Cocacabana

COPACABANA

(not the one that the song is about)

that Copacabana is in Brazil

Copacabana is the main Bolivia town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, from where boats leave for Isla Del Sol, the sacred Inca island. Lake Titicaca is bordered by both Bolivia and Peru.  The Bolivians like to say: "The Titti is the Bolivians and the Caca (poop) is the Peruvian side. " But, the actual meaning is actually Puma Rock. The Puma is a mountain lion/cougar and is actually a very special symbol to the ancient Incan's.

We had to take a ferry to cross the lake at one point so Ruth, Craig, me and Maria, in this little boat that putted through the water, when we first got in, it was funny because the entire engine  was laying in the middle of the boat floor. I guess they just had a dead one and one that ran the boat too.

This is a picture of our hotel in Cocacabana.  I have never been to the Mediterranean, but if I had, I think that it would look a lot like Lake Titicacca.  I love the stain glass windows and large doors of this hotel. 

The two pictures above are two of my favorite plants that were around my hotel.  They symbolize Bolivia to me very well.  I don't know their names at all, but they are breathtaking (I think).

Me trying to slack-line

This beautiful sculpture is actually made of rock and painted.  I am sitting on the Turtles head.  It actually is used to hang up hammocks from it to trees so people can sit and enjoy the lake Titicaca harbor behind me. My friend Karly.

Copacabana was the religious center of the Incan's.  It still is a very religious, special city today for the Bolivian people.  The crosses in this picture were erected in the 1950's to replace and beautify the top of this steep mountain, which for many years before was used by the Spanish to give religious sacrifices/gifts. Although the top of this mountain originally had Incan significance, the Spanish converted it to a Christian religious center.  Even today many Bolivians make a yearly 3 day trek (over Easter) to this place to worship.  Also if you look to the right you see blue tents where miniature houses, money stacks, computers, cars....etc..... are sold.  If you buy one here you can have it blessed and it means that you will get that in the future.  But you first buy a miniature then have it blessed.  There are so many types of cars and houses, you can choose what kind of car you want, if you want a farm or a business, or a small/large house.  It was really interesting for me to see this.  The vendors make them mostly by hand.  

I bought a very small money stack for picture purposes and to show you what it looks like, along with the golden drink "Inca Kola" Jake's favorite soda from Peru. 

This is another picture by a beautiful yellow building in my hotel (not my room though) with my friend Suzanne

Our entire group on the Isla Del Sol.  I will talk more about it later.  the Isla Del Sol is a rather large island located in the middle of the Lake.  It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get there, because our boat was an old fishing boat that maybe went 5-10 miles an hour???? Ruth, Maria, Erin, Suzanne, Karly, me, Craig, Justin, and Tracy.

If you can't tell I have a fetish with beautiful yellow buildings etc...

This is my friend Maria standing in the main harbor of Lake Titicaca, so pretty!!!

After our 1 1/2 hour boat ride we landed at Isla Del Sol where we had a traditional Bolivian/Incan lunch (shown below) which I must say was fantastic.

The large corn is called Choclo, along with potatoes, yucca, fried minnow-like fish from the lake, fave bean (large) and of course their amazing trout caught that morning along with boiled eggs.  I have to say YUM!!! all served in blankets and we eat out of hand-made ceramic dishes. It was so simple without any preservatives or sugar, but I loved it, it still had great flavor!

Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) is an island in the southern part of Lake Titicaca.Geographically, the terrain is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy. 
There are over 80 ruins on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period circa the 15h century AD. Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people lived on the island as far back as the third millennium BCE. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. 

I love the previous three pictures because they really demonstrate the beauty of Isla Del Sol and how remote it is.  The area is very poor, but at the same time the people eat lots of trout from the lake and farm all their vegetables.  The woman in the last picture is wearing the traditional indigenous clothing for Bolivia.

My friend made fun of me because I was chasing the lambs around trying to pet them.  But I love this picture so much because it truly demonstrates the beauty of this island.  It is not tropical by any means, more temperate, but still very beautiful.  It's such a breath of fresh air to see such simple lives, and to literally breath clean air.  Simplicity can bring a lot of happiness for many people.  It makes you stop and think about what you think are necessities and which are not. Also, I just loved seeing other ways of life, so may people live agrarian centered lives and it is a way of life that I will never fully understand, but enjoy learning about.

 

This picture is literally taken on top of the Isa Del Sol peak.  I am on top of the world here and what a beautiful world we live in!!!