On the Lake.

Crillon tours own hydrofoils. They are boats with skiis under them in addition to a motor. It's crazy. They are beautiful boats with seats like you'd have on a bus. That morning there were 2 other groups going out with us, 2 friends from USA who worked for the US embassy in LaPaz and a man traveling alone from the USA but originally from sweden. Gustavo narrated our route we'd be taking through Lake titicaca. A normal 'boat' takes maybe 3-4 hours to get to Copacabana but on the hydrofoil it took only an hour and a half. It was a nice ride too. The sun was out and the wind wasn't too chilli out on the back of the boat where the small deck was to take pictures. Halfway through the ride we could see the mountain range really well. The pictures didn't turn out until the ride back when the sun was in a different place. We arrived at Copacabana mid morning and it was a sight! On this island the Aymara people are catholic. There was a Giant white church on the hill built by the Spanish. The inside was every color of the latin rainbow if ya know what I mean. Bright, fiesta colors. The front of the church was a tall wall completely covered in solid gold statues on a 180 degree rotation. The wall rotates to reveal this gold side only for days of worship and the other days of the week it is facing the lake revealing a blank wall to the sanctuary. While watching the service for a couple of minutes we sat down in a pew. Sally fell through the back pew and wacked the back of her hed on the kneeling bench behind her. So we left the service with a screeming child. It was a warm day, sun shining. We past outdoor kiosks bordering the plaza across from the church. Sally was still upset from hitting her head so we bought her more finger puppets. She cheered up after that. Walking through Copacabana was similar to LaPaz but WAY more layed back. The streets and allie ways were crowded with women selling vegetables, breads and nuts. The stores were all open with the same touristy Bolivian wear. I bought Doritos! . . . they were NOT like our Doritos. :( Made in Peru with powdery cheese. It was a good snack though. I got in some great photos from the pier while waiting for the rest of our crew to arrive back to the hydrofoil. When we reloaded the boat there were 2 new groups. The one we talked to a little was a couple from Germany, they loved Sally. The woman sang interactive German songs (in German) to Sal. She liked that. We took a 30 minute ride to the Island of the moon. There we had a front row veiw of the mountain range. All the pictures are on facebook. You really couldn't get a bad picture, they were just SO beautiful. We walked up steep wooden plank and rock stairs rounding up the hill. Halfway up were 3 small houses with a lookout deck. We kept walking up and saw some sheep owned by the local Aymara people who live on the island and saw a huge brown Llama wondering the hillside. At the top of the stairs there was an old incan temple in ruins. One wall had been reconstructed to show what it may have looked like. What used to be the floor of the rectangular structure was now weeds and grass covered. We walked around and basked in the sun. Sally just layed down right in the middle of the 'field'. She attracted the attention of 2 little girls from Peru who were traveling with their parents. After a while we took our boat again to a new island. Island of the sun. Here we walked up another steep stairway and came to a restaurant overlooking the lake. We had breaded wild trout and a warm zuccini salad following a bowl of potato and quinoa soup. Our guide told us that quinoa has so many nutrients in it that you could live on it with nothing else. The restaurant was built on a natural spring and it provides the restaurant and the hotel up the hill with water. As we walked back to our boat we took a small detour up the rocky beach to see the spring that flows into lake titicaca. From there you could tell why the lake was SO clear. It is constantly fed by this beautiful freezing cold water. This was our last stop before heading back to Huatajata to get our van again. When we boarded the hydrofoil we were surprised with a blessing of the Aymara in which we were sprinkled on the head with the national flower dipped in the 'pure' water from the spring. We repeated the 3 Aymaran rules: do not be lazy, do not lie, do not steal. Then we celebrated with a typical bolivian toast and recieved a ceritificate of blessing. We were able to capture unbelievable pictures on the way back and just bask in the beauty of the mountains and blue water. What an amazing adventure. Thanks for reading about it!