Tiwanaku, Lago Titicaca, Copacabana, La Paz!

So much to write about! I can't post pictures yet because I forgot my camera cord in Cochabamba, but I'll put some up when I get back this weekend.

Saturday morning we flew from Cochabamba to La Paz but we left right from the airport to go to Tiwanaku, which was the site of the oldest and longest lasting civilization of the Americas. They lasted for almost 27 centuries until changes in the climate finally drove them out of the altiplano in the 1500s. It was incredible to see how much knowledge they had so long ago (extraordinarily precise means of measuring time, of predicting weather patterns, of cultivating the extremely hostile land). I felt so disjointed, walking around the ruins (only about 5% of the original constructions exist because the conquistadors destroyed almost everything in the name of Christianity) with my foil-wrapped alfajor and my factory-made clothes, embodying the supposed progress of our society but acutely aware of the knowledge that we no longer have because machines know it for us. It makes me kind of sad to think of all that we've lost despite the "advancements" of modern day life. It reminds me that what we have could be lost as well, since we're in a relatively new and quite unstable era of technology. I feel like we don't really know anything. But enough with the existentialism already.

After Tiwanaku we got back on the bus to Copacabana--the original sacred town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, not the beach resort or whatever that place in the song is. We got there pretty late in the evening so we just grabbed dinner at this really great restaurant owned by an Argentine guy (I had Hawaiian pizza, which was the standard ham and pineapple plus slices of peach!) and then I went to bed, although some people went out afterward. The next morning we left early for Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), which is a large island in the lake. We spent most of the morning walking from one side of the island to the other, while our tour guide (the same guy who gave us a tour of Tiwanaku) stopped us every once in a while to talk to us about certain aspects of the island that people have considered sacred for years. Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and well-spoken, and we found out by chatting with him that he didn't go to college or anything for his job, he just grew up with a father who was a film maker and an anthropologist (I think an archaeologist but I'm not sure) so he learned everything from his father and his father's friends. He was an incredible resource to have for the two days.

We ate lunch on the island with this really kind family and we had trout from the lake (which was INCREDIBLE) and corn, potatoes, and beans that were all grown right there. It was so delicious! I'm going to miss the food here so much. Afterward, we walked some more on the island and drank from a sacred spring where three rivers on the island come together and it was so delicious and it really did feel sacred. We stood barefoot in this little stream and put our hands under the running water (they had redirected it so that it came out of little openings in this rock wall, like faucets) and drank from our cupped hands and it felt so fresh and cleansing. It helped of course that we were with Ismael's wife, Lupe, who can make any experience feel spiritual and meaningful. Then we took the boat out to a little island that they (Ismael and the others) call "Isla SIT" because I guess they swim there every year. So yes, we jumped off of the boat and swam in the sacred Lake Titicaca. The first jump was brutal--it knocked the wind out of us, it was so cold. But after I climbed out once I wanted to jump in again, and by the third time I was swimming around (I swear I felt sacred, or at least totally numb, so it was really enjoyable). On the way back, we visited "islas flotantes" but they were just tourist replicas of the real floating islands built entirely of reeds, so although they were cool, I've seen the real ones in Peru and was kind of disappointed by the replicas.

We went back to Copacabana that night and once again, I went to bed early because I wasn't feeling very well (the swim in the lake wiped me out entirely), and we came back to La Paz yesterday morning! I'll need to write about yesterday and today some other time because we're getting up early to go to the World Bank tomorrow--probably the first speaker we'll have that won't be tearing neo-liberalism to shreds. It will be interesting to have another point of view, but it's one that I will really need some sleep to process. I'll write again when I can (we have internet in the hotel so hopefully I'll write before we leave on Friday) and post photos when I get back to Cochabamba!