COPACABANA and ISLA DEL SOL: Reunited with water

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Isla del Sol
September 5th 2008

Published: September 29th 2008

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ArleneandBenj

View from lunch

Copacabana´s waterfront from up the hill at our hostel.

Travelling is partly about realising what you have taken for granted. And so for two little New Zealanders, being reunited with a beach after 1000's of kms of the dry rocky high country of central South America was such a gorgeous relief.

Copacabana is nestled against Lake Titicaca - a massive body of frigid fresh water parked at 3850m. Imagine Lake Taupo on steroids - this lake is surrounded by spectacular snow peaked Andean mountains, and you can't see the far shore 200km away in Peru. It is so spectacular, that the Tihuanacu and Incan cultures both decided this was their equivalent to the garden of Eden where their founders came from. So this area fantastically rich in history. Following the well trodden tourist trail to Isla del Sol (Sun Island), we left the stunning views of our hillside hostel overlooking Copacabana, to walk 5hrs to the end of a peninsula through farming villages scratching their rural living beside this lovely lake. We caught up with two little girls on their daily 1hr commute to school as they slowed to eat an orange. They then decided our company was no longer interesting, and shot off at a trot, leaving us

Worth the climb to the town´s lookout

and the cold! (Benj excluded).

well behind in the dust.

A short ferry across to the Southern tip of Isla del Sol, and we were there. The South end of the Island's spine lies North-South, giving it a complete pre-occupation with the rising sun on one side, and setting sun on the other. And each event is wildly spectacular. Almost every hillside was terraced, to convert a rocky hill into flatter sections of productive earth, giving testament to the centuries of agricultural activity here. Ominously, Arlene had turned down a rich desert of Chocolate Fondue the night before, and our two night stay on the Island was plagued with a repeat of worsening stomach problems and fever (details emitted for your reading pleasure). Taking a short cut down over old disused Incan terraces, Benj spotted an odd rock that looked sculpted. Looking more critically at the stoney landscape, we found a flint spear head that you would normally see in a museum. Wildly excited, Benj then found an incomplete arrow head. Getting only a grunt of acknowledgement from a near fainting Arlene, she was more appreciative of the fact that Benj was now moving at a more manageable snails pace, loaded up with two

Great find

We suspect this was an arrow head.

packs, two cameras, and also carefully examining every suspicious looking stone.

The best of the Incan ruins to the North of the Island had to be explored by Benj alone, giving him a mad moderate-altitude dash to explore, to return haggard and happy with choice video clips to share with she who was still between bed and outside toilet at our little hostel. His brief (and very invigorating) plunge off the end of the wharf drew the attention of two little kids playing on the wharf. Benj suggests: "Ah, es muy bien" (It is very good). From their dubious looks, he further ventured, "Es loco?" (Is it crazy?).
Nodding emphatically, the little girl said, "Si!". Some things haven't changed at least.

Our sweet accomodation incidentally had no running water for anything (further toiletry details emitted). But it did have a thoroughly friendly atmosphere, with us sitting on the grass next to the grandmother and mother of the family painstakingly weaving hand spun wool for a bag - consuming one week of spare afternoon hours per bag to supplement their income. Wondering at our continuing lack of understanding of their spoken language, we found out they speak mostly Aymara,

A job shared...

This panistaknig work was fascinating

and only a little Spanish. And despite Catholicism's tenacious grasp on these lands, the worship of Pachamama (Mother Earth) is vastly more significant for these people.

So apart from Benj coming away tiumphant at FuseBall on the shores of the shores of Titicaca, we had a great recovery chill down day with little to show for it, to collect our wits, and contemplate the Peruvian border only 10kms away.

Our time in Bolivia has been enormously rewarding, and it is with much regret that we have to move on, with so much of this fascinating country left unvisited.

Adios Bolivia Bonita. May you somehow overcome the ongoing political paralysis you can ill-afford to bandy around so liberally.

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