When reading travel features, do you ever imagine how it feels to experience the exotic locations? In travel fiction, the boundaries between real life and fantasy become a little blurred in order to create a new, different perception. (As this is in part fantasy, please note that the accompanying photos are for illustration only - all previous blogs contain my own photographs).
Are we travelling to the same place?
For
many travellers, Copacabana is associated exclusively with Rio de Janeiro, that
teaming multicultural hot spot of dance and Latin passion. But today I’m
travelling to a very different Copacabana - to a small town in Bolivia on the
shore of Lake Titicaca. It’s the sacred home of the Incas and the mythical
birth place of creation.
La Virgen de la Candelaria
Copacabana is a quiet, rural town where fishing and
agriculture are the mainstays of life. It’s a place where languages,
traditions, beliefs and unique customs are intermingled in feasts and rituals,
music and dances, and the preservation of its sacred places. Like many a world weary
traveller, I am visiting Copacabana for one of its sacred festivals. I am
praying that the ‘Fiesta de la Virgen de la
Candelaria’, will revive my vitality.
Does she have a secret past?
The town is small but interesting, and today its most famous
resident awaits me at the Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana. I pick up the leaflet of many languages and find
the famous Virgin shrine was carved by famous religious sculptor, Francisco Tito Yupanqui in 1592. I am surprised to find that she is also
known as The Dark Virgin of the Lake, as well as the more respectable,
Patroness of Bolivia. Why a Dark Virgin - does she have a secret past?
Miraculous connection
I find out that, ‘The
Virgin’ is adored for a series of local miracles; and when I dare to touch her stone dress in a state of reverence,
my mind spins back in time, to that moment when my fingers touched the rock at
the site of the of the crucifixion in Jerusalem. The connection feels real and my
impression is reinforced in the streets outside, as I blink away the blinding light
to discover from my guide book, that the town has recreated its own journey of the
Stations of the Cross. As I walk through the town’s homage to the Via Dolorosa, my mind pierces through
its geographical restraints, and these two distant places seem to merge, across
time and space.
The point of creation
They say that there is only one spot worthy of an Andean
sunset; that should be experienced from a small boat, afloat on Lake Titicaca. To the
Incas, the lake is believed to be the point of all creation. In Incan
mythology, the god Viracocha arose from the lake to create the sun, stars and also
the first people. This place was incredibly important to them, and so I head
off in the direction of the lake’s most significant island, the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), home of the Incan
sun god Inti, who rescued the world from darkness and fear, according to a
popular myth.
Sunset on Lake Titicaca
Watching the sun set over the
Isla del Sol, turns out to be a more magical experience than I could ever have
imagined. I watch in awe as the sun bathes the sacred Andean mountains in
bright colour; its fiery reds and burnt oranges blazing through the darkening sky,
shimmering and reflecting their mystical light into the darkest depths of the
lake; before melting into the horizon.
Isla de la Luna
Travelling back to the shore of Copacabana, I am guided by the light of the moon, past the sacred,
‘Isla de la Luna’ (Island of
the Moon), the legendary home of the Inca goddess Mama Quilla. During Incan
times, the island was home to a society of chosen women, known as the ‘Virgins
of the Sun,’ who lived and worked like nuns. They wove clothes made from alpaca
wool and performed ceremonies dedicated to the sun. I wish I could have seen
them.
The sunken temple
As my boat reaches a sacred place surrounded by the
mountains, I pause for a while, gazing at their intense reflected beauty. I
want to preserve this perfectly peaceful moment, experiencing it fully, with my
mind and soul. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep, the water lapping gently
under the boat; until murmured voices invade my dreams, from the temple in the
depths of the lake; they are visitors from that sacred place which Inca spirits
return to, after death. I listen to their many stories of life in Copacabana; tales of farming, fishing and festivals, and traditions
passed down from one generation to another.
Life and Copacabana
When I wake it is already light and in the distance I can see
the town shaking off its slumber. It is already the day of the festival, the ‘La
Virgen de la Candelaria’, and it’s now time prepare for the most special event
of the year! I feel the hum of activity, vibrating from across the water. It
rouses me from my lethargy; the steady beat of its Latin heart, echoing on the
breeze. It may seem stranger than fiction, but on this mysterious lake, I swear
I can hear the exotic voice of Copacabana, calling out
my name…
