After a bus drive from Puno in Peru to the frontera, where we crossed after a short tuck-tuck drive by foot the border. The immigration process was short and painless. At the other side of the boarder a small bus already was waiting for transport to Copacabana. This is actually the place which gave the famous beach in Rio it's name. We found a very cheap accommodation on top of a building. In the afternoon we did hand-washing of our cloths and the sun and the wind dried most of it within no time. In the first night we thought we gonna fly away, as a hard wind and rain came over us. Some of the rain came through under the door.
Copacabana is well known for pilgrims as it is the host of the Virgin of Copacabana. She is the protector for house and car. We were able to witness how some locals climbed the mountain at the bay of the Titikaka Lake. After passing the steep climb and crosses of Jesus way you reach the top. There you can buy candles, beer, flowers, model cars, taxis, busses and model houses (?!?).
Why would you buy a model house or a car for your kids after such a climb? The little kid will play with it for 10 min and then you have to carry the kid PLUS the toys back down! We quickly learned the. True reasons for all this merchandise. Families come up here to pray for the protection of their belongings, build up a little scenery of their homes, with little tree branches, as real as possible. Then they chew coca leaves, do some offerings for pacha mama (mother earth) as well. They spray some of the alcohol over the their little model city and drink the rest of it themselves. The entire family joins in and the 5 year old one will sit between them with a glass or the bottle of beer to pray with them and hope the prayers are heard.
As the town is a mecca for pilgrims and has not only the tradition to climb the mountain to follow Jesus's Stations of the Cross, you can also decorate your van, bike, bus, truck, taxi or what ever kind of vehicle you have with flowers and other colorful things and drive in front of the church. There you can open a bottle of champagne, soda or beer, spray a bit around and drink the rest whilst the priest is baptizing your precious for you for safe rides.
They have boats here build out of grass. Once they rebuild an old plan of a boat and crossed the ocean with this type of boat!
The food was great and we especially loved the trout which we had in one of the local market halls prepared by a true mama figure. You could see right away that she liked her food as well, as she had a fair bit on her hips. In Bolivia all dishes are served with rice and potatoes at the same time. As sauce you will get served a bottle of ketchup and mayonnaise. Nice! Another speciality of Copacabana is the huge special popcorn. It comes in bags of 2x2m! That is what I call a family snack (or if you want to watch all three episodes of Lord of the rings)!
As by the Inca believed that the world and the religion were created on the Isla de Sol, we took a ferry to get there in the early morning. When we arrived there we realized that the Swiss were faster then us... Our friend Sandra and a group of Swiss just arrived as well and we went together on the trail from North to South. The views are absolutely amazing.
We didn't feel like we were in over 3000m hight with the blue water of the Titikaka Lake and the heat of the sun upon us. It was a nice four hour hike through the islands. The north and the south have gates on the trek which are manned by locals to charge us an entree fee to pass.
When we arrived in the town on the south side of the island we looked for an accommodation. After some comparing we found a nice place to stay and went to a restaurant to be able to enjoy the sunset and a cold beer.
In the morning we set our alarms on really early, so we were able to witness a spectacular sunrise. With the snow-covered mountains in the background the sun gave a mystical light on the landscape and the lake. The gods must have known why they chose this island to create the world.
We had a pleasant ride back on the ferry where we enjoyed browsing in some of the individual shops and the charm of the town. In front of the church was a big party where a group of traditionally dressed ladies and gentlemen stood and other people passed by, gave them presents and put confetti on their hats. The music played and a lot of fireworks got lit up and exploded all the time. This is one tradition they have here to light fire crackers to have the spirits hear their prayers.
We liked THIS Copacabana quite a lot. In the afternoon however we took a bus to La Paz. On the way our bus had to drive on a little ferry and we had to take a small boat to transfer over a part of the lake. Always new adventures...
If you want to see more pictures click here Titikaka Lake
On the other side of the border with a small bus waiting for transportation to Copacabana.
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