Lago Titicaca, Isla del Sol
Trip Start
Feb 14, 2005
1
16
22
Trip End
Jul 2005
Copocabana, Bolivia
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
The festival happens the weekend nearest the 3rd of May, and although much smaller has much of the same ambiance as Carnival
Birthplace of the Sun
. There was a continuous parade with bands and dancers in fantastically elaborate costumes from before we arrived until about 10 pm. Then the action shifted to the hillside where there were 5 different bands playing simultaneously, and these are bands with anywhere from 15 to 50 members with large brass instruments. We saw the best fireworks ever. Towers of crazy spinning wheels propelled by the explosions with pieces that flew off into, hopefully, the sky where they exploded again. There there was obviously no fire marshal in attendance, and the expertise with the fireworks, although spectacular, was questionable. It does mention in the Lonely Planet that attention to safety during fireworks is a little lax. It was a crazy place with smoke and noise and people drinking various assortments of alcoholic beverages. It was standing along the street regarding the marvel, that Marty started talking to Jason and his partner Lou who vacilate between their respective countries of England and Spain. It was fantastic to meet them and spend the evening drinking, discussing and theorizing with new friends. I think we slept for a few hours in our tent on the roof despite the fantastic amount of noise. We caught the ferry to Isla del Sol the next morning and met up with Jason and Lou at the north end of the Island. Isla del Sol is the birthplace of the sun to the indigenous people of Peru, and to the Inca it is the birthplace of the first Inca. Or maybe Iīve got that all wrong, I have to have the book to actually get it all right, as there is alot of history around here to remember. There are ruins of the Temple of the Sun at the north of the island. Apparently 30 Inca priests lived here. And Iīm sure they went skinny dipping on the beach in the sun as did we. It is shocking the color your skin turns after only being exposed for 30 minutes at this elevation!!!
Bow Bunnies
! The island itself is barren of trees other than a few stands of Eucalyptus that are apparently planted and donīt do much for the local ecology. Every slope has been terraced and cultivated for thousands of years, the terraces not only creating a level place to plant, but also helping direct the irrigation. A path has been built or reconstructed along the spine of the island and the views out over the lake towards the mountain massifs of Boliva are spectacular. We camped on a beach and marveled at the stars in the southern latitudes. They were incredibly bright and the milky way was astounding. I was quite shocked to see Orion lying on his side. We wore every stitch of clothing we had with us, and vowed to find more warm clothes for our upcoming mountain hike. We met up with Lou and Jason the next day, and walked about then found ourselves a boat to row. Thomas Caliente was tickled pink to recieve some money for "his" boat. Marty and Jason found the weather warm enough to launch themselves into the lake. I think it took them a few hours to warm up and some pepper and a pair of tweezers to recover (see Australian doctor for explanation). We saw a young man collecting his nets and rowed over to ask if he wanted help with his fishing the next morning. As we hiked back up to the hostal we were staying in (and eating trout and drinking beer), we met a man who asked us how much we had paid for the boat
Millions Flock to Copocabana
. A strange question we thought, until we learned that the man was Thomasīs brother, and it was actually his boat. We met Virgil on the beach at six am, and spent two hours pulling in nets, cleaning nets of fish, rowing to keep the boat straight and trying a short set of surface long line for rainbow trout which was unsuccessful. Marty was estatic to be on the water and fishing, sorta. We figured that at 2.50 Bolivianos per kilogram for the smelt like fish and other assorted small īuns, that our 17 year old host who has been fishing for years with his father and who now owns his own boat, earned a grand total of 1US dollar for a mornings work. His big money comes when he sets out his "long lines" and catches trout which he sells to the hotels. He had worked in La Paz for a year cleaning toilets and far prefers fishing for a living. He goes to school in the afternoons, and it would be interesting to follow what he choses to do in the next few years. We took turns rowing around the south point of the island to catch our ferry back. We think Virgil enjoyed our company, and was thrilled to make 4 US Dollars for a morning of entertaining a different type of tourist.
We said goodbye to our Jason and Lou after filling them with tales of Canada and hopes for a future visit for them, and for us to Spain and England. We lunched on more trout in the market, then jumped a bus to Cuzco that took forever!!!! And didnīt stop for dinner, and was checked by the police for illegal imports from Bolivia, and that arrived in Cuzco at midnight. Thankfully, we had bought a room from the bus attendant on our first bus, with some scepticism, and they actually were there at the bus station to pick us up, even though the bus had been two hours late. Oh what a day and how happy we were to collapse into our comfy bed, in our quiet room and sleep until the morn.
