A Beautiful Weekend in Copacabana

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This weekend I needed a weekend away to do some hiking and clear my head, so it was off to Copacabana, a town of Lake Titicaca near the Peruvian border. The last time I was through this area, I arrived in Copacabana, had lunch and then caught a boat to Isla del Sol where I spent all my time, so this time I decided that I would just stay in the town and enjoy it.

So first thing in the morning on Saturday, I was off to the cemetary district of La Paz to catch a bus to Copacabana, as this is where the buses leave for destinations west of La Paz. Of course, you can take a bus from the main terminal in La Paz, but you can expect to pay more if leaving from there. There are two main bus lines that go in between La Paz and Copacabana, Trans 2 de Febrero and Trans Manco Kapac. I chose the latter this time around and discovered that this bus was meant for people with much shorter legs than me because mine where jammed up against the seat in front of me. So three and half hour, on a bus with no other tourists, and my legs begging for more space, seemed pretty long. At least half way through the trip, I was able to get out of the bus as all passengers have to get off and cross on a passenger boat as the bus goes across the strait by barge. Finally, at about 12:30PM, the bus rolled into Copacabana and I was starving! First I checked into a hostel by the waterfront and then went to the food stalls along the beach that sell only trout. When back in Canada, I was eating trout (and fish in general) alot, but since I have been living in La Paz which doesn't have any habitable rivers for fish and the fact that this country is landlocked, access to fresh fish can be difficult to find, so while in Copacabana, I was going to enjoy it.

After lunch, I started to explore Copacabana a bit. I went to the cathedral to see the vehicle blessing ceremony that goes on in front of the cathedral. Quite a strange ceremony where people decorate their vehicles with flowers and other random things bought from vendors outside the cathedral. After decorating their vehicles, a priest comes over a says a few prayers and then sprays the vehicle with some type of alcohol. Then the people that are in the vehicle bless the vehicle by spraying beer all over their vehicles. Supposedly, this is suppose to keep the vehicles safe while traveling... an alternate form of insurance I guess. I took a peak inside the cathedral afterwards, to see if it was as interesting from the inside and the outside, and it did not disappoint. I wonder why a town of 20,000 people has such a large cathedral. Must be one of the reasons why Copacabana is the spiritual capital of Bolivia.

As I had come to Copacabana to do some hiking and on either side of the town are hills to climb, I decided to climb Niño Calvario, a smaller hill that has some Inca ruins near the top. The hike didn't take that long and when I got to the top of the hill, I perched myself on a rock to relax and read for a bit. What an amazing view of both the town of Copacabana and Lake Titicaca I had from here! I could have stayed there all afternoon but I am sure the sun at this altitude would fry me to a crisp. After descending the hill, I decided to go to beach to relax and do some more reading. I can't believe how many people were at the beach on this day... there were even people swimming in Lake Titicaca! I found out later that this was the last true weekend of summer vacation so many families were in town to enjoy the lake and the weather. My next goal of the day was to climb the other hill on the other side of Copacabana called Cerro Calvario. I was accompanied by some very friendly Bolivians up to the top of this hill, which seems to have a lot of religious significance. Up to the top of the hill, there were people selling minatures still for Alasitas and their were people blessing these gifts at the top of the hill. Some of the blessing included a lot of firecrackers, which Bolivians seem to love! At the top of the hill, I ran into a girl with a Mountain Equipment Co-op bag that I had passed on the other hill earlier in the day so I decided to spark up a conversation. Of all places she was from in Canada, it was Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa and of all places she worked, she worked for CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) and I am doing international development work here. Quite the coincidence! We descended the hill back to Copacabana together and made plans to meet up later in the late to search for some night life in town.

Back in town, I stopped by my hotel to change into clothes for the evening and then went to a restaurant that supposedly served good curries. Another thing that is difficult to find in La Paz, and finally a was to satisfy the cravings I had been having for them. The curry that I had was so good and while eating, I got to listen to some Argentinian hippies playing music in the restaurant. After dinner, I met up with Anne-Marie at her hotel and head out into downtown Copacabana, which is like one street. We hopped around to different bars for a couple of hours, but nothing seemed to be really happening for night-life in this town. At least the conversations were good. After a few drinks, I walked with Anne-Marie back to her hotel and then continued on to mine to get a good night's sleep... and I knew I would sleep well on this night because of all the hiking I did on this day.

The next day I woke up, got my stuff ready, and went to the central market (Mercado Central) to find some breakfast. I didn't feel like paying the exuberant rates for breakfast that tourists usually do at any of the restaurants here. I sat down with a Bolivian family and order api and pastel de queso (deep-fried cheese pastry). The family I was sitting with began to talk to me, shared their buñuelos with me and before leaving, took a picture of me. I now know why when you ask to talk a picture of a random person why they usually seem confused because I sure was. After breakfast, I departed on a hike towards the Peruvian border along the shores of Lake Titicaca. Why I thought I could make it to the border easily walking along the shore, I don't know, but I never did make it as the shore just seemed to disappear into the lake about an hour or so into my hike. So from the shore where I ended up, I climbed the hill and was in the middle of farmland but I couldn't see anyway to get through these lands and I had no idea where the road was. So I descending back down to the beach and continued a little further along the marshy land between the mainland and the lake. I was greeted by a large herd of sheep which were definitely surprised by my presence. Finally, I saw a woman herding up her pigs, so I asked her how I should get back to the main road. She told me it was a few hours still to the border because of the route that I took, but she said if I take this barely noticable path I will end up at some road. It definitely was not the road that I was looking for, but it was a road that led in what looked to be the direction of Copacabana. The village that I was walking through was really small and all the children stared at me as I passed their houses. I guess we tourists don't show up here very much. Finally, after about an hour of walking this road met up with the main road near Copacabana, so I headed back into town for some lunch as I was starving after hiking for the last few hours. From the intersection back into town, an older man accompanied me back into town, however, he was pretty hard to understand as he mumbled alot, but I was able to somewhat have a conversation with him. Back in town, I found a restaurant that served a pejerrey (king fish) curry and as I love both fish and curry, I could get both in in one meal. Very good as well, but nothing compared to the curry I had the night before. I had a few hours to kill before heading back to La Paz, so I sat on the beach and read a book for a while which was fine with me. The bus ride back to La Paz was pretty uneventful but I made it back and went straight to bed as I was exhausted!

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Photos

Prohibited to throw confetti
But that takes all the fun out of the wedding :)

Blessing of vehicles in Copacabana
Supposedly you don't need car insurance if you get your car blessed in front of the cathedral in Copacabana