BOLIVIA!

For our last day in Peru we drove along the western shore of Lake Titicaca to the border with Bolivia. The last photo of us in Peru, and the signpost at the location:

 

The border crossing was painless.  Into the Peru station, passports stamped, walk the 50m to the Bolivian side, get checked and stamped. Meanwhile a wizened old man pushed our luggage in a hand cart up the hill to our next vehicle. We were handed over to our new guide, Raoul, and off we went to the town of Copacabana, where the main attraction was a church built by the Spanish, with a Moorish twist.

 

At this stage we are accustomed to the living standards of the Andean people, and street life with vendors, hawkers, potholes etc are the norm, but here we encounter armed soldiers on our way down to the dock! No problem as Raoul ushered us though. We boarded our private hydrofoil to Sun Island, one of the main sacred sites, where you can climb 197 steps to reach the fountain of eternal youth!

 

Maybe a bit late for eternal youth!!

We had moved time zone, and so lunch at Bolivian noon was 11 a.m. by our body clocks! But the location and the views made up for it. (Menu: delicious quinoa soup, grilled trout with veg and the ubiquitous potato) Overlooking Lake Titicaca. 

 

Where there's a Sun Island,  can Moon Island be far away? Here, after another climb, we found the ruins of Iñak Uyu, the sun virgins temple. Our guide was very informative and pointed out that in the ancient civilisations, time wasn't measured, and that in pre-Christian times there were no hang-ups about sex. The remains of the temple showed yet more examples of architectural genius.

 

It was also interesting to hear that on these islands a lot of structures were based on prime numbers. 

Probably the most interesting thing we learned today was about the ownership of land and property. In the Bolivian Andes, you don't own your land, the community does. When you build your house, it's yours forever, and the land around it must be cultivated by your family. The community farms the area and everyone must contribute to the effort of cultivation. What you produce is yours, to keep or sell. If you leave the area for whatever reason, and don't come back within a reasonable time to work the land, then you lose the right to the land. So far, it seems to us that the houses are of a better standard than those in Peru. Also the Bolivian system seems more secular and socialist than that of Peru.

A suri. Fine haired breed of Alpaca.  

We spent the night at a lakeshore hotel, where we and our guide were the only guests! (We had requested an alternative to one which involved a 45 minute steep climb!) This hotel was a kind of eco-lodge, with some examples of past country life in the grounds (think Bunratty Folk Park). 

They have a video which they show to visitors, explaining the traditions of the Aymara people, including how they mark a boy's first haircut. The important men in the community are invited to cut some hair, and in doing so, it is believed that they impart their good characteristics to him. The boy will be aged 5 or so; the Aymara don't measure time as we do, linearly.

Another part of the video explained how the shaman or witch doctor was such an important person in the community, and still is today.  When the video was over, we went to see the centre of witchcraft onsite- a walk through an adobe building with samples of the various offerings, amulets and cures. Finally we came to a room with a fire lighting, and a life sized model of a shaman sitting in front. Or so I thought! He was the real deal! He prayed over us, blessed us and then we were invited to ask him a question so that he might predict the future. Moi, the guinea pig had to sit beside him and ask the question! On the mat infront of him, on which were laid out coca leaves in some formation,  as well as a Christian crucifix, he began to toss down more coca leaves seemingly at random. Depending on whether they fell face up or down, the answer had positive and negative aspects. You're probably dying to know what I asked! That's between me, Aidan, Raoul and the shaman! 😉

They also have an observatory, with the second largest telescope in Bolivia. We stumbled through the dark gardens and the resident astronomer set it up so that we could see the crescent moon and Venus (both equally visible with the naked eye!!)

After dinner we thought we might watch TV to see how the American elections were going. Oh, sorry, we have no TV service here! Early night!

In the morning before we left, we got to meet the son of the man who built the Kon-Tiki raft! After a worldwide search for the best raft (to prove that ancient people could have reached Polynesia before Drake, Cook et al) the boat builders of Lake Titicaca were  chosen. There were models of other rafts built by the family as well.

And then we got back on the road for our journey to La Paz, passing the snow-capped Royal Range of the Andes as we drove.