20 de Abril - Copacabana & Isla del Sol
Our last few days in Bolivia were a wonderful and relaxing way to end our experience there. After flying into La Paz from Rurre (our first flight since we arrived in South America over 3 months ago), we hopped on a bus to Copacabana. Copacabana is a small town on Lake Titicaca, and it is very sleepy and peaceful. Not the hottest spot north of Havana that Barry Manilow sung about, but just as worthy of notability. Our little hostel had fruit, candy, and mate de coca on offer 24-7, and we´re convinced that one of those three treats helped Jen fend off the altitude sickness this time around. Billy, however, got sick with what seemed like altitude sickness, so we layed low the first day.They say that there are three rules to follow to avoid altitude sickness--
1) caminata despacio (walk slowly)
2) comer un poco (eat very little)
3) dormir solo (sleep alone ¡wink, wink!)
The predictability, prevention and treatment of altitude sickness is a large grey area for us, but it probably didn´t help that we ascended to 7,100 meters in an unpressurized plane during our flight to La Paz. Who knows? We have a hike on the Inca Trail to look forward to, which involves an ascent that sounds fairly rigorous, so we will be following at least one of the rules above and walk slowly as we make our way to Machu Picchu.
Once we had rested and recovered, we spent a relaxing day walking around Copacabana to see the sights, including a beautiful moorish-looking church in the center of town where Catholics go to have things blessed (mostly water, but during certain times of the year people drive their cars up to the front of the church and have them blessed too). We sat in the sun by the lake, and were reminded of lakes at home. Jen thought of Lake Tahoe and Billy reminisced about Lake Michigan. The temperature is cool at that altitude, but the sun is bright and warm. It is hard to determine whether the sky or the lake is a truer color of blue, both are so vibrant. Lake Titicaca is the world´s highest lake (in Copacabana we were at a similiar elevation to La Paz), and the thin air at that elevation does something magical to the color of the sky and the water. That evening we hiked to the top of Cerro Calvario, one of the hills overlooking Copacabana, to watch the puesta del sol (sunset). When we arrived at the highest point on the hill, we sat down to catch our breath and enjoy the view of the city and Lake Titicaca, which stretches as far as the eye can see. A teenage Bolivian girl ran as fast as she could up the hill behind us to ask us for a pen (boligrafo). She must have seen me carrying my journal with a pen stuck inside. We talked with her for a minute and asked her about her life, but she was anxious to get back down the hill with her new writing instrument and sprinted down the hill as fast as she had appeared. She made us realize that we are lucky to have boligrafos, and that we should use them.
The next day we set out for Isla del Sol, an island about 3 hours away from Copacabana by boat. We hiked from the north end of the island to the south end, where we stayed the night at a family home. The people on the island were so friendly and warm. The island itself was beautiful with barren beaches, lots of farm land, and views of the snowy peaks of the Cordillera Real in the distance. We visited Inca temple ruins at both ends of the islands. Most of all, we enjoyed the slower pace of insulated island life as sheepherders gathered their flocks, donkeys transported loads of water and food up and down the hilly island, and farmers harvested their land. The island was the idyllic Bolivian setting. Visiting the island was like stepping back in time. It actually rained one day on the island of the sun...in fact, it hailed because it was so cold, but it was otherwise arid, warm and sunny and lived up to it´s name.
posted by The Blaus @ 7:49 PM
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