Copacabana, Lago Titicaca, y la Isla del Sol

We came to Copacabana a week ago on a Friday night. The people of the town were putting on a passion play in the streets in elaborate style. The middle of the streets was decorated with designs and words made of flower petals. They had people dressed as Roman centurions and even a live human being tied to a cross that was carried through the street.


The following day we breathlessly walked up to the Holy Mirador on the hill next to the town. It was quite a scene. A beautiful view of the city, many little shrines and even women in bowler hats selling soft drinks and beer. Today is Good Friday and people are streaming into town with large sticks, apparently having made a walking pilgrimage from La Paz to the Holy Mirador.





Copacabana is an interesting place in many ways. It is not the Copacabana of Barry Manilow fame, but it is located on the southern shores of Lake Titicaca, the largest and most amusingly named lake in South America. Unfortunately it has become a bit of a nasty tourist trap. Hilary said she felt like we were walking wallets to many of the people here. Luckily we found a few nice places and people including a wonderfully friendly little Italian restaurant run by a Bolivian woman and her Italian husband who like jazz and Pavarotti and make lasagne with ragu and bechemel sauces like my mother. Delicious.


Luckily we spent most of the week on the the Isla del Sol trekking. We walked along a peninsula from Copacabana and then hired a rowboat to take us out to the island. We saw the Incan Mesa de Sacrificio (The table of sacrifice), a pre-Incan labyrinth-like structure, and a few pretty little towns surrounded by terraced fields. We spent most of our time on the lonely eastern side of the island where we saw no one for two days, and scrambling down steep slopes to empty beaches looking out over the lake. It was great to be trekking again and to spend some time away from bustle. As usual the skies were fantastically beautiful and the sunsets were sublime.