Copacabana Hotels
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The magical blue colour of Lago Titicaca
Entry 12 of 78 | show all | print this entry |
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After having said goodbye to travel compagnions Kathy and Adrian, who moved on to the south of Bolivia, I stayed a little longer in the north. My scedule is a little less full so I had time to go to Copacabana and Sorata (see next entry). Copacabana is a nice small town at Lago Titicaca and starting point for trips to Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna (sun and moon island).
A half full tourist bus took four hours and one water crossing to reach Copacabana. The crossing is very primitive and you wonder how those "boats" don´t sink or the bus doesn´t fall over into the water (see picture), but in some way they always seem to manage to the other side.
   
The road to Copacabana and lunch at Copacabana
In the bus I met two guys from the UK: Jack and Alex and a girl from Brasil, Carolina. We checked into the same hotel and low season clearly influences prices in Copacaban. Nothing is certain, and the longer you wait to accept, the cheaper thing get. Or sometimes waiting for an other person and asking for the price again, is a good trick too. After some browsing through the city (lots of people selling hand made jewelry there, and very original stuff!) we went up to the viewpoint next to the city to see the sun set. Clouds started to appear before the sun set, so that part wasn´t a real succes. But the wine we brought and the llama´s that visited us made the climb worthwhile after all!
  
At the view point
Next day we took the boat to the sun island. A very relaxed island and as most people just go for a day, it becomes even more "tranquilo" in the afternoon. We started in the north part of the island and planned to walk to the south part, to cach a boat back the next day. Walking across the island you get fantastic views of lago Titicaca, it´s beautifull blue and it´s enormous size (it is realy like a sea). There are also some inca ruins, some more spectacular than the others. The sacred rock for example is a rock by which first Tihuanacu, a civilisation prior to the inca, and then inca´s made offerings. The rock was sacred for the first because of the face of Viracocha you can see in it (that ´s the creator of the world) and for the latter because of the puma face. The inca´s offered young virgins here that were "trained" at isla de la luna. More impressive though are the inca steps at the south part of the island.
  
Isla del sol
As a place to sleep we thought camping on the beach was the most fantastic thing to do, but lacking tent and sleeping bag, that didn´t seem an option. But talking to some locals we ended up sleeping at the beach after all, but in a small house we could "hire" from one of them. The woman was realy glad we stayed there, she could use the money very well (she had a sick daughter receiving treatment somewhere else in Bolivia and needed money to be able to go and visit her). She told us that from April until August, there had been two Argentinians staying there. They loved the place and stayed because they received so much energy. The house was very basic, but with a roof on top and blankets inside it had everything we needed. It was a great evening at our private beach. We swam in the lake and had wine at the beach while clouds sabotaged yet again our intention to see the sun set into lake Titicaca.
  
Sleeping at the beach
Next day we said goodbye to the woman who owned the house, she was very sorry that we wouldn´t stay longer. Well, she s used to guest that stay 5 months, we didn´t have that much time! We walked to the south of the island. A long, hard walk, but very beautifull. Then it was back to Copacabana where we stayed in the same hotel. Next day, after a short walk through the city and a huge pizza, it was time for yet another goodbye, I went on to Sorata and Carolina moved on to Peru.
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