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Published: August 27th 2012
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Puno to Copacabana entails a border crossing, the required passport paperwork that keeps most travelers anxious until your bestowed a requisite visa. We arrived after a comfortable two hour bus ride down Lake Titicaca's shores to the end of the Peruvian road and where Bolivia's begins. In between we obtained our Peruvian exit stamps from a bored customs agent, exchanged some dollars into Bolivianos from an elderly Indian woman in a bowler hat, and walked past Indian textile vendors and roadside lunch stands deep frying pork in pots brimming with oil. Passing under an dilapidated archway, we were directed by unsmiling border guards to a well worn immigration office. An officer at the door divided US citizens from other foreigners, primarily because US nationals are required to pay $135 while others are not. Ouch. But anyway we coughed up the $135, received our relatively expensive visas and walked back to a designated lot where we waited for a Bolivian bus to take us the short distance to Copacabana. While waiting we witnessed Indian women laden with goods walking quickly behind the Bolivian immigration office on their way to the Peruvian side. They were obviously illegal immigrants enjoying a porous border, probably
making daily crossings to buy or sell along the frontier.
We arrived in downtown Copacabana and found our way to the Utama hotel. At $30 a night, we felt the comfy rooms, free bananas, oranges, coca tea and large breakfast was well worth. The husband and wife team who owned and managed the hotel were pleasant and accommodating, letting us use the restaurant dining tables to write on while charging computers. We also entrusted them to book our boat ride to Isla del Sol and bus tickets to La Paz. All worked out perfect for a nominal fee.
Copacabana is a small lake shore village that can be walked around in a few hours. Nice cheap trout dinners can be had near the shore, plenty of backpacker restaurants offer cheap eats and if need be you can drive over to the central plaza and have your car blessed in front of the Copacabana's main church. Curiously, the local reverend offers daily blessings of all manner of vehicles, in which owners must dress up their jalopies in party hats, frilly signs, confetti and topped off by spraying bottles of champagne. Only then does the priest
thoroughly dowse their cars with holy waters and prayers while receiving a small donation from the faithful. Another curious ritual is off to the side and behind the church. Beyond a dark smoked stained passageway is a chapel of candles. Inside, devotees are collecting recently melted wax and sticking the wax to the walls of the chapels. With the wax they spell out practical request as in help in finding work, or better health and finding love.
Well besides Copacabana, most visitors head out across the lake to visit Isla del Sol, believed where Incan mythological origins originated. It takes a slow two hours to arrive at the island but it's well worth the wait. There are a few unimpressive archaeological ruins, but the highlight is the well maintained trail that traverses the spine of the island. Leisurely, you can walk the trail north to south in about three to four hours. We took our time, constantly snapping photos for the views of the lake and surrounding countryside that are simply stunning. Clears skies, picture perfect panoramas, and feelings of solitude serve to make Isla del Sol a surreal experience. Don't miss it. Next stop La Paz.
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