Andes Mountain High

Greetings from Lake Titicaca! This lake is huge. It sits at 12,500 feet above sea level at the top of the Andes, making it the highest "big" lake in the world. Apparently, geologists say that when the Andes rose up from the ocean floor, this lake came with it. It´s 120 miles long and 60 miles wide.

The landscape reminds me very much of Greek islands: the white washed church, cobblestone streets leading down to the sea/lake, fields of what looks like scrub brush separated by rock fences. There are herds of sheep just like in Greece, but also herds of llamas, not like in Greece.

Leaving La Paz for here was like leaving San Francisco for Lake Tahoe. We left the teeming narrow noisy streets of the big city and I´m now in the town of Copacabana...about the size of Quincy. I´m sitting in the (wonderful!) warm sun at 4 in the afternoon, drinking my cup of espresso and luxuriating.

Enroute, we had to cross an arm of the lake. There´s no bridge. So everyone had to get off the bus and get into little boats (also like Greece) to cross the one mile wide strait. The bus is put onto a wooden barge which has about 6 inches of freeboard at the stern and about 2 feet at the bow. That´s because the bus sits at an angle of about 20 degrees to the stern. The bus sways dramatically from side to side as it crosses the strait in this barge which is barely bigger than it. Apparently, several years ago, they let passengers stay on the bus. One day the wind was a little too strong and the bus and all its passengers went to the bottom. So now, we passengers have to climb into these little launches. At least it had a cabin! There were about 20 of us in the boat and they boasted 6 life jackets hung up for display.

Tiwanaku was the cultural and religious center for the inhabitants of the Andes for over 2000 years. The Incas moved in about 1500 C.E. and they made the Island of the Sun, just offshore from Copacabana, their religious center. According to Inca myth, the Island of the Sun is the place where the sun and moon were created and the Inca dynasty was born. Under the Incas, the island became a pilgrimmage site and people from hundreds of miles away made the trek to the island. The island is supposed to possess a religious tranquility, located as it is in a lake on the top of the world. Nowadays, there are an equal number of pilgrims, called tourists, who travel long distances to admire it.

The Catholic Church quickly glommed onto the Inca (and subsequently Aymara) people´s sense of reverence for the place. The Church built a huge cathedral way out of proportion to this otherwise little town. As a result, this has become Bolivia´s most important shrine. The church is called the Virgin of Copacabana and each year on Aug. 5th, thousands of worshipers come here from all over the country. They also come on June 21st, the winter solstice and Aymara New Year, where ceremonies are performed as well, but not Catholic ones.

The Island of the Sun, two hours offshore from Copacabana, boasts three hamlets and Inca ruins scattered everywhere. As usual, the conquistadors made off with all the gold and jewels and the church took all the big stones to make the cathedral. The locals on the island fish, herd llamas, raise crops between rock fences, and sell food to tourists. The lead menu item everywhere is trout.

I find the fishing boats fascinating, probably because I find most boats fascinating. They have a surprisingly high bow and stern, looking like they´re prepared for any kind of bad weather. The mast is stepped about one third of the distance from the bow and the boat is very wide, making it easier to haul in fish. The sail is a lateen sail, looking like it could have been imported off the Nile River in Egypt without modifications. They also carry oars, since the wind, as on most lakes, can by flukey. I talked to a fisherman/sailor here. He says he catches about 10 fish a day on average and he spread his hands indicating that the trout could get well over 2 feet in length. Keep in mind that it was the fisherman that told me this. I do know from the trout I ate a couple of days ago in Coroico that the trout can definitely get big!

The sky and the lake water really are remarkably blue and both seem very vast. Despite the pressure of numerous stands selling tourist kitsch and fresh fried trout and the pronounced presence of foreigners, the place still has a mystical feel to it that overcomes all the other stuff.