Copacabana

Copacabana is a small town and famous pilgrimage site just over the Bolivian border, overlooking Lake Titicaca. Though nothing like its more famous namesake in Brazil, it has its own charm and is a jumping off point for the sacred islands of the moon and sun. We managed to get a room at a really nice hostel which has a spanish feel to it and a great view over the harbour and town, and hammocks in the garden. It also has a nice restaurant so after exploring the town and a ´mojito´at a buzzy pub, we ate in and got to bed early. The next day, explored some more and caught up on admin - washing, repacking, emailing etc -which takes up a lot of time especially when the computers/internet are as antiquated and slow as these are. In the evening, we walked up the steep hill behind our hostel to a religious site at the top where pilgrims light candles and burn offerings at special times of the year and watched the sunset.
Very sadly, a situation has arisen at home which means that Jen has had to head back. This is so unfortunate as we have had such fun and travelled so well together. After a lot of deliberation, I have decided to continue on my own and finish the trip as planned. On Saturday morning (our last together as Jen had to catch the bus back to Puno at lunch time in the first of many legs to get back to Cape Town), we wandered up to the main square with its imposing cathedral. It was all hustle and bustle as we were soon to discover, that on the weekend people bring their cars, taxis, buses and even their harleys to have them blessed. The vehicle is decked out in garlands of flowers and once the priest has pronounced his blessing on it (and slipped a donation into his vestments!) the owners pour a ritual offering of alcohol over the car and some into their mouths as well! At the same time the weddings are following one after the other in the cathedral and in the street their is a company of folk dancers putting on a show. All in all a great morning entertainment!
After sad goodbye to Jen and suddenly feeling very alone, I busied myself with shopping in the market for some provisions and packing for my overnight trip to Sun island in the morning.
The ferry left a 8.30am for the 2 hour trip to the north side of the island. On disembarking, you follow this path along the north side of the island along with all the other travellers to the chincana ruins and the famous sacrficial table and Puma rock. Sun and Moon island are reveered by the Aymaras and the Quechua people as where the sun and moon and their ancestors were born and I was looking forward to immersing myself in the spirituality of it all. However, when I got to Puma rock, I was surrounded by Aussie backpackers saying things like ´I cant see the f........ cat in the f........ rock´ and ´You mean we have come all this way to  just see this rock!´. It was quite amusing but not quite what I had  in mind and as I had the whole day to make my way to the south side where I was spending the night, I decided to stroll down to one of the bays and wait for the crowds to leave. Good move because by the time I returned everyone had moved on and it was just me and a group of énergy healers´ working in a ceremony with a sharman. I watched fascinated and was thriled when they beckoned to me and asked if I would like to join them. It was a very energetic transfer and I felt very blessed to have been able to be a part of it.
I said my goodbyes and started out on the 9 km hike along the spine of the island to Yunami village in the south. I walked entirely on my own for 2 hours with the most incredible vistas on either side and then spent an enjoyable evening in a hostel perched on the top of a hill (4100 mts in altitude!) overlooking a beautiful bay. I returned to Copa in the early afternoon, beginning to feel quite at home in the place. That evening watch ´Slumdog millionaire´ in the common lounge with some other travellers which made for a nice change.
Yesterday am I was up early as I had been told that there was a special ceremony to celebrate the solstice (a very powerful time for the locals) on Moon island which is normally hard to get access to, and that if I was at the square at 7.30 I could catch a ride with the local tourist organisation who were staging the event. True to Andean time, we (myself and a nice young German guy) and the locals,eventually set off in a taxi at 9am. We travelled for about 1/2 an hour and then transferred to a boat for the hours trip to the island. It was such a wonderful experience as only a handful of óutsiders´watched as a number of the local communities came together to worship, dance and celebrate. They then laid out an Andean picnic which we all helped ourselves to, my german ´friend´and I had a swim in the icy lake then we boarded the boat for the return trip, playing cards to pass the time. A nice hot shower, dinner and bed and this morning I am all ready for the next sector of my trip - La Paz and hopefully some mountain biking!