Because our campsite didn’t have a shower, Göran and I braved the very refreshing waters of Lake Titicaca to wash ourselves. According to the site owner, the water temperature was 9 degrees Celsius. That would explain why washing my hair in it gave me brain frost. While the morning had been pleasantly sunny, fate would have it that by the time we wanted to enter the lake, a large cloud blocked the sun. Hence, after the bath, the ferocious wind cooled us down without the comforting warm sunrays taking some of the sharpness away from the cold. But at least it is rejuvenating, eh? (If you don’t know why I say it rejuvenates but want to know why, check out the Veritasium biology video on this topic. Personally, I’d say it’s very interesting, as well as many of his other videos. No, unfortunately I do not get paid for this.)

When everything was packed, I mentioned the same thing I had mentioned the day before: what a shame it was that we were leaving this beautiful place only because we now had some time pressure. The beach was beautiful, there are nice hikes on the island and the sun had started shining, spreading its warmth and making it feel even more like vacation. I suggested we would do our relaxation day here instead of in Copacabana and the men directly agreed. So we did everything again in reverse: set up the tent, prepared our “beds” and unpacked our bags. What a waste our morning routine had been today just to do it all again now. But it was worth it because we thoroughly enjoyed our hike which took us up the hill slopes of the peninsula. The nature was beautiful and we had some pretty great scenery from up there. Also, for me personally it felt great to be on the move without being on the bike. On our way back, we passed through the small village and headed back to Casa Valentin along the waterfront. We had been lucky on our hike because shortly after we returned, large layers of clouds blocked the sun, instantly making it chilly. While I was taking care of some Christmas present planning, Jacques and Göran prepared our lunch (mashed potatoes, falafel and vegetables). We had just about finished when we heard thunder in the distance and shortly thereafter thick drops started falling from the sky. The wind speed had picked up as well, so it was rather cold outside. What is it with us not having amazing weather throughout our rest days?!

However, maybe the weather had been a blessing in disguise: the bad weather led us to sit in the restaurant/common area of the hotel where we met the kind French people we had met in the morning. Due to the storm there had been damage to the electricity network somewhere. With no electricity and no Wi-Fi, all of us were admittedly bored, so we asked the owner if he had some games. And he did. Along with Laetitia, Julien and Ludovic we played Presidente and had a good time. Göran hadn’t joined in and was probably using the free time to do some work on his laptop or talk to friends and relatives on his phone. Because doing groceries wasn’t possible in Llachon on the days we were there (everything was closed except for a shop which only sold supplies we didn’t need), we decided to order dinner at Casa Valentin. So when 7 PM rolled around, the six of us had dinner together and Julien even kindly offered us some wine. The food was very tasty, albeit a bit little for how hungry all of us were. We had a great evening together, chatted a bit longer and went to bed with the good feeling that enjoying yourself in good company typically provides.