Lake Titicaca, (the Bolivian side)

I wanted to explore the sacred islands Isla del Sol and the Isla del Luna which are important creation sites in Inca mythology. To do this I caught a bus across the border into Bolivia. Getting into the country is ‘easy as’ for Australians, folks from the US, Russia etc need to get a visa which is pricey. 

Copacabana is the tourist launching pad for the islands and the town is full of backpackers. I noticed there seemed to be two distinct groups here. The younger early 20’s types, typically from the UK, Europe or somewhere within South America and up for a good time. There were also plenty of 30-something lone travellers taking a career break and going it alone through South America. This meant I was able to meet and converse with many interesting people from around the globe...awesomeness ☺

The cathedral in Copacabana is famous for her ‘black madonna’. In new agey circles this is considered to be a centre for feminine energy. Anyone interested in the cathedral can read more about it here. When I visited, I definitely noticed the energy. I actually burst into tears shortly after entering. Everyone must have thought I was a devout Catholic, LOL. I sat and meditated for a while enjoying the space :-)

Copacabana cathedral

At this point I should mention that having not being raised in a religious environment, I find entering a church quite an odd experience. I can't remember if I've ever been within a Catholic church before this trip but it is all a bit strange. Everywhere you look there is over the top opulence mixed with violent images of Jesus on the cross. I wonder if they do this to make people feel guilty? Surely there are better images to celebrate the man's life? Anyway...I don't get it :-/

While I was here I also climbed Cerro Calvario. I was pretty surprised at how much rubbish and graffiti there was on this site. They also sell alcohol at the top so the place smells like stale beer. Not sure what's going on here, surely it is not all from the tourists?

Cerro Calvario

I had originally intended to do a day trip including Isle del Luna and to stay overnight on Isle del Sol. However, silly me, did not know about the time difference between Peru and Bolivia so I arrived after the boat had departed and postponed to the following day.

Isle del Luna is the smaller of the two islands, and has an amazing view of snow-capped mountains. This island was used as a female initiation site and housed a group of women who lived a nun's lifestyle, performing rituals to the sun and so on.

View of the snow-capped mountains from Isla del Luna

Temple of the 'virgins of the sun'

Isle de Sol is larger and more commercialized and has this amazing spring running down the mountain. The locals drink from here and I filled my water bottle a couple of times ;-)

Spring :-)

Isla del Sol - commercialism at work

In my search for the temple of the sun, I bumped into a couple of interesting chaps from American and Israel. We head across country looking for the trail. Eventually we could see it form the top of the hill and decided it wasn’t worth the lengthy trek down for a closer look. It was funny, we had to stop while the Israelly guy took his picture with every animal we came across, a donkey, a llama, a pig...lol :-)

temple of the sun...from afar ;-)

The boat back to Copacabana seemed to take forever as one of the engines died. Luckily I didn't miss my bus...this time.