Lake Titicaca & Copacabana, Bolivia – No, not the famous Brazilian beach, rather, its namesake

Lake Titicaca is this gorgeous sapphire blue lake that borders on both Peru & Bolivia & is easily the largest high-altitude body of water in the world. It’s also very sacred Incan land as they believe the sun & the moon were created on Isla Del Sol. Copacabana is the Bolivian town on Lake Titicaca closest to Isla Del Sol & the best spot to explore the lake on the Bolivian side. In general I’d heard the Bolivian side was more charming & less touristy & I specifically read Copacabana was much more alluring with better ambience than its Peruvian counterpart, Puno. So we cruised right through Puno on the way to the Peru-Bolivia land border crossing to access Copacabana & Isla Del Sol, which was certainly the highlight of the Lake Titicaca trip. 
As a quick aside… I was a tad nervous hitting the border crossing. If you heed the US State Department’s advice, you MUST have a visa prior to entering Bolivia. I looked into this prior to the trip but it was going to take 2 months & that was time I didn’t have (yes, I’m still a procrastinator). So I did some online research to find that before the rule changed (US citizens apparently used to be able to get visas upon arrival to Bolivia but that changed in 2015), plenty of folks got in just fine. For the life of me, I couldn’t find a single example of someone who successfully crossed after the rule change. So we were rolling the dice a bit. But I wasn’t that worried as I was convinced all they cared about was us paying the $160 visa fee which is a reciprocal fee to what the US charges Bolivian citizens to visit (no one else needs a visa, only Americans bc our government makes it really difficult for foreigners to visit so some countries choose to do the same to US tourists; can’t blame them really). I was (fairly) certain they wouldn’t turn away tourists who not only want to visit their country & spend money but also are willing to pay a hefty sum to enter. So turns out I was right. We gave them some of the documents “required”, didn’t provide them with others (proof of exiting country, hotel res) but they didn’t seem to give a shit. They cared most about closely inspecting those US bills in exchange for a 10yr visa (woot woot!). Thankfully so bc that really would’ve sucked to be rejected at the Bolivian border… or just another adventure.

Isla Del Sol was the highlight of the visit. We took an early morning boat to the N side of the island, visited the famous Incan temple & altar (where the sun & moon were created & birthplace of the Incan dynasty; no big deal) but the the best part was hiking from the N side of the island to the S along the central ridge of the mountain with spectacular views on both sides.



There are some more massive snow capped mountains over yonder

The southern village & end of our hike
Copacabana
The main strip in Copa lined with shop, restos & bars
Since this place is sacred ground to the Incans & Isla Del Sol is the birthplace of the Incan dynasty, of course the Spanish come in & impose Christianity upon everyone. They take it to a higher level & build this massive basilica that houses the Virgin of Copacabana, a famous statue never removed for fear of triggering floods, that Christians go crazy for & still flock to Copa twice a year for religious ceremonies. Given all the religious nutjobs that descend in hordes on the city to pay homage to the virgin of Copacabana (the Brazilian beach was named after this shrine), how could I not enjoy a Judas beer?!?!! (It actually wasn’t very good but perhaps I deserve that)
A lovely rainbow on the bus ride from Copacabana to La Paz. I feel the excitement of a little kid still when I see them. Especially one so clear I thought I just might be able to see both ends at once.
An hour into our 4hr bus ride from Copa to La Paz, the bus stopped & passengers exited. We followed but lingered a bit as we asked the driver what to do. He yelled at us & told us not to lose the rest of the group. So we hurried after them, bought tickets to board a rickety wooden boat to cross this little part of Titicaca & waited while our bus separately crossed via a REALLY rickety wooden “ferry” (the very one we were watching locals bail water out of 10mins before). Hilarious.

One thought on “Lake Titicaca & Copacabana, Bolivia – No, not the famous Brazilian beach, rather, its namesake

  1. 😂😂😂 Yes, you deserve that bad tasting Judas beer. But funny story. Oh & I’d have wondered where the life jackets were stored before boarding that ferry. Rainbow picture gorgeous!

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