Copacabana and Isla Del Sol in Bolivia

Copacabana in Bolivia is nestled on the coast of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. It`s a funky little town with some cool things to do. There`s trekking and finding Inca ruins and hanging out in the sunshine and eating trout. The people are friendly and it`s a picturesque place set in a magnificent background.

And indeed the Incas supposedly designated the nearby island of Isla del Sol as the navel and birthplace of the Inca religion. The island has two main centres. In the north are some inca ruins and a gorgeous white sand beach, and in the south the vegetation is more lush and there`s a ball breaking high altitude set of steps to climb, which were originally placed by the Incas. The boat tour for all day is 10 bolivanos ($1.5). It`s also possible to stay on Isla del Sol in the south.

Check out the photo from Copacabana cathedral, which has 2 moorish towers outside, an oily black room full of candles and this gem of a picture of Jesus on the lake with his audience looking surprisingly Bolivian.

Copacabana









Isla Del Sol

Potosi, Bolivia

Potosi at 4060m is the highest city in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was founded by the Spanish because of the vast silver deposits nearby. For 200 years Potosi bankrolled the Spanish Empire. It is estimated that over 8 million indigenous people and imported slaves have perished in the mine. Even today thousands of Bolivians work under ground in dangerous conditions hoping to strike it big. And the sickest joke of all is that tourists pay between 10 and 15 dollars to visit the mines, see the suffering of the miners and then blow something up. I was ashamed that I met only 2 people who missed out on the mine tours because they felt similarly to me. Travellers, the LP and organised tours seemed to have robbed people of their own sense of what is right and what is exploitation.