After Coroico we headed back to La Paz to meet up with Ruben and everyone else because we had plans to visit Copacabana and Isla del Sol with them for Ruben's birthday. We left Ruben's house in La Paz early Saturday morning, around 7:30, and didn't make it out of the "zone urbana" until 10AM. It took us over two hours to get out of the city because of the insane, death-defying traffic in El Alto, the city above La Paz proper.
Finally we reached Copacabana around noon, ate a rushed lunch at the delicious trout restaurant stalls on the beach and hopped on the 1PM ferry to Isla del Sol. Continuing our day's pattern of rushing everywhere, the ferry only gave us an hour on the island before we had to reboard for the trip back to Copacabana. If we were to have a redo, we would have planned to stay overnight so we could enjoy the beautiful setting on the island. It really is lovely, and a recommended destination if you can stay for at least a whole day.
Taking the ferry on the way to Copacabana.
On Isla del Sol the hills are very steep and most of the people live higher up, so donkeys and packs are how they get all their food and supplies up to their houses.
Headed back to the ferry after our hike up the hill.
Donkeys waiting for their next load to take up the hill from the boats.
A doorway at the top part of the Templo del Sol on Isla del Sol.
A set of doorways in Templo del Sol on Isla Del Sol.
One of the coolest things about Copacabana is that the church is famous for giving blessings to cars, so when someone gets a new car they bring it from all around to Copacabana to get it blessed. It's covered with flowers and decorations and champagne is spilled over the tires and the priests bless each individual one. It seems sort of like a group wedding for cars. We wanted to get our car blessed but the line was too long.
Coroico
