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Published: June 24th 2006
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So its been a few days since I last reached out, at least in the internet sence, and I´ve now landed in the amazing little town of Copacabana on the SE shore of Lago Titicaca. I arrive here after a few days of intermittent travel, starting with a 10 hr bus ride thru the night from Cusco to Arequipa. This is supposed to be the 2nd largest city in Peru and appears a bit more advanced with more of a business feel. I paired up with a chap from England from the bus station and cruised the streets, museums and bars of Arequipa. The first day I went on a photography motivated trip to the very well liked Santa Catalina Convent where I wandered with my spiritual and artistic side for 4 hrs. The walls are stained with bright oranges, blues, yellows, and reds with amazing architecture design and columns. Not to mention the maze of hundreds of rooms, kitchens, prayer cites, etc. The day concluded on a rooftop bar with me English chap and a couple from Amsterdam overlokking the main Plaza estab. 1760 and cathedral as the sun set in the distance. The next day pretty much focused around
the afternoon England vs Sweden game with four English folk from the hostal. This crew and I rode the party into the late night sharing stories and mucho cervezas. The night esentially became morning as I caught a 2 am bus to Colca Canyon where the Andean Condor flies freely. This is a sacred bird the soars the ridges of this canyon that is at places twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. I took the lazy route and made it a one day trip so that I could catch a night bus out of Arequipa to Puno, the main Peruvian town on the North end of L. Titi. So after a pint or two with the English crew, I rode thru the night and arrived to a freezing bus terminal at 3:30am where I teamed with 2 young guys from London and fought off the cold with Bus station crap food. As soon as the sun rose, we made our way to the port where we would try and catch a boat to Isla de Los Uros. These are a chain of man made islands of 30+ where the indigenous people live and fully function. They are made of
reeds woven together, with reed huts, fishing holes, ponds, reed woven boats and even solar panals. This wasa great precursor to Copacabana. There are about 10 families per island with children floating around on boats to the school that is on one of the islands. Yep, made of reeds. We welcomed the morning sun as we spent about 30+ minutes on 3 different islands, taking photos, playing with the kids and talking with the natives. What an amazing site these islands were.
Bolivia, here I come! After a few hours roaming the streets of Puno and watching the US get smoked by Ghana, we ventured to the ¨bus terminal¨and caught a 2 hr short bus ride to the border. I may be dating myself, but by this time these 21 yr olds were starting to wear on me. Amazing how some people can experience so much of the world in there young years and have not even opened there eyes to the world. From the border was more planes, trains and rick-shaws sp? to the oasis known as Copa. I had read this was a cool laidback town, but words can´t describe the feeling it brings. It has a
bit of a Santa Cruz in the 50´s feel (b/c I definitely know what that felt like) with a splash of southern Italy (like I know that too). There are minimal tourists and many random travelers like myself, of like mind. My instinct of course took me straight to the beach where I caught an amazing sunset, coupled with some Bob Marley perfectly playing in the background. What next? What else? Go to where Bob is and have a beer. The rest of the night/morning should be left for a short story, not an e-mail. Basically, I started with the bar owner and his amigo from Argentina out front, soon to be joined by the hippie friend of 50 yrs called El Doc in these parts. A lovely women who could keep me somewhat in the conversation w/ her broken English. After ¨some time¨we were joined by a great guy from Seattle named Chris who is currently doing ïndepentent¨study thru the UW. Random! We of course became quick friends as we participated in some very deep, random, humourous, inspirational and late conversations with the previous characters. Goodmorning Copacabana!
The main attraction here is the Isla del Sol, some islands
about a 90 min boat ride away. From here the plan is to spend a night, hike and hang with more indiginous folk, and of course travelers. From there, return to Copa and on to La Paz. Since this morning wasn´t really one for an early awakening, it will get pushed back a day, as everything is looking like it needs to be. The more I hear about Bolivia, the more I realize I need more time. (Hint, hint Mitch). I think maybe 4 days in Copacabana is necessary, and from there we´ll see. Bolivia is so cheap and supposedly beautiful and full of diversity, that you can see and do a lot for very little. Today basicallly consisted of relaxing, lunch with Chris and El Doc, followed by 2 hrs of kayaking in the bay of Copa. As I sit here now, recalling the latest developments of travel, the music of Run-DMC, 80's classics and various reggae artists floats thru the streets, with intermittent fireworks going off in the background as today is the celebration of San Juan. (not exactly sure what the significance is) but a reason to celebrate none-the-less. The effects of travelling are really starting to
do their thing, like not knowing what the time is, what day it is or what do I have to do next. Oh what a feeling.
Time to try and finds a couple travelers from this afternoon for dinner and off to an early nights sleep, hopefully. I can´t do more pictures until I burn more to a CD, but am anxious to share some photos of the last 3-4 days. In closing, life is great!!!!
Hope this finds you all well. Ciao from Copacabana!!!!
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