Copacabana is something of a hippie place but that means there is plenty of information about travel. There is a well trodden route, just like in India, and there are always people to advise the best way of taking the next step. On the downside, it's a messy sort of place as if it isn't quite sure of it's identity.
I was incredibly lucky to happen on the Blesing of motor vehicles on the day I arrived. It's a big event and ensures safe travel for the vehicle and family. All the motors line up outside the cathedral and then are decorated with flowers, streamers, holy pictures etc. At the appropriate hour, a Franciscan father came out of the cathedral in his robes and wearing a white baseball cap as the sun was fierce. He carried a bucket of holy water and a 'splasher' a sort of mop shaped like a flower. At each vehicle, he prayed and blessed and then liberally sprinkled the whole motor and the whole family before moving on to the next. Then the family let off fire crackers, threw flower petals over the vehicle and then alcohol! Later the vehicles paraded through the streets. much more fun than Motor Insurance.
The Cathedral is famous for it's Moorish style of building. Graceful white arches and cupolas and gaudy Gaudi type of tiling on the domes. Inside the cathedral is the statue of the Candelaria Virgen. She is patron of both Puno in Peru and Copacabana. Apparently when the Spanish came to convert the natives the local people chose this virgen to focus all their indigenous beliefs on, so she bridges the cultures and inspires deep devotion. Actually there are 2 statues, the one in the main church and the 'real' miraculous one in a special chapel. It was carved by a descendant of one of the Inca rulers who had a vision. His original carving was rejected as not fitting the subject and so hw went off, studied sculpture and made a new statue. Once installed in the Cathedral, miracles began and she was later made ófficial'by the Vatican. I found her by following some local people who were bearing big sheaves of flowers. Gladioli are the preference and the churches are decked in rank upon rank of gladioli. The miraculous virgen did have a special aura about her and I was glad to have found the sanctuary and to pray for my continuing travels.
I haven't actually spent a great deal of time exploring the town as I have taken trips to the Islands of the Sun and the Moon. My day trip to the Isla del Sol was strange in that I somehow missed the main sights in the North of the island. I was given a vague wave in the general direction of.... and found myself on a ridge looking over agricultural terraces and the lake. It was a quiet and tranquil spot to sit and once I'd given up the 'must see this, do that and get the Tee shirt' stuff I had a lovely morning crowned by the appearance of a Sundog at around lunch time. It's an amazing phenomenon, a ring of rainbow around the sun. This one lasted for a good half hour and I was amazed to find I could get a photo.
The trip included a quick visit to the South part of the island and there I did do the tourist stuff -- hiked up the incredibly steep Inca Steps to the Fountain of the Incas, a natural spring which is channelled through three openings. Tradition has it that it is a fountain of youth, so of course I drank! We finished the trip with a visit to the Floating Islands which are not really that interesting being a construction for tourists and a bit like a theme park.
Next day, I went to the Isla de la Luna. I had to hire a boat as though the trips advertise 'Sol and Luna' they don't actually go to the smaller island. So, for the price of an osteopathic treatment in London, I had a boat for the day. It was an entirely different experience from the previous day's trip. The lake was tranquil and we chugged across to a small pueblo on the mainland where I had a change of captain for the crossing to the Island. My original captain got off to work on his trout farm and neglected to tell the new one that I was not going for the usual quick one hour stop. Though there was a clearly visible pueblo as we approached, we actually went around to the far side of the island where the ruins of an Inca House of theVirgins of the Sun lie. The ruins really are ruinous and only one big facade is intact or possibly rebuilt. I had the place completely to myself and was able to sit, ponder, wander at will. Obviously people still pray here -- there were offerings in one of the little niches and a firepit had been filled with red blossoms. For me, one of the most magical things was the sudden huge sound and then appearance of wrens.There were several, reddish brown and noisy as wrens are. I had an escort for a while of wrens flying, appearing and disappearing in the fallen masonry and sometimes just hopping beside me. They also alerted me to a kestrel sweeping the skies above. Utter magic.
Leaving the site, I was waylaid by a group of women and girls wanting to sell me their souvenirs. I hadn't expected to spend a great deal and the souvenirs were more expensive than on the Isla del Sol, but they don't get so many opportunities here. So I emptied my purse and divided the money between the families. People had told me that Bolivia was far cheaper than Peru but so far I've not found this to be true and exchange rates are definitely not in my favour.
Don Americo had told me that apart from the energy of this island, the other thing was the stones. Along the shore of the lake were stones of many colours and patterns, all fascinating. It was hot and I walked the shore with shade breaks under eucalyptus trees. Ducks and the occasional coot swam on the lake and loads of blackheaded gulls perched on rocks along the shoreline. I gathered stones and made a sort of collage on a big flat rock and left that as my offering to the Moon, the spirit of the lake and to the wonderful Universe.
So now, blessed by both 'camps' I'm off again into the energy of Big City and wondering what adventures lie there.
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