Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
taxis will ferry you to Yunguyo (about 6 Peruvian soles, 15 minutes). From here, you can catch a bus heading to
Puno. An efficient alternative is to catch a tourist bus from/to La Paz to Puno via Copacabana (from B$60); some
allow you a couple of days' stay in Copacabana. Note, though, that even if you've bought a ticket to Cusco or
elsewhere in Peru, you'll change buses in Puno. Buses to Cusco depart from Puno's international terminal, located
about three blocks from the local terminal.
Via Desaguadero
A quicker, if less interesting, route is via Desaguadero on the southern side of the lake. Several bus companies
head to/from this border from/to Peru. The crossing should be hassle-free: you obtain your exit stamp from the
Bolivian passport control
(possible fee of B$30; 8:30am-8:30pm)
, walk across a bridge and get an entry
stamp at
migración
in Peru. Frequent buses head to Puno hourly (about 3½ hours).
Copacabana to Yampupata
Hiking, biking or simply busing along the road from Copacabana to Yampupata, a small
hamlet about 17km north of town, is a fun little adventure and an interesting alternative to
the standard Copa-Isla tour. Along the way, you'll see ruins, stop at floating islands, get
chased by dogs and pass through traditional communities.
MAIN ROUTE
If walking, this trek is road-bound, making it a fairly hot and hard slog (allow seven hours
one way if you're stopping along the way). By bike the round-trip can be done in a day,
while taxi or minibus trips will take under an hour one way. Take your own snacks; there's
little, if anything, along the way.
From Copacabana, head northeast on the road that follows the shoreline. Just after the
fresh-caught trout lunch (B$25). About 1½ hours into the journey, you arrive at the
Gruta
de Lourdes
(aka Gruta de Fátima), a cave that for locals evokes images of its respective
French and Portuguese namesakes. For a shortcut, turn right immediately after the small
bridge leading to the Virgin and follow the Inca path. When the path peters out head direc-
tly uphill to rejoin the main road at the crest. To save an hour or so and avoid the flat and
litter-strewn outskirts of town, you can catch a minibus (B$5) or taxi (one way/return
B$40/70) from Copa to the cave (9km), from where the more picturesque hiking begins.
At the fork just below the crest of the hill bear left and descend to the shore and into the
village of
Titicachi
where, if it's open, there's a basic
tienda
(shop) selling soft drinks.
For die-hard archaeologists, in and around Titicachi are some pre-Inca walls and the aban-
