left my luggage in storage I just chilled in the garden of the hostel. They have pet llamas.

Around midday I met up with Adam and Louisa and we went into town and bought our tickets for the boat to Isla del Sol leaving around 2pm.

We decided to have lunch at one of the small lakeside stalls. We had been recommended stall number 12 and it did seem to be the most popular. So we sat and ate more delicious grilled trout with a view of cerro calvario.

After lunch we set out on our boat trip to Isla del Sol which took around an hour or so.

According to Incan lore, Isla del Sol is both the birthplace of the revered Sun God and also the world’s first two Incas.

Legend has it that following a great flood, the province of Lake Titicaca was plunged into a period of great darkness. After many days the God Viracocha arose from the lake and travelled to Isla del Sol where he commanded the sun to rise. He also created the world’s first two Incas; Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo.

Our first stop was at the Pilko Kaina ruins. This is a two story high temple which was built into the side of a cliff twenty metres above the lake. It’s amazing how well.preserved the building is despite its age.

After a little while wandering around we hopped back onto the boat which dropped us at the port of Yumani.

To get anywhere from here you have to climb the 204 Inca steps. Normally this wouldn’t be too bad but at almost 4,000m it’s a bit if a struggle. But we all made it.

At the top of the steps the reward is the Fountain of youth. This is a natural water source that contains three separate spouts which the Incas refer to as ‘don’t be lazy, don’t be a liar and don’t be a thief.’ It’s believed that if you drink from the fountains water you will remain young forever. I gave it a go – no harm in trying!

Then it was onwards and upwards to the hotel. All the hotels are up the hill so you get amazing views of the lake. It’s quite a demanding climb.

The hotel I’m staying at is at 3,973m and my room looks over the lake and you can see Moon island too. The room with the orange dot is mine.

Around 530pm I wandered over to where Adam and Louisa were staying and we walked over to the west side of the island to watch the sunset. On the way we bought a beer each. At the sunset place we met up with another couple of English people and also a guy from Ireland. The sunset was beautiful.

As soon as the sun went down you could feel the drop in temperature so after a little while we went to the restaurant Las Velas which translates as The Candles. The restaurant is all lit by candles with no electric lighting.

All the food is cooked fresh once you order it so you have to wait up to an hour for your dinner to arrive but the wait is worth it. I had wild trout cooked in a white wine sauce with spices and herbs and it was so delicious.

Adam and Louisa had lasagne and cannelloni and they both said it was one of the best they’d had.

After dinner we walked back to our hostels using our flashlights but on the way we stopped to look at the stars – they look so much better when there is no light pollution around.

Another early start and another visit to the French bakery for croissants.I got to the Amazonas airline office for 720am and then took their shuttle bus to the airport. It’s only a 20 minute journey. Check in was an experience. The airport is so small so they literally take your luggage, weigh it and tag it and then dump it on a cart which drives 5 minutes down the runway and it’s loaded onto the plane. Once you’ve checked in and been allocated a seat you then pay your airport tax and sit and wait in the waiting room which is basically a small shack!Our flight was supposed to leave at 855am but due to fog in La Paz the flight hadn’t even taken off at 9am. At 10am we were told the plane was due to take off around 1015am so would arrive around 1055am.Luckily the information was correct and all passengers and luggage were on board the plane really quickly and we took off around 11:15am. I’m glad it wasn’t delayed any further as I had a bus to catch in La Paz at 130pm.At the airport I got chatting to a girl called Mary from Belgium and found out she was planning to get the same bus as me to Copacabana.Once we arrived in La Paz, Mary and I shared a taxi to the bus station. The drop in temperature and rise in altitude was really noticeable!We had a quick lunch at the bus station where we bumped into Adam and Louisa who were also getting the same bus to Copacabana. It’s a small world when you’re travelling.The bus from La Paz to Copacabana has to stop at San Pablo de Tiquina to cross the Titicaca straits. Passengers get across on one ferry and the bus is transported across on another kind of ferry.Once on the other side in San Pedro de Tiquina we all got back on the bus and drove the last 45mins to Copacabana. Some of the views from the bus were spectacular.On arrival in Copacabana we all went our separate ways to check into our various hostels, but agreed to meet up later for drinks at sunset. This is the view from my room in the hostel.Around 615pm I wandered down to the white anchor to meet Adam and Louisa. As I was taking some photos I met another girl, Barbara from Austria, who then joined us for drinks and dinner too.We went to a rooftop bar to watch the sunset whilst sipping on a caiprainha.One of the traditional local dishes is trout, so we had some stuffed trout for dinner at a lovely maritime restaurant called La Orilla. The food was delicious.

This morning I got up early, grabbed a croissant from the French bakery and headed to the office for the canopy zipline.

At the office I met my guide, Emil, and then we headed to the river to go by boat to te jungle. Once we reached the jungle – it took around 20 mins by boat, we then had to trek to the first of the zipline platforms at around 3000m. The trek was up and down.

On the way we stopped at a viewpoint. The hills in the distance are the ones I ziplined through.

The zipline canopy was built by an American who promised to give any profit back to the local community at Villa Alcira. However, he didn’t keep his promise so in the end the local community hired a lawyer and won the case.

On the trek I got stung by a wasp in my ear, it was pretty painful. I’m not quite sure how it happened but I guess at some point I walked quite close to a bush and I heard this had buzzing in my ear – I swatted it and it stung me! Anyway, inwards and upwards.

Just before the first platform Emil showed me the technique to zipline successfully, sit down in the harness, cross your ankles, hold onto the short rope with your left hand and use your right hand for a brake when needed (You wear a special glove for this).

We arrived at the first platform and Emil explained everything again and then he ziplined down to the second storm. Once he was safely hooked on at the second platform it was my time to go. I was nervous but more excited. It was brilliant! This is the view from the first platform down to the second one.

And so it continued down across all 10 ziplined. Some of the lines were faster and longer than others. I loved it and you got such a good view of the forest from a completely different perspective.

These are some of the views from the different platforms:

At around platform seven, Emil told me how a guide had died last year as he forgot to unclip himself from the tourist so when the tourist started to go down the cable he got dragged along and he crashed into a tree and broke his spine. I made sure I was not clipped to Emil before he went down the cables!!

The whole experience was so exhilarating, I wanted to do it again as it was over so quickly. In total it’s over 1500m of cables and the fastest one is around 250m in 10 seconds!

On the way back we stopped at the lookout again and I ate the fruit of the cacao plant, the seeds are the beans that are them ground down to make chocolate so we didn’t eat these, just the fruit around them. Emil also cut down a couple of jungle oranges which were really juicy and sweet.

As there was only me doing the tour this morning we finished a little early and the boat wasn’t at the meeting point to pick us up. But Emil just flagged down another passing boat and we got a ride back to Rurrenabque.

This afternoon I just sorted out some accommodation trips and travel in Peru and spent some time reading by the pool. Obviously I swam a bit in the pool too.

This evening I had some fish at a nice restaurant and then went for a drink at one of the bars. The restaurant was really good for people watching. Practically everyone in Rurrenabaque has a motorbike or moped and quite often you see families of four or five on one bike. I’ve even seen pet dogs on them. And nobody wears any helmets or protective clothing.

I really like Rurrenabaque, it’s a really chilled, laid back place.

Today was an easier day. In the morning we made jewellery from seeds. We had to drill holes in the seeds using a fork and some of them were pretty tough. One of the red ones took me about half an hour as you had to also be careful you didn’t put too much pressure on and crack the seed. Once the holes were drilled we learnt how to weave them onto the thread and we made braclets.

We then used the stone of the jungle mango fruit, which is like a mini coconut, to make rings. You had to saw a piece off, cut out the middle, sandpaper it down inside and out, polish it and then rub it in ash to give it a final shine.

Here are the finished products:

We did also see some butterflies that fluttered around while we were working on our jewellery. There was also a wierd kind of grasshopper jumping around.

The resident cats were never that far away either.

After lunch I took some more photos of the ecolodge. I really liked the design of the toilets – basically they were snail shaped with the toilet in the middle and you just changed the sign when you went in to say if it was occupied or not.

Early afternoon we got the boat back to Rurrenabque. It was actually quite sad to leave the jungle – I’d really enjoyed being there.

After checking in at the Max Adventure office I headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower. I also dumped all my smelly wet clothes into the laundry.

In the evening Ditte, Heinrick, Katrin and I met up for dinner at Moskkito restaurant. I tried their pisco sour and it was really good.

And then it was time to say goodbye. I’m looking forward to seeing all Heinrick’s photos though as he had a really good camera and is a great photographer.

I woke up around 6am and just lay in bed for about an hour listening to all the sounds. I slept really well although we had a storm in the night and I did hear the thunder a couple of times.

After breakfast we set off on a hike through the jungle to see if we could spot some more animals. It was really hot and humid and we didn’t see a huge amount of animals. We did see this common jungle spider, a ladybird type of bug, an owl eyed butterfly and a frog.

We also learnt about the fire ant tree. This is a tree where the fire ants live and if the ants leave the tree dies. The bark of the tree can be used in a tea to help with diarrhoea and vomiting. Not a good tree to hold onto though!

On the way back to the ecolodge I took a couple of photos of the cabins. The one at the bottom is the one Katrin and I stayed in.

The ecolodge has a couple of cats of its own, the black one is just like a little panther.

After lunch Katrin and I, with our guide, took another hike through the jungle. Ditte and Heinrick decided to chill out around the lodge.

As we walked along it started to rain but as the tree canopy was so dense very little rain actually got through for a while. However, we did shelter for a little bit when it got really heavy. But it was actually quite refreshing after all the heat and humidity.

After an hour or so we reached the river where Juan Carlos and another guy from the lodge showed us how the indigenous people used to make rafts. We then donned life jackets and jumped onto the homemade raft.

It was actually pretty stable. After a few minutes we all jumped in the water and swam for a bit – I say swim but actually you just got carried along by the current. Inbetween, when the water was too rough or to shallow we hopped back onto the raft or held onto it. At one point it was a bit like white water rafting and I got thrown off the raft.

But we all made it safely back to dry land.

After swimming in the muddy water we took a shower and then met up with the others for dinner.

Again, it was an early night as if you sit outside for too long you get bitten by the mosquitos. Luckily there are not many of them in the cabins.

When I woke up this morning I was feeling much better, still not 100% but good enough. So I packed up my bags again and deposited them in the hotel storage before heading off to Max Adventure offices. On the way I bought some croissants from the French bakery for everyone. I had one with a cup of coffee when I got to the offices.

We were introduced to our guide Juan Carlos, and we had a new girl, Katrin from Germany, join the group in place of Madlene.

We walked down to the River Beni and got on a motorboat to go to Madidi national park, i.e. the jungle.

Once at the park we were welcomed by one of the park rangers who explained all about the park. There are 6 entrances to the park and only 26 rangers working across it. There are also 34 indigenous communities still living within the park. Only some of the park is open to tourists, much of it is unavailable and protected.

Whilst at the park entrance we met a coati who was very friendly and wanted to play with us, he was like a little puppy.

This is Katrin playing with him but we all had a turn.

We also saw a red macaw wandering around.

We hopped back on the boat and drove for around another hour to camp, which is another beautiful ecolodge.

We had some lunch before heading off on a short hike into the forest. It was amazing to just be wandering through the jungle listening to all the sounds – sometimes it sounded like it was raining but it was actually the monkeys moving around in the trees. We saw and heard some wild pigs too – they were really noisy grunting and clicking their teeth to warn each other we were there.

One of the birds we saw was a black tailed tragoon.

We also saw some playful brown capuchin monkeys.

We saw loads of spiders too, some of which were poisonous. There were also lots of poisonous caterpillars along the walkway to see the macaws.

At the macaw look out we were facing a wall with holes which are where the nests are. Using binoculars you could see the young macaws inside and then the parents would come and feed them. I tried to get photos but they were quite far away.

We saw loads of other animals and birds too including Amazon Squirrel, golden silk spider, huge mosquitos (the size of your fist), wood creeper, black-fronted nimba, bullet ants, squirrel monkeys and blue throat pippin chicken.

We also saw lots of different trees, one of the biggest ones we saw was an elephant leg tree. We also saw fig trees, some of which are being strangled by parasite trees. One of the interesting trees was a walking palm tree which can walk across the forest. Basically it regrows it’s roots and the old ones decompose so it moves along the forest floor.

We came back to the lodge and had some dinner before setting off again on a night walk. We saw a water spider, a tree frog, a smokey jungle frog, an illea frog ( or something that sounded like that). Right towards the end we saw an Amazonian tree boa.

After all the walking we were very hot and sweaty so we went to have a shower. As we got to the shower there was a small boa snake, around 2m long but very thin, on the outside of the shower wall. Alongside it was a banana spider which apparently is very poisonous, it certainly didn’t look very friendly!

The cabins are lovely and the beds are very comfy.

Unfortunately today was not such a good day for me. I had stomach cramps in the night and felt really nauseous. When we got up I found out that Madlene had been feeling really ill too. She was actually a lot worse than me. We though it might be the python fruit we ate yesterday but the other two were fine and they ate them too.

So for breakfast Choco made some parsley and orange tea which is supposed to help with an upset stomach – it was soothing but didn’t do too much for me. Madlene was sick so decided not to come to see the dolphins with us.

As we went out of the room to go to the boat we saw another crocodile- again really close to the walkway we were standing on. This one had a bit of a broken tail.

We went up river and found a little spot where 3 dolphins kept popping up. Ditte and I got into the water – after reassurance that both crocodiles and piranhas preferred the shallow waters. The water was lovely and warm and we swam around trying to get close to the dolphins. The dolphins were curious but also a little shy and the closest I got was around 1 metre away from them. It was amazing to be in the water with them and see them swimming around you.

They are really hard to get a photo of as they only pop up for a few seconds.

After our dolphin expedition we went back to the lodge and had a shower. It was then lunch time but all I could manage was a bread roll.

We then packed up all our belongings and got on the boat. Another couple joined us as they only did two days in the pampas.

Around 15 minutes away from where the boat docked we had a tropical rainstorm and we all got completely soaked. It felt freezing when we got off the boat but once we got our bags I changed into some dry clothes and felt a lot warmer.

It was then a two hour jeep ride back to the Max Adventure office. We stopped on the way again at the same place and the poor dogs looked just as sad as before.

At the office, we wrote up an evaluation and were given a small present (keyring) made locally. The owner was lovely and offered to drive me back to my hotel and get me some medicine. To be honest I think I just need to be sick and then I’ll feel much better.

I walked back to my hotel, picked up my bags from storage and checked in. I popped out to get some water and some bread rolls in case I felt like eating later. I saw a tiny kitten on the way home – again it looked way to small to be apart from its mum. I wish I could look after all these poor animals.

Anyway, when I got back to the room, I had a shower, washed some clothes and laid down in bed. There was some march/ protest going on in the town and you could hear it from the hotel – I couldn’t make out what they were protesting about though.

So lots of water and an early night for me. I need to feel better tomorrow as I start the 3 day jungle tour!