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Copacabana, Isla del Sol

Date: 15-16.01.2022
Population: 15.000
Elevation: 3841 m
Founded: 1534

From La Paz we went for a 2 day trip in Copacabana our last destination in Bolivia. Yes, you read correctly. The name of the village is the same as Rio's most famous beach, but it has a completely different character. Interestingly, the name Copacabana was introduced by the Incas and means "lake view" associated with Lake Titicaca. Decades later, the Brazilians copied this name and made their so-called beach an attraction known all over the world. The village was very cute and gave us some holiday vibes as the beach was full of little boats and water attractions. At the nearby summit, we could see the panorama of the entire city that helped us get a better orientation. For example, we noticed two football stadiums, where one of them, although it looked abandoned, had a relatively large stand and later we even found out that it belongs to a team playing in the 2nd league. Furthermore, we visited the main church in the village, the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana, which is a 16th-century Spanish colonial shrine. The previously mentioned Lake Titicaca is located on the border of Peru and Bolivia in the Andes Mountains. It is one of South America's largest lakes and the world’s highest navigable body of water at an altitude of 3812 m. Moreover, it is recognized as the birthplace of the Incas as it is home to many ruins. Therefore, the next day we went to the most famous island in the lake, Isla del Sol, where there are over 80 ruins. Most of them come from the Inca period, around the 15th century AD. Interestingly, archaeologists have found evidence that people lived on the island as early as the third millennium BC. In one of the villages called Yumani there is a legendary staircase, the Escalera del Inca, which leads to a spring that was once believed to prolong youth. The name of the island comes from the Inca belief that the sun god was born here.

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Gods of the sun and moon

The view of Copacabana from the nearby summit 

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Football stadium

Ruins on the Isla del Sol

The Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana

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