2007-05-10T01:52:00.000-07:00

You are here: home > my Bolivia > My Copacabana and Isla Del Sol

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And finally I head for Isla Del Sol (island of the sun), the birthplace of the incas. According to the legend manco capac and his siblings were born from the lake titicaca and were sent to earth by sun god... Manco capac ended up founding the inca empire and being its first king, while some of his siblings were turned into stone and one other went for the path of the condor, going for the valley of gods...

The legend is the legend, the real path is in front of us... And in case you forgot that we were in Bolivia, I just put those pictures to remind you back =).. On our way I see that one of the tires of the bus is going to touch the wooden stick out from the loading dock, but instead of shouting I decide that these people should be experienced enough and it would be rude to interrupt as the stupid tourist... Finally I end up waiting for an extra hour for the drivers to change the tire that was damaged!!!! Welcome to bolivia=)...

Finally I am in Copacabana, which also gave the famous beach in rio its name.. (there was a saint who helped cure a kid in rio from copacabana, and because of this name of this city is given to the most important beach of rio de janeiro). The church of copacabana is simply impressive at its least, and very imaginative at the same time.. Inside of the church is not nearly as impressive as outside, so I will keep you amazed with the outside rather than boring you with extra details =).. And the last picture is going to be my hostel when i come back from isla del sol.. It is my first pink hostel =)...

Ready for our trip to isla del sol, I rent a bolivian boat for 25 bolivianos(3$) for a 2 hour trip. I am the only passenger!!! Later I learn that normally with a few passengers the normal cost is 10 bolivianos,, which means I am ripped of this time =)... Finally I am floating on the waters of the famous lake titicaca, and the islands around are beautiful too...

Finally we arrive at the famous isla del sol.. The second group of pictures is the amazing view of isla del luna, just near isla del sol, with the beautiful glaciers at the background...

And we arrive at the inca steps on the islands, which still remain from the inca civilization.. you can see the irrigation on the left hand side too... Those steps are simply the beginning of a long ride of 40 minutes to the top of the island with my backpack on... And this is just because I am following my stupid guidebook rather than following bunch of trouts who would love to help me and get commission... Now I am an experienced traveller I know what to say (ya tengo reservacion (I already have reservation and I paid for it... One of the kids actually asked reservation or recommendation? If I say recommendation, he is ready to take me in for free =) ))... Anyways,,, after swearing for 45 minutes listening to my stupid guide, I will learn to always listen my stupid guide =)... Because the views on the top are simply breath taking and nothing can be compared to staying on the top because i will be seeing the sunset from there...

Even the llamas are looking at me saying you must be stupid to climb higher than us =)... I mentioned the views are amazing, didn´t I =)

Soo finally I arrive to the top of the famous Isla del Sol.. I am breathless, in all senses... Whereever you look in this Island you are bound to come up with a gorgeous view of lake titacaca.

I head up for the less impressive templo del sol, which are the ruins of the first inca temple according to the legend. Though much less impressive, anything in this island is simply just an excuse for seeing more of the astonishing views around.. First picture is templo del sol, the other two show the glaciers from different views.. and the last one shows the inca terraces in the island, that are still used for agriculture.

Glaciers and the temple with a little bit more detail...

Of course the pictures of glaciers alone would make a perfect postcard picture, yet I have to satisfy my ego too,, I call this allowing other youngsters to show their talents in photography giving them a chance too =). And this definitely satisfies my parents much more than pictures without me =)...

Yes, and now,,,, of course ,,,, we are in the Isla Del Sol... It is called island of the sun for a reason right ???

This is the best sunset I have seen in my trip with huanchaco in Peru... The views are nothing less than out of this world... And it is really worth freezing your buttocks in the hight of 5000 m.

I am sorry, but if there is any picture you dont like, you will have to skip it... I simply couldnt dare deleting those pictures...

Even when the sun goes away, the clouds dont forget to remind you that it was there a few minutes ago....

Once I had someone special with whom I used to tell the fortune from the clouds. I am curious if one could tell my fortune from this unquestionably unique sunset ...

And the sky lets its beauty to shine in the silent cold waters of lake titicaca with pure simplicity, without makeup... Just a chunk of water that is what it is... And for the one that does not want to see, this world is nothing but a huge bulk of rock... Welcome to the real world that never ceases to surprise the one that looks around...

The night shows the amazing moon from the side of Isla del Luna, which is on the other side of the sunset from Isla Del Sol... The moon is much more amazing than the one you now see in this picture, but this is the best I can do... You simply have to go there...

The other day, I wake up early to reach to the north end of the island, which takes about a 3 hour walk... I walked on this blinding island for 3 hours, there was nobody other than a few locals I met on the road for this whole 3 hours... Moment of sensory climax.... Nothing but the sound of the wind, the breezes of lake titicaca (this is also the name of the pena I went in Lima for dance show..).. Nothing but pure combinations of light water, and a beautiful island hiding some parts of the water in mysterious ways.. An amazing ancient site of incas, where only a few remains accompany the inca terraces... Me,, alone,,, in the middle of the highest lake in the world, in a country which many people even dont have any idea where it is,,, the turk in lago titicaca this is simply what it is...

Another batch with the views of inca ruins, locals walking for their farm work early in the morning and never-ugly glaciers combining greens and the winter in an interesting composition.. Of course here is isla del sol, the sky never leaves the wonderful nature alone by itself....

Water ice wood and grass, this is what it is....

And the interesting play of the clouds make the sun rise again from the clouds this time.. In isla del sol you never see the sunset and the sunrise once... This is the ultimate play ground of this burning sphere...

Throughout the ruins, I draw my path to the north rim of the island,,, I have been travelling for more than two hours, and I still have an hour more... It is further than it seems, but never boring... Though always freezing =)... Another interesting fact.. The quechua name for the island is Titi'kaka, which means "Rock of the puma," a reference to the island's shape.

This is the road I had to pass over to get you guys those pictures =)... And this is the not so sacred stone where I have ahsolutely no clue what happened. Apparently there is a sacred stone in the island related to the incas, use of which was not known, but similar to the shape Intihuatana stone in machu picchu.. I admit, at the time of taking the picture I was confused that this was the famous sacred stone.. So, this is my picture with the not so sacred stone =)... And now I am ready to go on my way back to the south rim of the island... Another climbing series of stairs welcome me on my way... Damn I am tired... And now I have no more motivation.. I am using the boat ride back to the south rim slightly cheating and spoiling myself =)..

On our way back is another cute bolivian village with some more beautiful beach and seaside... And a cow doing what he has been doing all his life.. Enjoying the beauty of the island and resting.... Ignorance is a bliss right =)...

Some more from the village which provided me my grateful boat to return back to the south rim of the island not on foot...

Of course no lake titicaca trip is complete without taking the pictures of the famous reed boats of lake titicaca.. So I complete my amazing visit to isla del sol with those pictures, ready to have some party after all that hard work =)

Yeah, ready for the party... What better time in copacabana other than the festival virgen de la coppacabana... This is the grand festival of the city and it was absolutely one amazing experience for me... Thousands of people gather around in their costumes and walk for 3 days with the rythms of the bando turning left and right all around the city. At the night there are fireworks and also bands from all over bolivia coming and full of dancing... In the final day there will be a bullfight (unfortunately I wont be able to see the bullfight as I will be on my way to salar de uyuni to catch the carnaval at rio)... A few pictures from the people in front of the famous basilica de virgen de la coppacabana...

Anyways,, an important fact about the festival.. If you are going to this festival, for seeing some proper walking, you have to be there the first day of the festival.. Because starting from the first night, there is an amazing amount of drinking going on, and so starting from the second way the walking pattern has much more slinging action than the side turning action =))... In this festival you see different people in their unique group costumes walking all day long. Some of them have a toy car in their hands which they regularly turn around their grinds, when I asked what that signifies, they explained me that transportation is very important in their culture... But I dont know if I got the right answer or the drunk answer =)

Let me tell you this way,,, the bolivians know how to party in their festivals...

And the amount of money, passion and work they put on their festival is amazing, only second to rio in my trip so far...

Yeah I have no clue what those costumes signify, pineapple cakes?? =)

Meet emily, she is an american girl who volunteered in the peacecorp for 2 years after her graduation, and now returning back to USA.. The little kid just loved her camera, I guess he will either be a photographer in the future or a casanova with creative methods =P... And time for the evil monsters in the last picture... =)

Sorry master, I feel the darkside is more fun .... =)

The costume on the third picture is exactly the same costume I have seen in the "brisas de lago titikaka", which is the famous pena in Lima.. This part of the bolivia shares a lot of culture and of course dances with the peruvian part, exactly same clothing with some bells on the footside and the same dance.. But they don't like each other... The bolivian guides say that lake titikaka consists of two parts: titi, the bolivian side; and kaka the peruvian side =)... Peruvians say the same in the other direction, sorry guys, but I personally agree with bolivia =)...

It is just so easy to see all colors everywhere...

Friend of emily was obsessed with the girls in the group with the short skirts... She was thinking that they were really short and the girls was really attractive... Interesting!!! I guess being a guy I should have been the one talking about the skirts of them... But I absolutely did not think that they were too short,,, it would be too disrespectful to their culture =)... Me learning some turning...

Yeah, I guess it would be a shame if I dont share the culture with my friends =)... Last picture is one of my favorites... You see how much fun can be had with those toy cars =)...

And while the day ends the time for the vampires comes back... You start seeing the beer bottles in the hands, and you know,,, the official part of the festival is way over now =)

I hang out again with Emily during the night.. The night is spectacular with all the fireworks and dancing,, there is absolutely no sleeping during the festival in copacabana...

I am together with emily and a girlfriend of hers, and immediately the bolivian delikanlis start jumping in on the picture... I am generally dancing with emily and so they only hit on her girlfriend and always keep a distance from her... I like the way bolivian guys are, they respect the other people even when they are drunk... And they are definitely a lot fun during the festival... We just have crazy dancing during the festival, when we say we are scared of the fireworks the guys jumps into the middle of the fireworks and says there is nothing dangerous here... I know that you can burn yourself good there, but I am turkish, and I will never stand aside while the bolivian guys are showing off, I jump over and go near the guy, close my eyes and enjoy the sound and heat of the fire circle around me =)....

And some people enjoy the festival in their religious ways with some more tea and candles rather than the fireworks and beer.. It is so wide variety,, I simply loved my time in copacabana and isla del sol.

And of course I would not refuse the offer of one other bolivian delikanli to share his costume with me... The guy simply loved my dancing, of course he didnt know that I was dancing for long enough to make her like my dance... What can I say.. We made an interesting mixture of bolivian folklore and salsa out there =)

This is how we ended our crazy night, going for the second day of the festival, day of the drunk warriors =)... There are nicely detailed folkloric cars and flowers all over the city... I get curious about where all this comes from and decide to use my explorer instincts to get lost in the side streets of this cool city...

I meet the festivadores in their source, talk a little bit with them in spanish, enjoy, share some laughters, and diffuse back into the heartwarming climate of the festival.

The walk continues, and either the girls get more beautiful or I get more drunk =)...

Getting a little bit tired from the neverending nature of the trip, I go back to the lake titicaca side, and enjoy a little bit more the breeses of lake titicaca.

And the final battle of the drunken masters =))...

And as the day goes closer to its end, I start getting ready for the second batch of drinking... Coppacabana festival is one of the places on the earth where you can get drunk for absolutely free.... Even if you dont want to drink something the young bolivians will always offer you some more beer and you will not be able to refuse, because they are as insistant as turkish.. Your no simply means, ask me again =)

And as the concerts welcome us back to night of copacabana there is nothing but our good old friend the full moon that accompanies my goodbye to an amazing island, a heartwarming festival, cool lake, friendly city and the cold beer =)....

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My Coppacabana and Isla Del Sol