On-the-Road Tales

Copacabana is a little lakeside water resort. Lots of hippiues in the street selling jewelry, though I think they are Argentines. The waterfront had kayaking, sail and paddle boats and lots of fresh trucha, or trout. Enjoyed a nice set menu for 17 BS or 2.50 of warm bread, huge plate of spaghetti with pesto and a glass of red wine. Yep, you could survive a long time here on very little money.

I headed out to Isla del sol. If I had any reservations about the boat the other day, they disappeared when I saw this contraption as I was hopping across missing planks on the gangway. A bunch of plywood nailed together, sort of, with cafeteria chairs nailed to the floor, well where they had not broken off and were threatening to poke a hole in the side. Yeah. What do you expect for a 4hr roundtrip $3 boat ride. We arrived at the north side of the island where a bunch of argentina hippies again were camped on the beach, with a pig roaming.

The Incas believe this island was the birthplace of their civilization. That the moon and stars and sol were born from the lake. It is the most reverent of their sites and contains a sacred rock which they believe has energy. Off from the rock, there are three tiny rock isles in the water that form a triangle. Jacques Costeau dove in the centre of these looking for the lost city of Atlantis. He found, about 15 meters down, offering of golds and vessels. There was an interesting little musuem of the excavations though I must read more in it in English.

The walk to the sacred rock and sacrificial table was stunning. The entire island at one point was terraced with agriculture and this part still was. There was amazing volcanic rock that melted like sands and layered rock. Clear blue water and green tinted beaches, houses adorned with colorful flowers. Amazing. I walked back to the boat with a German who was studying in Peru for 5 months and I had bumped into continously for the last 5 days days between Peru and here. Popular route.

We took the boat tot he south part of the Island and walked up 206 steps of original Inca construction with a supposed fountain of youth at the top. I wondered and came down some wrong path which turned out to be the local islander byway form port to house. Hence I had to suck tot he side of the stoneway as people rushed to meet the private supply boats with herds of donkeys to carry the goods back up, or donkeys laden with sacks to go off the island. Nothing like the stampeding sound of donkeys on your tail. Uncomfortable but uneventful journey back to the mainland. Up another couple hundred feet to La Paz manana….

The more I think about the customs on the islands I visited, I am amazed. These people were never idle, even while walking a bull down the road, they would be spinning wool or knitting a cap to sell. Our guide explained the meaning of items of clothing they wore which all told a story. For instance, the colors or design of the cap would tell if someone was married or single. How they wore it signified if they were interested in someone, engaged, or having trouble in their marriage! Just after marrying, each spouse embroiders a belt saying what they wish for in the marriage. No pressure there, your promises are in colored thread around your waist! Must make dating on the island easy but you would think with only 4000, everyone know everyones business anyway.

Anyway, last night it poured in Puno again so the streets turning into rivers was not such an isolated incident. There is a big festival going on so all the marching bands from around Peru were playing in the streets. On the bus ride from Cusco, we saw them in dirt patches practicing and now here they were playing with huge metal tubas in the pouring rain. When I went to bed at 2300 I could here the tunes amidst the fireworks, when I arose at 0600 they were still playing! I grabbed a cab to the bus stantion and the driver told me it is customary for them to play all through the night and the festivities were not officially until Sunday.

My seatmate on the bus was from Oregon. I have only met 2 Americans travelling and they have both been wildland firefighters who work the season and then have 6 months off. Sounds like a great job though they only can save good money when there are big, intenses fires so whie the monetary reward is good, you risk you life in the blaze.

We had to get off at the Peru-Bolivia border. We walked in and dropped off our Peru tax slip and walked across to Bolivia to fill out another form and get a stamp. Not so tough. 8km and a 1hour time change later, we disembarked in Copacabana, Bolivia. There was a hotel at the bus stop and while I could have went hunting for a better deal, 5$ for a room with a private bath AND breakfast, I settled.

Priority number one was laundry. I had not been still long enough in one place to get it back dry and my 2.5 outfits reaked of moldy hotel room, machu picchu mud and amantani straw mats. I was incredibly more excited than I should have been when I found a woman who could have my clothes back to me tonight which mean she was not washing them in the river. yippee. you tend to take laundry for granted. I headed to the cathedral where they do blessing of the cars in the mornings. All these cars, buses, large petrol lorries were tricked out with flowers, streamers etc. to receive their blessings.

During mass, just after the homily, there was a wedding. Yep, that5 was a first, wedding rite in the middle of mass, low key way to do it though. Busy day, early night…

Arose to some fresh mint tea and parted ways with the family. Another rough boat ride and I soon discovered good seamanship does not extend to docking experience. As we were getting ready to disembark, there was a horrific ... [Continue reading this entry]

Headed to the boat Thursday morning. Vessel caried about 22 people and the group was from Argentine, Italy, Japan, Korea, and some Suisse. We managed to communicat in a bad mixture of french and spanish. About 30 ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yet another early rise, some vacation this is....left Cusco for the Eastern City of Puno. Took a tour bus which made 6 stops along the way to various markets and musuems, including a high altitude stop of 4200 meters! ... [Continue reading this entry]

My calm demenour wore off quickly in the morning when my stupid hotel decided they were ont going to provide the breakfast I paid for. I decided to get out of there before I started raving like a lunatic ... [Continue reading this entry]

I arose at 0500 to the sound of pattering rain on the tin roof outside my room. Erggg, did not sound like seeing sunrise on the lost Incan City was going to be a possibility. Caught the first ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, early start and on the 4 hr trip to Agua Calientes, the wee town which exists solely to support Machu Picchu. Cramped train but it afforded a unique view of Peruvian culture which consists apperently of getting up at ... [Continue reading this entry]

Had a bit of a lie in this morning and parted with the host family. Headed into town with a taxi driver who was teaching me Quechua and Aymara along the way. Talked to mom whoi told me ... [Continue reading this entry]

Final day of classes. I went with my professor to the Cathedral. Some amazing artwork. During a devasting earthquake in the early 1600s, the people took a statue of christ from the church and processed through the ... [Continue reading this entry]