Lake Titicaca and the Inca Creation Myth
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2008
1
27
30
Trip End
May 01, 2008
Copacabana,
Bolivia
Saturday, March 8, 2008
A we´ve decided to cut our holiday a little short we can afford to splash out a little on some more luxurious accommodation and so we found ourselves in the dome roofed suite of the "La Cupula" hotel with our own inroom hammock and great views of Copacabana and the lake. As well as having some nice rooms the german run hostel also has a great restaurant where we ate each night of our stay. The lake was stocked with trout in the early 20th century and Matt was able to enjoy the best fish he's tasted for a long time.
After settling in we went for a bit of a wander
Kat happy with the heater
. Kat was still feeling pretty under the weather so we supplemented the Pringles with some Starburst and Skittles. In the end though this just meant that she's feeling additionally sick from eating too many sweeties!There isnt a whole lot to do in Copabana itself. It has a nice cathedral and an easy hill climb rising up from behind our hotel which was a good hike for sunset one evening. Matt bumped into Clare again and they hiked to the top of the hill for sunset and to enjoy a couple of beers at the summit. After a while Debbie and Derek turned up. They had managed to make the most out of a bad situation (recall that they had their camera and passports stolen in Potosi). Derek had upgraded his camera and so was pretty happy and Debbie had upgraded from a Kiwi to a British passport :).
The main reason to come to Copacabana is that it is the set off point for boats which head to Isla del la Sol about 20km away. This island is where the Inca's believe that creation began and it's home to a few ruins as well as being a pleasant place to wander around.
In the event we boarded our boat early on our second morning in Copacabana. 2 hours later we finally arrived at the island. For some reason the boat carrying about 40 passengers was fitted with 2 small offboard motors - only one of which was used for the majority of the trip. Poor Kat was suffering from sea sickness in addition to the altitude sickness that she hasnt managed to shake. Anyway, once on the Island we found a guide, unfortunately he didnt speak any English..., and a group of about 8 of us set off to see the site of creation along with some ruins along the way
Living room of our suite. Note the hammock
.Suffice to say that we remain to be convinced that the world began from Titicaca rock. A one hour hike uphill took us past the following on our way to the site of creation:
The remains of a temple (nothing visible - possibly all overgrown)
Some rock that was supposed to look like a bird (it didnt)
Footprints of the sun god (some stains on the ground)
And once at the summit, we are supposed to use our imagination and see the holes in a rock where the sun and the moon are supposed to have sprung from. Finally, opposite the site of creation was a sacrificial altar which we had initially mistaken for a picnic table. I guess it was one of those tours where you really would have benefitted from an English speaking guide. Having said that, when the tour was over, the guide was very much able to make understood that he expected a tip!
A lot of people then walk from the ruins in the north of the island down to the south where there is a hilltop community (Yumani) passing various ruins on the way
Pretty view of Copacabana shoreline
. Because of Kat's foot we took the easy option of catching the boat back from north to south. Kat then remained at the foot of the Inca Stairway whilst Matt hiked up to see what all the fuss was about. At the top he encountered some of the people from the tour at the north who were completing their hike across the island. They hadnt managed to encounter (or more likely they had walked past without realising they should be seeing something significant) any ruins along the way although had enjoyed the scenary on the hike.Finally arriving back on the shores of Copacabana around 5:30 in the evening Matt rushed around to try to book passage out the following morning. Unfortunately we were running short of Bolivianos at this point so had to resort to booking the only transport to Cuzco leaving after the banks opened (all other transport left at around 8.30 in the morning) with the promise to change cash and pay for the bus in the morning.
Come the morning, and flush once again with Bolivianos we "enjoyed" 2.5 rolls for breakfast (well, actually we didnt want to touch the 0.5 of the already chewed roll that we found in our bread basket), loaded up with more Pringles and waited for our tour bus to take us across the border and onto Cuzco.
