Isla del Sol

Trip Start Jun 07, 2008

Trip End Sep 14, 2008

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Flag of Bolivia Copacabana, Bolivia
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Crossing into Bolivia proved to be a fairly painless process. It was, however, costly. Citizens of the good ol' US of A have to pay $135 for a visa as of very recently, while most others get in for free. Thanks Evo. With my wallet significantly lighter, I got to Copacabana by mid-afternoon. Turns out I arrived in the midst of the year's biggest fiesta, which seems to have something to do with Independence once again. Is independence really something to get so excited about when you've had more governments than years in your independent history? Just asking.

Anyway, Copacabana is not the place you've heard Barry Manilow singing of. It's a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, where the local church blesses cars twice a day. I didn't witness the ceremony, but saw plenty of colorfully decorated vehicles on the road. I only spent one night in town, and the one useful fact I can pass along that the guidebook didn't prepare me for is that they do not believe US$1 bills are worth much of anything. They'll gladly take any other denomination off your hands, but ones are for some reason considered nearly worthless (ironically I got mine from the Bolivian government as change for the visa fee). I managed to get the rest of my cash changed into Bolivianos soon enough though.

Forgot to set my watch forward an hour upon crossing the border, and as a result missed the boat to Isla del Sol in the morning. Lucky for me quite a few other tourists had missed it too and nine of us banded together to hire our own boat for the 90 minute voyage. Hit a bit of a snag when the boat captain announced that he didn't have enough fuel and there wasn't wany to be had in the town, but we settled on a slightly shorter trip (the others were coming back with him too) and were off.

Isla del Sol is apparently the birthplace of the Inca sun god, and perhaps thanks to him it was indeed a sunny day. I took advantage of the sunshine and hiked down to the southern tip of the island. Despite the usual frigid temperatures, I really liked it here. Beautiful scenery and very peaceful. Were it 20 degrees warmer, I might have stayed a few days longer. Instead, I packed up the next day and started my boat and bus journey to the big city.

More photos from the lake on flickr.