Sur America: Bolivia!!: Copacabana and Isla del Sol

From Puno it is a quick 2 hour bus ride to the Bolivian border. As busses were full we took a combi, otherwise known as a minivan that fits 15 plus people. Most border crossings are fairly simple: wait in line, answer a few questions or get a fatherly stare from over the glasses, stamp stamp amd then into the next line. The Bolivian border is no different. . . unless you're an American. We had to fill out a visa form, get photocopies of our passports (we paid for the copies), pull out $135 US each and the bills were inspected very carefully, a $20 bill with a slight tear was thrown back at us as if it were monopoly money, and our money was counted at least 4 times. All in all the border wasn't that bad but we felt a bit victimized solely for the fact that we were born in America.

Once on the other side we caught another combi to Copacabana. From here we would set out to explore the Sun island, or Isla del Sol. Copacabana has an interesting tradition where they 'bless' their vehicles by sprinkling confetti all over the car, deck it out with streamers, then douse the car in alcohol! The vehicles are now protected from harm by some patron saint, we saw this ceremony on our way out of town and I think the drivers were putting back as much as was poured on their cars, so the amount of 'protection' would seem limited.. Anyway Copacabana is a neat little town with a main drag filled with touristy stuff, tour operators, food and drink. We found a place to buy boat tickets to the island.

A small boat stuffed with 60 - 70 passengers putted its way out to the island, about an hour an a half from Copacabana. We got off the boat in Yumani, and were immediately accosted by a ticket lady who we had to pay 5 bolivianos to as a "tax" for being on the southern part of the island. There used to be a single fee tourists paid to visit the island but the money wasn't being properly distributed to the entire island, so as we walked in a big loop around the island we were supposed to pay at each "zone" change until you had a ticket from each zone. Anyway, we paid for the first zone and then headed up the Inca Stairs to the top of Yumani, passing the natural springs that were thought to represent the three codes or morals of the Andean People "ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla (don't ask me to pronounce it but they mean: do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy). Also Spaniards thought the springs might be the fountain of youth. At the top of the stairs we passed a plethora of hostels and pizzerias, even a few llamas!

We had decided previously that we wanted to spend the night on Isla del Sol so we chose to loop the island and find a hostel to lay our heads that night. As we were sin gia we went at our own pace, starting north from Yumani on the ridge trail. This path gave us fantastic views of the island and Lake Titicaca. We soon found ourselves at the Chincana ruins, a sacrificial table and a large rock that's said too look like a crouching puma when viewed from the southeast. A quick bit of history. The Aymara people called the island Titi'kaka which either means 'puma' 'rock' or 'piedra fundamental' (foundation stone). The Inca's believed that the first of their people, Manco Capác, was born here and also where the sun was born. Lots of cool legends and creation stories are centered around this island. We hiked around many of these significant features of the island without knowing we had just passed a sacred place, there weren't many informational signs for the do-it-yourselfers.

After checking out the ruins we headed south again walking on the east side of the island through a few small villages and taking in more sights. The entire island is covered in terraces, some historians say there have been people farming on Isla del Sol since about 2200 BC! Many of the terraces are still in use by the villagers, mainly growing potatoes. Crossing back over a few 'zonal checkpoints' we were back to Yumani by supper time. We stayed at Templo del Sol Hostal and found a pizza joint to fill our bellies. After dinner the night sky opened between clouds to show the Milky Way, a couple of planets and on the horizon the city glow from La Paz, our next destination.

Isla del Sol has a lot of history and it was cool to explore the island on our own. A few winks in Hostal Sonia, who we didn't particularly enjoy, and it was on a bus again to La Paz!