Little House on the Mound: A quaint town on a lake (not a famous beach or NYC salsa club)

My intuitive reaction to the word “Copacabana” was an image of a Brazilian beach and the sounds of salsa music, but not anymore. This is not the famous Copacabana nightclub in New York (and subject of a Barry Manilow song) or the equally famous beach near Rio de Janeiro, but a picturesque, and almost quaint, Bolivian town on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the altiplano - the original Copacabana. Historians say that some Portuguese traveling through in the 17^th century brought a little statute of the Virgin of Copacabana (the patron saint of Bolivia and Peru) back to Brazil and named a little church after her. The church has since been destroyed but not before the neighborhood and the beach and its later namesake nightclub got tagged with the name.

On Monday Dave, having become the resident legal expert on a high profile case involving an American charged with money laundering and languishing in a Bolivian prison, was summoned to a meeting with the US chargé d'affaires and an official from the UN Commission on Human Rights investigating the matter. So, without Dave to shepherd me around and when a planned single track mountain bike ride failed to materialize, I opted for a trip up to Copacabana. Turns out, it was a great decision.

Copacabana is about a 3 hour drive from La Paz. There are plenty of buses making the trip, but for time and convenience (and to some extent safety, since I was traveling alone and buses arrive back in La Paz very late and not exactly in the best part of town – near the cemetery), we arranged for Rosendo to drive me. Rosendo has a private car business and does a lot of work for embassy personnel. He’s a good choice as a driver since in addition to the ride he offers lots of interesting opinions and local color and doesn’t seem to mind too much dealing with my pidgin Spanish.

Copacabana is on Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America (over 3,000 square miles and average depth of 350 feet) at a surface elevation of 12,500 feet. Note in the background the boat constructed of reeds in the manner the people of Lake Titicaca have been doing it for centuries.

This is the trail up to the top of Mount Calvario, which overlooks the town. Along the way there are 14 signs of the cross shrines and a striking Virgin statute at the top. (It is an easy 20 minute walk up to the top, but you are at about 13,000 feet)

Don’t be taken in too much by the thoroughly Catholic images. Copacabana was a sacred site for Incas and their predecessors long before the Catholics arrived and this hill remains a sacred place not only for Catholics but also those with some very non-Christian indigenous traditions. (Despite all their efforts, it doesn’t appear that the early Catholic priests were entirely successful in wholly supplanting these traditions).

Along the trail to the top there are little fires burning incense and other offerings or shrines. According to Rosendo, these offerings are often the sorts of things you buy in La Paz at the “witches market” (see Dave’s page) http://aleydave.blogspot.com/2012/07/bolivia-update.html and seem to have as much to do with ancient Indian religious traditions than anything Catholic.

In any event, the hill is a great place to take in views of the lake and the town.

The town itself is relatively small (around 6,000), but it has outsized importance in Bolivia, as well as Peru, because of this church – the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana, home to the patron saint of Bolivia and Peru, Our Lady of Copacabana, a wooden image of the Virgin Mary carved in the 16^th century by an amateur (but very determined) sculptor and direct descendant a famous Inca ruler.

According to Rosendo, there are two important feast days, February 2 and August 5, in Copacabana that attract large crowds; conveniently, one is largely attended by the Peruvians and the other by the Bolivians. While for tourists, Copacabana a charming place for checking out Lake Titicaca, for Bolivians and Peruvians, this church and the image make it important.

For a town that exists for tourists and religious pilgrims, this very active produce market seemed out of place. Rosendo explained that, for reasons I didn’t quite follow, Copacabana is a famous place for Bolivians to buy Peruvian corn (which is what these stalls are selling). For example, he said that once he tells someone he’s been to Copacabana, he is always asked if he picked up some corn.