Isla del Sol is a three hour boat ride from Copacabana. On there are ancient Inca ruins and some spectacular views. A seven kilometer hike takes us from the north end to the south end. I´m slowly aclimating to the high altitude here, 13000 ft (3800 m). The Inca Trail is just a few days away so it´s nice to have some practice. The only sour note to this trip is the three checkpoints on the island where we had to pay a couple of dollars to continue. The amount wasn´t that big a deal but the principle of the thing ticked us off!
On the boat ride back we saw a floating island, which was suppose to be made of reeds but we could tell it was made of a wooden base. The reed boats on there were pretty interesting, though.
Later that night we enjoy a fantastic trucha (trout) dinner and watch the sun set over the lake.
On the way back to Peru, we now have our second illegal border crossing to contend with. Helen (English) crosses in the usual way while Jason and me (American) kind of casually tiptoe our way back to Peru, since our passports say we should already be there anyway. A policeman sees us but doesn´t seem to care enough to stop us.
We take the bus back to Puno, have lunch, and then it´s a much longer haul (8 hours) to Cusco. We get the first place we can find near the neighborhood of San Blas.