Lake Titikaka or Titicaca as it is spelled in Bolivia is the largest lake in South America.  It is surrounded by enormous mountains and sits at an elevation of 12,500 feet.  It is very clean, a crystal blue that reaches 144 miles long and 60 miles wide. The lake and specifically the Island of the Sun, Isla del Sol, are thought to be the birthplace of the sun as well as birthplace of the first Incas in the Inca religion. We took a boat tour out to Isla del Sol and walked along the ridge from its north end to the south where the boat picked us up again.

Along the way we saw some ruins. We saw the ruins of the rooms where beautiful virgin women were housed before being sacrificed as offerings to mother earth and the sun. The pre-Inca culture sacrificed women, cutting out their hearts, holding up the beating heart as an offering to the sun and the body was sunk in the lake as an offering to mother earth. When the Incas arrived on the lake, they changed this tradition of sacrificing female virgins to sacrificing llamas instead. After seeing the remains of the chamber walls, like a labyrinth of rooms, we saw the stone sacrificial table with stone chairs set all around it. All these ruins were located on the north end of the island. From here we walked on top of the ridge looking out on both sides at the blue waters surrounding us. The island was dry with little vegetation although in some parts people were cultivating the land. We saw more typical animals of the area such as llamas, sheep and donkeys. Chad describes the scenery as similar to the Greek islands.

Back in Copacabana, the same celebration for the Virgin of Candelabra that was taking place in Puno, was also taking place in Copacabana. But in Copacabana, people were dressed differently, less colorful, men wore suits and women dresses. The women seemed to partake in the celebration and drinking more than they did in Peru. People were dancing in the streets and several different bands were located in different parts of town, playing different music for people to gather and dance. I personally liked the music and celebration on the Bolivian side better than that in Puno, Peru.

In Copacabana we found a great camping spot at Hotel Gloria just one block away from the lake on the main street. It only cost us 30 bolivianos ($4) for the night and we had hot showers and WiFi.

To see additional pictures from our time in Copacabana, Bolivia click here Copacabana, Bolivia Pictures.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website