Titi is for Peru, Caca is for Bolivia

Haha, I had to write that as the title because when we told Tia Julia we were going to Lake Titicaca that is what she told us in response and I thought it was great. Ever since I learned about Lake Titicaca in spanish class in 7th grade I was very intrigued by it (I don´t know if my level of maturity has changed that much because I still love the name). I actually learned where the name came from while visiting the Isla del Sol (an island in the lake). Anyway Titicaca is the Aymara word for rock with the face of a puma on it. This puma face was quite a stretcher... with one ear, an open mouth, one eye open and the other eye was a slit. Then the triangle next to it was supposed to be the creator of the universe or something. The guide said that that rock, Machu Picchu, and Chichen Itza are the 3 Andean forces. I´m not so sure about that sacred rock-- I think the Incas just loved to find puma faces in everything.

The Isla del Sol is a beautiful island and we took a boat out there from the town of Copacabana in Bolivia. Then we did the 3 hour hike from the north end to the south end of the island. The sun was really intense-- we were about 12,500 ft. above sea level-- so the hike was kind of hard. It felt like we were in the mediteranean though with the color of the water and the inlets, and the clouds up there were amazing. La Isla del Sol is the birthplace of the Incan Sun God, so it is very important historically. At the south end of the island it was like children of the corn and the kids had taken control. They were running everything from the stands on the side of the street to the restaurants. It was kind of crazy. The crafts were nice there, but everyone sells the same thing so it gets kind of repetative.

The scenery in Bolivia is spectacular with the bright blue Lake Titicaca and expanses of farmland and huge snow-capped mountains looming in the distance. Also people here seem to be very laid back. At the same time though, this is a very poor country and I have seen some sad sights. We also noticed that there seems to be a lot of old people and little kids, but not many people in between. The women carrying babies in blankets on their backs all look too old to be the mothers of the children. They also mostly all seem to have sun and wind burned faces I think because the climate is so extreme since they are so high up.

Sorry I think my writing is all over the place, but my mind is a bit scattered right now. Anyway, back to Copacabana, it is a really chill little town and I had a great time there. Clay, Talia, and I hung out around town and spent one night drinking way too much wine with our new German friends but it was all good-- that altitude will get you though man. Oh yeah, Talia and I have been traveling with Clay since the Machu Picchu hike, which is where we met. He is from Hawaii and we have been having fun together.

The Bolivia side of the lake is much better than the Peruvian side of the lake. The town of Puno in Peru is no good, we just went there to visit the floating islands which were actually pretty cool. These people made their own islands by tying reeds together and now they pretty much live off tourism, so it is kind of a joke that they are more or less floating tourist traps. But I still enjoyed seeing them and we got to walk around on a few of the islands. For the most part they were really sturdy except sometimes when I got to the edge my feet would sink in and I was close to falling into water. One thing I really got a kick out of was that everything out there was made from reeds-- the islands, the boats, the houses-- but then all the houses had solar panels for electricity at night... there is a contrast of old and new technology for you.

The day we left Copacabana to go to La Paz was a special day in Bolivia as the commemoration of when Chile took Bolivia´s access to the ocean. There was a big parade in town (Copacabana) with all of the kids wearing lab coats and a marching band was playing. Then in the afternoon when we were on the bus, part way through we had to stop to cross the lake. All the vehicles went accross on barges and the people crossed in water taxis. There was a big hold up from the parade in the town on the other side. It was a beautiful, sunny day though and it was pretty funny sitting around watching them load up all the buses and cars onto barges and putter across to the other side with only one motor. It made for a fun ride.

Oh yeah, I also can´t get enough of the women´s hats in Bolivia. Almost all of them wear rounded bowler caps that just sit on the top of their heads. I had to ask one woman what was the story behind them and she told me it was for protection from the sun so they don´t burn their faces. The hats don´t even have a brim to shade their faces, so I don´t quite understand, but I love it anyways. For Bolivia´s commemoration day everyone was in full regalia and it was great!

So much has happened recently and I haven´t been writing much, so I was just trying to cover some of what has been going on, I´m sure I left a lot out, but I hope you can follow.

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