After some Rio distractions, let’s get back to the Bolivia/Peru trip…

After Isla del Sol we came back to Copacabana. While a lot less known than the Copacabana beach in Rio, Bolivian town of Copacabana is the original source of the name, which derives from Ayamara “copa cahuana” (“lake view”). In 16th century a converted decendant of an Inca carved a statue of Mary, and soon numerous miracles were reported. The statue became known as “the Lady of Candelaria” or “our Lady of Copacabana” and a large cathedral was later built to house it. (You can see piictures of the Virgin here.) The Lady of Copacabana has come to be seen as one of the most important Christian relics in Latin America and a patron saint of Bolivia. In 17th century the Church of Our Lady of Copacabana was constructed in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro (“Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Copacabana”), which gave the name to the main street of the neighborhood (“Avenida de Nossa Senhora de Copacabana”, often shortened to “Nossa Senhora”), which later spread to the neighborhood itself, and then also to the beach.

After a quick look at the Cathedral and some shopping (Copacabana was overflowing with street vendors and we wanted to stock up on Andean souvenirs before going to Peru), we got on the bus to Puno, Peru. The border crossing came up shortly after leaving Copacabana. We were instructed to get off the bus, pick up a Bolivian exit stamp on the Bolivian side, cross over on foot and get a Peruvian stamp there. While doing all that we could also observe the natives crossing the border (with no formalities, it seemed), some of them pushing carts with quite a bit of “imported” cargo.

After that it was about 3 hours on the bus until Puno, across Peruvian country side, which, surprisingly, was immediately quite different from Bolivia. (More on this later.)