Crossing Lake Titikaka by SUP

Written by Rachel Masserey

SOS SUP TITICACA is indeed focusing in developing stand-up paddle as a regular and athletic activity among the Uros natives.

The cruising started on 24^th August 2024 in the charming lakeside city of Copacabana with the following team members:

• Nely Jallahui (Uros Titino, Peru)
• Silver Jallahui (Uros Titino, Peru)
• Rachel Masserey (President of the organization, Switzerland)
• Seychelle Webster (International athlete, USA)

Follow your dreams, rise and shine, elevate…these are my mottos throughout my transformative journey these past years.

SUP is a primary element of my life balance, a passion that brought and keep bringing so much joy and positive force into my life. It transforms, fulfils, connects and uplifts in so many ways. Putting my energy attention and devotion into this sport is simply part of what makes me feel alive and complete.

How was the idea born?

The project was born during a solo trip to Peru, vibrating country, reconnecting me to my love for travels, encounter and connect with people.

With the help and following the guidance of my friends’ parents living in Peru, l came for a month with the intention to discover the main sites of the country. When I first arrived and met them in Lima, we talked about culture, food, history and sup. They had just returned from a sup trip in Titicaca and immediately suggested that I fly to meet and paddle with the Uros to start my Peruvian adventure. They explained that boards and paddles were left by then and their friends on the island to allow the family there to practice and get prepared for a national championship taking place 10 days later in Lima.

I followed the flow and booked a flight for the next day to Juliaca where I was met by their friend Rolando who would take me to their island.

Shortly prior landing on the Altiplano, I was hit hard by the commonly named soroche or altitude sickness. The next day, half rested and still feeling dizzy, I went by boat to meet the Uros Titinos. They are of the few communities, remotely located, who still truly live on the floating island, the touristic part is mainly inhabited during the day to welcome and demo to tourist groups. After receiving the presentation given by Antonio, the dad and boss of the island, we had some sup sessions with his adult children Silver (25), Leo (30) and Nely (17)

Seeing them paddling and breathing with ease while I was still struggling to cope with the altitude was a unique experience that remains to date deeply engraved in my memory.

It felt so special to share the stoke for sup on the world’s highest navigable lake. This moment out of time occupied my thoughts and creative mind days after my visit as I was moving over to discover other marvels and places of Peru.

The brothers and their cousin traveled to Lima where 4 of them participated in a national championship held in Club regattas. Local SUP addicts and crowd witnessed their fierce self-confidence, resilience and combativeness.

They impressed the SUP community with their beginners’ skills and stepped on the amateurs and pro podiums.

The seed planted on their island 2months earlier by my Peruvian friend was joyfully sprouting and I couldn’t be prouder to watch them shine in Lima.

My friends and I spoke about their success and ease to maneuvers SUP Board and it was crystal clear that something had to be done to keep growing the sport within their community and on this magic lake.

The SOS SUP TITICACA UROS NGO &  non-profit organization was created and we started designing potential future SUP experience that could be organized on the lake to show the existing skills to more SUP passionates’ and offer sport tourists and sup athletes an opportunity to experience altitude training with the locals on the world’s highest navigable lake.

The Titikaka lake crossing, uniting local and internationals around the discipline was born. At that time, as I was being coached by Seychelle, I mentioned the project and asked if she would join our first lake crossing next summer.

She immediately accepted and later explained she had started the same project 10 years ago but didn’t find the fund, time and resources to keep it active.

Thanks to private donations received by relatives, friends and supporters through a crowdfunding, we obtained the budget to organize this first edition. A year of preparation, logistics, fundraising along with my dedicated personal training to get ready for the first edition of Titikaka lake crossing. I traveled to Bolivia with my mom and extra inflatable sup boards, where I could finalize the logistics and local media communication.

Our hotel in Copacabana helped me store the equipment.

I then traveled to Puno a few days prior starting the adventure where I met Rolando and we finalized the bus, grocery shopping and media communication. We were received by the municipality, a local radio and TV to speak about our soon to be historical lake crossing on SUP.

Wearing many caps, acting as the president of the organization, group leader, social media responsible, coordinator and participant, I was glad I had mentally prepared for resilience to cover all areas of the trip.

Our Uros team was formed by Silver and Nely, as the other brothers couldn’t commit for the entire crossing duration.

Rolando’s dad, Ernesto was our bus driver and guide. We all left Puno early morning on 24.08 to drive to Copacabana in Bolivia.

Admiring the landscape, in awe with the lake surface and coasts, we made our way to the border crossing (about 2hours drive from Puno).

It was a busy Saturday and our plan was to leave the bus on the Peruvian side and ride a taxi from the Bolivian side to our hotel. Our bags were loaded onto a local tricycle as we went through customs and immigration. And we safely made it to Copacabana on time for a lunch on a sunny terrace overlooking the bay.

The weather was sunny and warm, we gathered with our crew and the hotel director, savoring our first Bolivian local meal together. The afternoon’s planning was to inflate and try the boards in the bay. We shared some explanations with the locals passing by and curiously watching these unknown types of boards. Choppy cold water and beautiful sunset on the bay as we paddled our first km to test the water.

We ended the day loading the boards onto the boat and preparing our bags and equipment for the next day. We went to get flowers and local ceremonial decorations for the departure s “blessings”.

25.08 – Sun and light wind, car loaded and heading to the boat.

1h boat drive to Yampupata where the hotel director and shaman was waiting for us … We received our permission from the Bolivian military naval and welcomed 2 of their officers for the first section of our crossing. The boat with its crew and our team left Copacabana around 09:00 towards Playa blanca de Yampupata. Topping up the boards, inviting our Bolivian military guests to try inflating the boards.

Our shaman and hotel director in Copacabana M. Pedro Carceres, was waiting for us with the flowers and drums to offer a departure ceremony. Paddleboards were decorated with flowers, paddlers joined in a circle to call the 4 elements: water, wind, earth and sun for protection.

Once the Shaman had individually prayed for each paddler, we started our first section towards Moon Island, the estimated distance of 7 km ended up closer to 10km. Half of the route was crossing a lake channel with some chopped and crossed waves. The conditions were quite challenging for our first part of the lake crossing.

Seychelle arrived first and rested on the sunny rocks while waiting for the boat and the team to reach the arrival point for this first section of the day.

She was followed by Silver on his 14×29 inches inflatable race board.

My 14x24inches inflatable board, the narrowest board of the entire team made it difficult to remain standing through the waves and current. Having chosen not to wear the wet suit and after a few falls into the water, I had my first light hypothermia experience while having lunch on shore at the moon island.

Nely had also a challenging time to keep her balance and paddled for some time on her knees, her technique while standing on her board, was engaging her leg a lot and she mentioned her lower legs were tired after paddling the first section.

We had lunch together with the team on a pic nic table on shore and went for a visit and ceremony at the temple of the moon.

This island is known to have hosted priestesses and was later used for prisoners. People are offering flowers and objects in one of the chakana shaped autels. We prayed and offered coca leaves, walked barefeet on the site surrounded by lamas.

The second part of our first day of paddle was to reach the Sun island for our first overnight.

This portion was 8km long and the boat waves were used by Seychelle and Silver to save energy and reach the small harbour of Yumani.

Our Bolivian boat Captain Enrique and his Son Walther and their Boat named Venus drove us immediately to the southern part of the island for another ceremonial visit of the temple hosted in Chincana area. The Sun island, linked to the masculine energy, is believed to have witnessed the Sun emerging from that place during the Inca period.

We were lucky to benefit from Ernesto’s experience as tour guide and history knowledge as he spontaneously offered some explanations during our stay in Bolivia.

The day ended when we reached Yumani harbour to climb Stairs to our accommodation offering balcony and terrace with lake view over the Moon island.

Stretching session at the local restaurant for dinner. Nely and Silver mostly observed Seychelle and me without actively taking part in it.

The moon had been full a few days earlier and it shined bright over our rooms window during that night .

26.08 – Some of us woke up to watch the sunrise from the room’s balcony. We headed to a small beach to start our day crossing towards the border. Sunny weather, lighter wind.

Some chose the wetsuit given last days wind and chop experience. The distance covered was 20km. We were luckier with the weather, sunny and light side wind for the most part of the day.

The view, approaching Copacabana Bay was stunning. Silver had gone ahead of the group and we almost lost sight of him. The boat went ahead to catch him while we waited on the water to regroup. We all followed the boat to the shore for the last portion of pure downwind.

We had lunch at the beach where we had our taxis waiting to drive us to the border control point. Seychelle started feeling tired after lunch, the sun, food altitude, rituals may have been too much to process. She took a rest day after reaching our hotel to recover.

My days looked like a constant marathon, after paddling and once guests were accommodated to their next overnight s room, it was time to recheck for lunch box, reconfirm next accommodations, adjusting schedule and communicate dinner, breakfast and checkout time to the team, bus and boat captain and posting on socials for our supporters.

27.08 – The remaining of the team prepared to start a 15km paddle from the Playa de Oro to Pomata.

Sunny weather with side wind, similar water conditions as for the first section to reach moon island, Wet suit for me that day given the water conditions.

Nely and I mostly paddled on seated position to remain on our boards. Silver helped and towed Nely for some kilometres. We ended up with blisters on our hands from paddling seated with constant side winds.

We located the small fishing port of Pomata were the Bus was picking us up and paddled towards the shore alongside our Bolivian Boat.

From that point, the Bolivian boat was unloaded and our equipment loaded onto our Bus. Our Peruvian boat and captain was taking over from next day for the remaining part of the lake crossing.

Emotional goodbyes with our Bolivian crew, Peruvian police visit to check our boat and gather their tips for showing up and we were off to the pretty site of Titikaka Skyview domes for a quiet night of rest.

This accommodation was stunning, each dome is equipped with a fire stove, and we were pampered by the host with delicious food and dedicated attention to each guest.

Reunited and benefitting from great weather and water conditions, we enjoyed an almost glassy paddle alongside the Beautiful landscape and Peruvian coast.

The lake portion paddled on 28.08 was quiet and calmer than we had expected, We went ahead and paddled until our next hotel location, Luquina covering a distance of 18 km.

From that point, we could already see the Uros Titinos island and Silver decided to spend the night on his floating island as he was missing his sons and wife.

The bus driver, our local coordinator and support Rolando rode back to Puno to prepare for our arrival logistic and the girls remained in Luquina.

The accommodation was surrounded by animals, we could approach and spend the afternoon in the sun with our local neighbours the pig’s family and the cats and dogs of the hosting family. I kept working on publications and emailing rather than resting during that afternoon.

29.08 – Fried bread as local breakfast and my body rejecting the nutrition as fueling energy.

Silver met us at the boat to start our 15km crossing towards the Island of Taquile facing our departure location. Water conditions with very light chop for the entire crossing and sunny weather once more. As my body hadn’t rested and the morning nutrition didn’t help refuelling, I felt nauseous and weak for the whole 15km. I slowed my pace and made it to Taquile with some short breaks on water.

Wearing my wetsuit under a hard made me feel overheating to a point I had to water my headband to refresh.

We happily gathered on the shore when we had all arrived. Then the boat drove us to the closest beach to our accommodation.

It was my turn to take a recovery full afternoon rest, Nely and Silver, also tired from the combined days effort spent their end of day resting. Seychelle and my mom had some time at the local beach, enjoying the sun. The wind was strong from afternoon and overnight.

30.08 – Fried pan and pancakes with tea, the team was tired with body aches despite stretching, but motivated to paddle our last and final portion towards Llachon.

Our host made us try their local dresses and icecap for a group picture.

The final 8km seemed an easy paddle, although we all knew we had been paddling for 5 consecutive days. We checked the weather forecast and prepared to get on the boat towards the main harbour of the island.

Observing the wind and following Silver’s experience about the local weather, we waited a little for the waves and wind to be calmer. We were aiming to reach Llachon for midday and had some window to postpone our departure time catching better water conditions.

Nely was very tired, she thought of remaining on the boat for a part of the section but made us so proud completing the total distance on her paddleboard.

We started around 10:00 and crossed the channel portion on calmer water. The wind peaked once we had made it to our final location.

The boat and team had gathered and was waiting for us with the organizations and event’s flags. Ernesto, our driver and guide was also there.

Our host had prepared flower necklaces with Cantuta to welcome us.

Silver, followed by the 3 valiant womens had just crossed the Titikaka lake for the first time in history on a stand-up paddleboard. A journey of 6 days, covering 100km distance. We hugged and truly realized that we had written a special chapter when Rolando gave us medals, trophies and certificates of honour provided by the Mayor of Puno.

Incredible joy and feeling of accomplishment to hit the ground in Peru in the bay of Puno. After a quick lunch and dropping our bags for the night, we directly headed with the boat towards Titinos island, home of our local athletes. It was a keypoint and emotional stage of the experience to visit their family, face the contrasting basic commodities that fills their daily lifes.

Local kids, brother and parents were wating for us and gave us the classic tour and explanations about their island construction and life. We left Silver with his family and took Nely back to our accommodation.

31.08 – No paddle for us, felt nice and also weird not to paddle that day. We took the boat for an hour to reach the Uros main channel where we would meet teenagers Kids started to gather on the school island and I started sharing the basics instructions. We toured them on our boards on tandem and guided the most confident in trying solo, then started a small competition. Nely showed great teaching skills, while silvers elder kid Angel out leveled the beginners.

At 7 years old and having used the boards provided to the family by our friends in Peru, his balance, footwork and stroke skills were outstanding.

The kids all had fun and were excited to participate in our event. They happily left with their medals and goodies and we were stoked to share the love for Sup at 3.800 masl. Overall, We can say we were incredibly lucky with weather

Happy we all made it safe and sound and shared a unique experience, impregnating sport daily routine to our Uros locals and guiding them to spread and share the love for Sup further to all people that crossed our path in the lake vicinity.

No hospital no emergency to report except for Seychelle and myself having a hard day over the entire journey to keep our body fuelled as we would in our standard environment.

The root of this journey is to have locals and international paddling the lake together. A 6 days trip where everyone benefits from the experience (altitude training, share the stoke for sup, learn from each other, cultural exchange, connect people, infuse the Inca and lake historical gems).

We will adjust the program, work on food choices to provide a better offer and invite other sup lovers to take part in this unique sup exchange on the world’s highest navigable lake

We left the 2 inflatable race boards used for the crossing to Nely and Silver for training and hopefully to host numerous school activity until the next Lake crossing.

Hope you will join one of our next editions and meet our locals. We are preparing a collection of memories for the end of this year.

Stay tuned on our socials, reach out if you need more info.

For the love of SUP, Rachel