isla del sol

Sometimes, when I'm wading through mountains of crumpled receipts and trying to get all of my bookkeeping organized, I become an angry person. Quickbooks may be good for some things, and doing your own bookkeeping is great for staying on top of everything, but sometimes, I just want to hurl everything over a windy cliff.

Which means it's a good time to remember Isla del Sol, a tiny island in the middle of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. It has no cars, no paved roads, and the folklore says it's where the sun came from. (There is a nearby island, Isla de la Luna, where the moon is supposed to have originated.) Whether the legends are true or not doesn't matter too much; the island is covered in Incan ruins and truly has a magical feel to it. There were flowers I'd never seen before that seemed otherworldly.

But let's back up for a second. First, we bought tickets at the edge of Lake Titicaca in Copacabana:

Then, we went off to find the little boat down by the water:

Despite being half-Bolivian, my partner is a lot taller than the average Bolivian:

We waved goodbye to Copacabana:

It was a beautiful ride over, with clouds that looked like feathers:

Shimmering water and two tiny rock islands with one tree each (almost lined up perfectly here):



And a snow-capped mountain, for good measure:



I did a double-take, too, so in case you couldn't make it out, here's a closer shot:



A snow-capped mountain. Next to the island of the sun! It was a lovely surprise—a bit like our boat ride through some of New Zealand's fiords and across Lake Te Anau to see the glow worms in Te Anau.

When we arrived at the actual island, it immediately felt very different from Copacabana.



Copacabana felt like a huge, bustling metropolis in comparison.

Isla del Sol felt lush and peaceful and drenched in sunlight. How appropriate.

This could be their version of Stairway to Heaven:



The ruins were also very impressive.

 The people were pretty small back then.

We didn't get to go on a reed boat, but they're beautiful to behold, even from a distance.

And like our enchanted trip to Nantucket, even the weeds on Isla del Sol are beautiful. This yellow flower looks like the sun... 

Nice one, Isla del Sol.

copacabana, bolivia

When you think of "Copacabana," you might think of a lady with a fruit basket on her head, but that isn't quite what you'll find here.

Continuing on our journey, we passed some naturally rainbow-colored stone:

Some grazing donkeys:

And lots of winding roads.  It almost seemed like the land went from color to black-and-white for a while.

And then we were back to the vibrant green:

We didn't get to stop for the Poncho Museum, but it's pretty neat that it exists:

And then, without warning, we were suddenly barreling down the main street of Copacabana:

We started walking towards Lake Titicaca and our little hotel:

We found our hotel, which we thought was pretty nice for about $25 a night:

Especially with this view of Lake Titicaca:

We dropped off our stuff and enjoyed the festive Carnival atmosphere as we walked around town:

Notice all of the confetti carpeting the stairs:

Even the taxis were ready to party:

The beauty of traveling in Bolivia is that people dress the same way whether it's for a parade or just because it's a normal day.  The cholita outfit has probably remained more or less the same for centuries, and it's awesome: the bowler hats, the full and ruffled skirts, the elaborate shawls, the bright aguayo cloth tied around the back, the long braids...

You'll notice lots of potatoes, too, and Bolivians are proud to tell you this is where potatoes originated and that there are thousands of different kinds of potatoes in the country.

But this is getting long, so I'll stop here.

Next up: Lake Titicaca's Isla del Sol.

the journey to copacabana, bolivia

So, it's officially been ages since I posted about my travels, and I'm finally catching my breath to continue, so back to Bolivia we go!

We took a bus from La Paz, the capital, to Copacabana, a town on the coast of Lake Titicaca, where my partner was baptized.

The story here is that my partner's mom grew up loving the beach as a California girl, and when she and her Bolivian husband (my partner's father) decided to move to Bolivia to raise their kids, the plan was to move to Lake Titicaca (the biggest lake in South America, partly in Bolivia and partly in Peru).

They packed water toys, safety vests, etc. in anticipation of lots of lake-time fun.  Unfortunately, they didn't research the schools until they got there and found them dismally inadequate, so they ended up moving to Cochabamba instead (which was smack in the middle of the land-locked country).

The happy ending here is that once the kids left for college, they ended up moving to the beach in Mexico, so she got her beachfront house after all.  And my partner was baptized in the Copacabana church before they left, so it was neat to see it as a piece of his life history.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though, so let's get back to this bus journey.

So, we left bustling, crowded La Paz and headed west towards Lake Titicaca.

I loved passing little towns and found the sky in Bolivia to be particularly beautiful.

We passed some picturesque soccer fields as we drove along the coast of Lake Titicaca.  Imagine playing on one of these fields every day...

Then, we reached the Estrecho de Tiquina (the Strait of Tiquina).

And paid for the smallest tickets ever.

We then walked around a bit while waiting and came across a monument you probably wouldn't see in the States.

 Our bus boarded a raft, and we boarded a little boat.

We watched our bus sail across the strait on the Tornado behind us:

We landed first and walked around a little while waiting for the bus to catch up:

Finally, the bus arrived.

And we were back on the road on our way to Copacabana.  You'll notice that the bus is decked out with flowers and streamers.  Carnival in Bolivia is amazing-- even the buses and taxis get to celebrate.  I've never been a parade person, but when you go to Oruro for Carnival, prepare to have your mind blown.

Next up: Copacabana.