Wednesday, January 30th

Copacabana —> Isla del Luna —> Isla del Sol

Stayed at Hostal del Sol

Dear Obiwan,

I woke up today surprisingly not as cold and miserable as I was when I fell asleep…for the 6th time. I woke up very hot under my 5 blankets! What a pleasure compared to being the second coldest of my trip when falling asleep!

After an okay breakfast and leaving our big bags at the hostel, Amrei, Rachel, and I were off to stay on Isla del Sol for a night.

Somehow checking out and packing 3 things took me 15 minutes longer than planned and I almost MISSED THE BOAT (“oh and we carried it all so well!” …Modest Mouse- Missed the Boat!). But I just made it.

Then we were on the boat! The boat first stops at Isla del Luna and then Isla del Sol. In the beginning we were excited about the boat and chose to sit on the top. Not knowing that it was FREEZING due to the clouds and RAIN for a moment and not knowing they DON’T let you come back down due to the boat moving (.00001 miles an hour?!?).

But after some freezing…the sun came out and wow, it was like night and day, just beautiful!

We picked up a guide on Isla del Sol quickly then went to Isla del Luna.

…Obi…it was not fast. It took 2 hours to get to this island. And it wasn’t that far, but the boat moves at the speed of me walking up a mountain- SLOW. In addition, your butt is soar after 10 minutes because your sitting on this thin wooden bench. Also there were about 4 boats going at the same time and ours was way in the back, we had the slow boat 😫.

However, the boat ride ended up being lovely because we met this amazingly sweet and kind and friendly young Bolivian woman who as 26 and with her family. She really wanted to learn about us and who we were and also share about her life. She was lovely and it made this slow and cold ride lovely!

And then, 2 hours later, were at Isla del Luna! You have to pay 10 BOB immediately to enter the ruins, and it was very cool! We could have paid that man we picked up from the other island for a guided tour, but it was going to be in Spanish so we decided to explore on our own.

We had 50 minutes and then were back on the boat. Isla del Sol looked so close but yet again, took 18 hours to get there. But this time the sun was for real out and it felt incredible.

Finally, we were on Isla del Sol! And Obi…it was GORGEOUS there. Cobble stone paths, water running down these beautiful stone drains, flowers everywhere, trees and lush green grass, just WOW. Also, it was sunny!!! On the SUN Island Obi! You would look around at the other islands on the lake and it was all DARK AND CLOUDY AND GLOOMY. But here, on the SUN ISLAND it was SUNNY!!!

Then, there was, the hill.

I don’t know if this picture does it justice, but it was these long wide ass steps.

Since I have my Salt Flats tour planned in a few days, I wanted to book my hostel in advance, so I already had my hostel. Amrei and Rachel didn’t, and they found this lovely hostel on the way up. I waited for them to get situated and then they so sweetly walked me to my hostel!

Which…ha. Ready? Was the FURTHEST hostel ON THE WHOLE ISLAND. Up…and up…and up…and up. But once at my hostel it was very cute and I was only a 3 minute walk from the top (HA) of the whole island for supposedly amazing sunrise/ sunset views!

After checking in the 3 of us found a fantastic view at this restaurant. Just, breathtaking.

I had some pasta and we all relaxed. Then we went back to their hostel and drank tea and relaxed.

And guess what Obi, you know the song —- from Kill Bill VOL. 1, the owner was actually just PLAYING THE REAL SONG. On television. It was a bunch of music videos by the same pan flute man just dancing away looking incredibly intense for hours 😂…amazing.

We ended our lovely day in the sun at a restaurant Rachel had researched. It was on the top of this little hill next to the forest.

The restaurant was so adorable and the view was wonderful. Unfortunately the man inside the restaurant was very rude to Amrei, but we still ate there…not sure who the man was he never returned and wasn’t cooking or anything.

But this place was so quaint and rustic and romantic. They actually don’t even have electricity in the dining room! You have to use candles once the sun sets! They had card games and we played UNO and then this awesome ‘Rummy’ game Rachel knew.

The menu politely informs you that the food is home made and made form scratch and to please be patient. It did take a long time, but it was actually delicious! I didn’t want to spend a lot so instead of getting steak (very expensive) I got a pepperoni pizza and it totally redeemed the gluten pizza disaster from yesterday.

After this we had to part in the pitch darkness of the forest, and Obi, out of all the times TO FORGET MY HEADLAMP. I forget it… NOW?! On this beautiful island with almost no electricity and so close to the new moon AND cloudy sky…so…it was so dark, one of the darkest walks of my life.

I had my phone flashlight which is good… Finally, I was back close to my hostel and as I was using the tunnel vision of my phone light…all of a sudden A MASSIVE CREATURE APPEARS and makes a loud startled “mmmmmmmeeerrrrrrrrrr!” Sound and then STANDS UP IN MY FACE.

IT WAS A GIANT LLAMA OBIWAN. Like not just a tiny cute one, GIANT WHITE FURRY LLAMA. It was so dark I couldn’t see A GIANT WHITE LLAMA IN THE DARK.

WHAT?!?!

IT. WAS. TERRIFYING. One of the most startled I have been in a very long time!

But, it was fine, I apologized and he backed up so much and we parted without any spit or fights or hugs.

Then back in my room, it was just me which was INCREDIBLE. And it was cold but not too bad in my room and I didn’t need to wear 5 layers like I did last night!

Goodnight my lamb,

Love you, Tú Madre,

Carly