Bolivia - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 172

TOURS
You can hire a guide outside the museum to show you
around the ruins for a small fee, but if you want a guided
tour - especially one in English - then you're better off
coming with an agency from La Paz (see box, p.162); most
run one-day tours to the site for about B$70-90 (plus
entrance fee) per person.

shrines and temples can still be seen on
the Isla del Sol and the Isla de la Luna,
whose serene beauty is a highlight of any
visit to the lake. Nor did Lake Titicaca
lose its religious importance with the
advent of Christianity: it's no coincidence
that Bolivia's most important Catholic
shrine can be found in Copacabana, the
lakeside town closest to the Isla del Sol. 2

Lake Titicaca,
Cordillera Real
and the Yungas
The region immediately around La Paz is
sometimes known as “Little Bolivia”,
because the variety of landscapes it
encompasses can seem like a microcosm
of the entire country. To the northwest
lies the vast, high-altitude Lake Titicaca ,
with its idyllic islands, Isla del Sol and
Isla de la Luna , and lakeside pilgrimage
town of Copacabana . East of here is the
Cordillera Real , the highest and most
spectacular section of the Bolivian Andes,
easily explored from La Paz, or else from
the magical outpost of Sorata. Sweeping
down from the Cordillera Real, the
Yungas is a rugged region of forest-
covered mountains, rushing rivers and
fertile valleys, with the humid languor of
Coroico at its heart.

COPACABANA
The pleasant town of COPACABANA
overlooks the deep blue waters of Lake
Titicaca and is the jumping-off point for
visiting Titicaca's sacred islands. It's also
the most important Catholic pilgrimage
site in the country, as home to Bolivia's
most revered image, the Virgen de
Copacabana; hordes of pilgrims descend
on the city in early February and early
August for the two main religious fiestas.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
The focal point of Copacabana is the
imposing Catedral (daily 7.30am-8pm;
free), set on the Plaza 2 de Febrero six
blocks east of the waterfront. Inside the
bright, vaulted interior, a door beside the
massive gold altarpiece leads to a small
chapel housing the beautiful Virgen de
Copacabana herself. Encased in glass,
the lavishly dressed statue is only taken
out of the sanctuary during fiestas: locals
believe that moving her at any other time
might trigger catastrophic floods. Try
to catch a “vehicle blessing” ceremony
(La Benedición de Movilidades), a ritual
where car owners line up outside the
cathedral with their vehicles decorated
with flowers and ribbons and ask the
Virgin to protect them. This usually
takes place at about 10am, and usually
on weekends.
Another interesting religious site is
Cerro Calvario , the hill that rises steeply
above the town to the north. It's a
half-hour walk up to the top along a trail
that begins beside the small church at the
north end of Calle Bolívar, five or so
blocks up from Plaza Sucre. The trail
follows the Stations of the Cross up to
the summit dotted with ramshackle stone
altars where pilgrims light candles, burn

LAKE TITICACA
Some 75km northwest of La Paz,
Lake Titicaca , an immense, sapphire-blue
lake, easily the largest high-altitude body
of water in the world, sits astride the
border with Peru at the northern end
of the Altiplano. The area around the lake
is the heartland of the Aymara, whose
distinct language and culture have
survived centuries of domination, first by
the Incas, then by the Spanish.
Titicaca has always played a dominant
role in Andean religious conceptions.
The Incas, who believed the creator god
Viracocha rose from its waters to call
forth the sun and moon to light up the
world, also claimed their own ancestors
came from here. The remains of their