Feliz Navidad from the birthplace of the sun

Bolivians don’t seem to get as excited about Christmas as we do. While there’s the odd little fake Christmas tree around (although we did see a tree strapped to a car roof – Canadian-style), and the odd tacky electronic device spitting out pseudo Christmas carols (think jingle bells coming from your watch), there’s not much Feliz going on. I don’t think they do the mall Santa arriving via helicopter or on a fire engine. In fact, Santa doesn’t seem to be part of the picture here at all. If you’re a Christmas keener – i.e., Christmas isn’t Christmas without the decorations, Christmas sweaters, mulled wine, and the Michael Buble Christmas CD – do not come to Bolivia for Christmas. Although, that’s kind of self-evident isn’t it J

So we’ve been kickin’ back the past few days here in Copa, enjoying daily trips to the market, and a side trip to Isla del Sol. As mentioned last post, we’re milking our relatively luxurious accom set-up so that we spend Christmas here, instead of taking a chance with La Paz (big city of). Contrary to what we were expecting from the weather, it’s been surprisingly good. Mostly sunny skies and 15 to 20-degree days. Pleasant surprise given the middle of the rainy season. You know, it’s funny. This is the umpteenth time the weather isn’t what it’s “supposed to be”. Our first encounter with that was in Columbia, pretty much right out of the gates and our first night on the road. Hernan, our Columbian host was overcome by frustration trying to explain the Columbian Caribbean seasons to us. “Well, it’s supposed to be our wet season, but it hasn’t rained in 6 weeks...things are changing.” That seems to be the bottom line: things are changing.

One of the bigger draws to Copa is access to the infamous Isla del Sol, which, true to its name was indeed the island of sun for our 3-day village-to-village trek. A 2-hr barco (boat; why it’s a barco here and a lancha in Puno?) ride took us to the north end of the island where we found a basic bed for the night (basic = 4 walls, a roof, and a bed; you want what?...toilet paper?!). And, interestingly, a white-sand beach right out of the Caribbean, complete with two Euro chicks in bikinis. Uhh, where did we just beam in from? G-strings in Bolivia. Not sure who was more surprised, us, or the little old Quechua ladies sweeping their dirt floors. Things are changing.

The pre-Inca Arymara inhabitants called the island Titi (puma) Kala (rock), which is the namesake of the lake. The Inca considered the island to be the birthplace of the sun and several other important entities. In turn, the contemporary indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia regard these legends as their version of creation. No surprise then, this is one important island around here!

A semi-arid, pseudo-Mediterranean chunk of rock about 70 km² large, Isla del Sol boasts some of the most beautiful and striking scenery in the region. Here again, no roads, no combustion engines. All transport is by foot or donkey. The island is riddled with Inca and pre-Inca ruins, including a magnificent Inca “road” running down the spine of the island from north to south. The weather was bluebird for our traverse of the island, and an absolutely stunning hike along the Inca pavement. Views from the ridge tops were second to none. The south end of the island hosts more of what we call civilization including an array of hostels and pizza restaurants. We graciously accepted a cliff-edge table overlooking the universe to enjoy a sunset pizza and a not-too-bad bottle of 3-dollar Bolivian wine. Wine is getting better and cheaper as the distance between us and the Argentine border gets smaller. On another side note, it’s fascinating how pizza has become the default gringo-travel-food all over the world. No complaints...it’s my favourite food group!

So Christmas in Copa. Our plan is to trade up to a place with a kitchen for the 24^th and 25^th. Amy wants a Christmas feast (again, no complaints here!). I agree that it would be difficult to prepare a turkey dinner on our MSR camp stove (which has however been providing delicious one-pot meals for us lately). Although, finding a turkey could be an impossible task. We actually have no idea what the locals do on the big day. Again, not much hype on the streets so far. The town cathedral – another fine example and bastion of Spanish colonialism – should be an interesting place for us to visit; midnight mass maybe? Pass the egg nog.

From the birthplace of the sun, Merry Christmas Everyone! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel!