Friday Sept. 14th I took the bus at 7h30 going to Copacabana. I arrived at the border where we were asked to get off the bus to pass the border. First to the first office, the Peruvian border to stamp my passport out of the country and then to the second office, the Bolivian border to process my entry in the country. I did not know what to expect, but it was very simple, I go through like you go through a strainer with a big hole in it. No questions asked, no verification whatsoever, they stamp my passport giving me a 30 day holiday visa for Bolivia. I asked the guys if I could get 90 days and he told me that at the border they can only give me 30 days but also tells me that when I'll be in La Paz to go to the ''Migration'' office where I can get it extended to 90 days. When I get to Copacabana I take a small walk in town to find a room, I find a small place with private room and washroom with lukewarm shower for 40Bs (5.63$ Can.). I then head to the beach to take a walk around and find kiosk-restaurant on the beach where I have lunch, a complete Titicaca lake trout with rice, fries and salad for 20Bs (2.82$ Can.) plus a Sprite for 2Bs (0.28$ Can.). A very good lunch. I then head back to my hotel where I have an e-mail waiting from someone from Quebec that also just got into town (we had exchanged a few messages online before). We meet each other a little later and spend the afternoon walking around town and on the beach. We find supper for 20Bs and go have a beer in the evening. We split up later to each go to our hotels.
The Bolivian Border office
The beach in Copacabana
The superb Lake Titicaca Trout
Copacabana Cathedral
Small street in Copacabana
I meet with Élise again early in the morning to go have breakfast (Saturday Sept. 15th), Then we go to visit a site in the mountain right beside the town. The site is called ''Horca del Inca'', it is in fact a rock formation where the inca's had an ''observation post''. Smaller than I tought but very nice rocks. We go back to town and head to the mountain on the opposite side of town to climb up, it's called ''Cerro Calvario'' that is some sort of religious walkway up with crosses that goes up the mountain. In the afternoon we take a walk of about 2km to go to a nearby village called ''Kusijata'' to visit a small museum with artifacts of different cultures and of different times of the region, there is also the ''Bano del Inca''. Later back in Copacabana we head to the market to buy a few stuff because we are heading to ''Isla del Sol'' early the next morning. Supper a little later and a few cervezas in the evening. Head back to the hotel at around 10h30 pm, where to my surprise the gate is already locked and can't get in. I had to climb over the gate to get in
Rock formations
''Horca del Inca''
View on the town from the mountain
Cerro Calvario
Bano del Inca
Small Video of Copacabana - Isla Del Sol
Sunday Sept. 16th we take the boat at 8h30 (20Bs) to go to ''Isla del Sol''. We get off the boat in the southern part of the island (the opposite of what most people do) and head up for the island walk. We try to go to the ''Templo del Sol'' in the southern part of the island that is a few km out of the main track and when we saw the ruins from afar we decided to go go down all the way to it because they did not seem that impressive and go back the way we came to get back to the main road that will lead us to the northern part. There are fees for the southern part of the island of 5Bs and of 15Bs for the northern part. No choice we have to pay the fees but since it's fairly cheap' we don't mind. We walk for a while and at about half way we stopped for a picnic on the side of the road before continuing to the northern part where we see a bigger ruin called ''Palacio del Inca'', the ruin is somewhat of a small labyrinth where we wander around between the walls and a few small tunnels. Very interesting site. While we are there we see a filming crew going all around preparing to film around. I ask one of the guys what they are doing and he explains that they are working for the BBC and they are preparing a documentary on the site and a few other places in the region. Cool. We arrived at ChallaPampa at the end of the afternoon and find a place to stay for 25Bs. We then go around and find a house-restaurant where we are served trout with fries and rice for 20Bs. Once again very good trout, we then go back to the hotel.
View on the lake from Isla del Sol, with small Isla de la Luna in background
Templo del Sol
The long road on Isla del Sol
North point of the island
Ceremonial and sacrificial table
Palacio del Inca
ChallaPampa
Click on image to see all pictures from the album Copacabana and Isla del Sol
Sun up on Isla Del Sol
Coffee on the beach of ChallaPampa
looks like a beautiful place
ReplyDeleteIt is, really. I'm from a small town where there are lakes everywhere, so it was very nice to be on the side on water for a little while.
ReplyDelete