Lake Titicaca--Part I

Saturday morning I was off to Lake Titicaca, to a cute little town called Copacabana. The drive was beautiful, across the Altiplano (high plain) of Bolivia and along the shores of the lake. Most of the hills around the lake are terraced, meaning built up in sort of stair steps to make farm land. The site of the green hills, rock terracing, and little farm plots was gorgeous.

At one point, we had to ferry across the lake. The passengers rode small boats like this one, and the buses and cars floated across on rickety barges.
My time in Copa was pretty relaxed. I spent a lot of time sitting in cafes, and I ate a lot of trout, my favorite fish. My favorite dishes were the stuffed trout (stuffed with bacon and a pesto-like paste) and trout covered in coconut curry. I definitely had my favorite restaurant by the time I left Copa, and the patron grew to know me. He was always blasting Cat Stevens and James Taylor, and he appreciated my love of the music from that era.

Toward the end of my first day, I hiked to the top of Cerro Cavalario, a hill overlooking both the town and the lake. On the way up, you pass the 14 stations of the cross, and on the top, there is a huge row of religious statues of crosses and also places to light candles and stuff like that. It being Bolivia, it was also covered with stalls selling junky tourist crap. That kind of irritated me.

I almost died hiking up to the top. The way was paved "Inca-style," meaning stones were fit together somewhat irregulraly. My bum ankle was bothering me, so I had to be careful along the way. Also, I was repeatedly put to shame by cholas hunkered down with bundles and children, and children themselves, speeding past me along the trail. Especially at the high altitude, I was huffing and puffing the entire way.

The views down to Copa were spectacular.

Everybody loves religious relics.

A chola and her man lighting candles.

Lake Titicaca.

Sun down across the lake.

I had almost decided to be lazy and not make the hike to the top of the Cerro, but I ended up being pretty glad I did. I made quite a spectacle, because I didn't bring a hat and my ears were killing me in the cold, so I tied my sweater turban-style around my head. That's one of the things I love about traveling. There is so much freedom to be weird, because generally you will never see any of the people you encounter ever again, so you are not held hostage by their judgement. I really like it.

After I descended, I went to the shores to watch the stars come out.

Again the weariness of my busy day set in, and since I had to be up early the next morning to take a boat to Isla del Sol, it was another early night.