Lago Titikaka y Bolivia

Hola amigos! So we´re now in Copacabana, Bolivia and loving it. This is a beautiful town with a gorgeous lake front, filled with all different types of boats for rent. Yesterday we spent 3 hours sailing in a tiny little boat with a mast that was clearly a tree trunk with the branches halfhazardly hacked off. It was fun, tacking was perhaps a bit more of a chore than normal but we got the hang of it. I´m sorry that we haven´t got any photos for you this time but the internet connection is SLLLOOOOWWWW. But yes I have to highly recommend Copacabana for it´s beautiful weather, incredible cheapness, and excellent Incan ruins. Though I recently had a row with the hotel owner for trying to screw us and decided I needed a pre-lunch Cuba Libre (rummy)... this explains how out of order this entry is.

We were previously in Puno to check out the Peru side of Lake Titicaca and see some pre-Incan ruins. The ruins involved funerary tours built by the Colla culture (incan ancestors). This was really neat in that you could see how the stone working progressed from this earlier culture into the amazing Incan works. Even in the Colla time they were hollowing out stones to equalize weights around the towers they built and making domed roofs without mortar. Very impressive. The trip to the Peru islands in the lake was pretty fun. We started with the Uros culture on the famous floating islands... they build these islands out of reeds and put down anchors. Thus if they don´t like their neighboors they just pick up anchor and float away, or hack away the section that their neighboors house is on (I think this actually happens pretty rarely but it´s a fun idea... I would´ve liked to hack the floor out from one of my old roommates, haha). We then went to another island which was less touristy and stayed the night with a local family. They were fantastic and we left them a big tip and bought some of the grandmother´s work (her name was also Elena, haha). We felt particularly good about this when we found out that the husband had passed away and this was their only form of income. It´s a rough life for people on this island but they sure do have the views to make up for it. We got to dress up in their local clothes and had a little fiesta which was lots of fun... they like to sweat when dancing! Especially the women who are layered in like 3 heavy skirts. The guys just wear funny hats, I can´t wait to show everyone the pictures. The next day we went to the last island on our trip, Taquile. This is the island where men knit... it´s supposed to be a very manly activity there. Unfortunately this island has been rather ruined by tourism and was basically a big shopping centre. But it was a good trip in any case and we feel as though we saw a lot in a little amount of time.

Today we´re going to Isla del Sol, the main island on the Bolivia side. We´re quite excited about it as we get to camp a bit and hike around without a guide. We should be back to Copacabana on tuesday and then back into Peru on wednesday or thursday (heading to Arequipa, for those with a map). Isla del Sol is very important in Incan religion as it was supposed to be the birth site of the son of the two major gods, the sun and mother earth. Hence we´re supposedly in the vagina of the world, which is a bit humorous. Some people still combine this religion with Christianity in very interesting ways... almost as though the Incan religion is the facts of history and the Christian religion is faith. Praying to mother earth is very common practice. Anyways, we must go catch our boat. Lots of love and hugs! Pictures soon, I promise

-Dawn