Copacabana & Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol
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The border crossing from Peru to Bolivia was smooth and straightforward, no officials looking for a "fee" to stamp our passports.  Arrived in Copacabana and found a hotel, a bargain at 50 bolivianos, which is about 5 euros.  We briefly visited the Moorish style cathedral, a site of pilgrimage at certain times of the year and the venue for the blessing of cars/buses (more about this later). Also climbed to the lookout point above the town for good views of the Lake.  The next day we headed to the Isla del Sol, after awakening to a town with no electricity.  The town currently only has electricity every other day, due to work on the supply.  Isla del Sol is a mere 90 minutes by boat, we disembarked on the south of the island and took a minute to prepare for the walk up a long flight of Inca steps to the village of Yumani.  The village has beautiful views of the lake, towards the Isla del Luna and onto the snow capped mountains of the Cordillera Real. We hiked to the nearest peak, which afforded views of the rest of the island, before another dinner by candlelight.  Isla del Sol also had no electricity for the night.  The woman in the local restaurant cooked up a lovely meal for 10 travellers by candlelight, quinoa soup followed by fresh trout or chicken with salad, rice and potatoes, simultaneously minding her two young children.

Isla del Sol
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We woke to grey clouds and rain...and still no electricity which meant another cold shower. Fortified by a breakfast of banana pancakes with honey we started walking north with the plan of seeing how far we could get before having to turn back to get the boat, having decided to spend just the one night on the island.  However, the clouds cleared to reveal a beautiful sunny day so we spontaneously decided to carry on walking and stay another night.  We walked the ridge to the north of the island, visited the inca ruins and saw the site of the birth of the sun.  We took the lower path on our return and walked through small villages to return to Yumani, a walk of about 16km, great to get such good views of Lake Titicaca in perfect weather.  We returned to Copacabana and were fortunate to catch the blessing of cars and buses.  The owners of the vehicles parked them outside the cathedral, decorated them with flowers and coloured garlands and the priest blessed them, sprinkling  water onto the engines underneath the opened bonnets, the family then appeared to celebrate with a few bottles of beer.  The purpose of this is to wish for safety in travelling...does this negate the need for insurance?  A unique custom which was interesting to witness.