Lazy Llama !!!

Arriving at Isla Del Sol, Bolivia

We were told to pack light and bring just what was needed for the one night stay on Isla Del Sol ( Island of the Sun ). All our remaining suitcases were sent to our next destination. For the Incas, Isla Del Sol was one of the most sacred places. There are many myths associated with the Isla Del Sol. According to one version, the ancient people of the area were without the sunlight in the sky for a long time. Then one day, they saw the Sun emerging from one of the cliffs on the island. Our guide Rodrigo explained that with so many volcanoes in Peru, it is possible that one of them blew up and the ashes blocked the Sun for a long time. The Inca kings from Cusco visited Isla Del Sol often and one of them built a temple for the Sun near the cliff where the Sun emerged from. The ruins of the Sun temple is called Pilcocaina ruins.

After the 1-hour long ride on Lake Titicaca, the boat from Copacabana dropped us off at Isla Del Sol.

Then started the steep hike to the top. There are no paved roads and cars in Isla Del Sol and
the only way to reach our eco lodge is to hike up !!!

The stone building towards the top right is the Pilcocaina ruins (aka Sun Temple).

At over 13000 feet elevation, we were all gasping for whatever little oxygen was available.
Rodrigo pinched off some leaves from a brush and asked us to crush the leaves and inhale it, explaining that
it will open up bronchial tubes in our lungs helping us to take in more air. It did help for a while until
we had to stop, rest for few minutes and inhale :)

But help was on the way !!! Within 10 minutes of our hike we spotted a train of people and animals
coming down to receive us. There was a woman managing a mule and two llamas and a man carrying an
oxygen tank and a first-aid kit! The mule was for anyone to ride on, the llamas to carry any bags,
the oxygen tank for any one having difficulty breathing :).
Thank God it was not that bad and we didn't have to use the oxygen tank.

We loaded all our stuff on the llama.

The higher we climbed, the better and stunning were the views.

The Snow-Capped peaks of the Bolivian Andes !!!

After huffing and puffing for 45 minutes, with the "Mule & Llama" train following us, we reached the top and level grounds.
Look, how far and tiny is the pier where we started this hike!

Courtyard of a small restaurant on the way. A stunning view to have it with your Narasu's coffee or masala chai :)

Arriving at the eco lodge, La Posada Del Inca. The black llama you see here is named "Herrara". He is the lazy llama :). We were told that Herrara doesn't want to do any work or carry any weight. He knew that if he came close he would be loaded with some luggage. For the entire hike, he was following at a safe 30 feet behind us :).

Of all the places we visited and stayed on this 2 week trip to Peru & Bolivia, I would say the most beautiful, natural and serene place is the Isla Del Sol.
More on Isla Del Sol coming up.

Copacabana, Bolivia

We spent four days on and around the massive Lake Titicaca (3,232 square miles) which is the highest navigable lake (located at 12,507 feet) in the world. It was amazing to know, even at that elevation, the lake never freezes due to weather patterns and lots of rain from the nearby Amazon Rain Forests. Part of the Lake Titicaca is in Bolivia and we entered Bolivia by road.

On the way to the Bolivian border. Beautiful view of the Bolivian Andes rising high above the blue waters of Lake Titicaca.

The highway connecting Puno, Peru to the Bolivian border town, Kasani is in excellent condition.
We took a left turn here and drove through the small town, Yunguyo.

Saying "Bye" to beautiful and enchanting Peru !!!

Walking across the Bolivian border !!!

Immigration at Kasani, Bolivia. You can get your Bolivian Visa as you enter.
Now that we have a 5 year Visa, may be, there is another trip to Bolivia in the next 5 years :)

View of Lake Titicaca from inside our hotel (Rosario Copacabana) room. Late afternoon.

View in the morning !!! If I tell you, that is the Pacific Ocean, you would believe it :)

From the hotel we walked to the nearby Basilica, "Virgen de Copacabana".
Our Bolivian guide, Rodrigo pointed out this car and asked me to guess what was going on.
I had no clue. He said that he will explain it later :)

Basilica of Our Lady Copacabana. Construction started on 1668 and was completed on 1805. As soon as we reached the Basilica, I understood what was going on !!!
We saw many cars nicely decorated with flower garlands and lined up outside. Just like the custom in India, after a car is bought (doesn't matter if it is old or new),
people decorate it nicely and bring it to the Basilica to be blessed by the priest !!! 
Here we go again, one more similarity between cultures that had no contact between them :)

It was a Sunday. People from near by villages had brought vegetables and other stuff to sell, turning the streets around the Basilica in to a temporary market.

Rodrigo was explaining that these people just sell enough things so that they can buy meats and other foods for that day. As soon they get their day's worth of money,
they just pack up and leave. They don't worry about the next day and there is no concept of saving for the future. I guess, they are living in the moment!

Walking towards the Copacabana boat pier to take a boat to our next stop,  "Isla Del Sol" (Island of the Sun).

View of Copacabana from the boat to Isla Del Sol!

Floating Uros !!!

Getting back to writing about the Peru & Bolivia trip from last summer. Still a lot to write! :)

The road trip from Colca Canyon ( Flight of the Condor, @Night: Colca Canyon ) to Puno city took approximately 7 hours with many stops in between for enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way and lunch. Compared to the Arequipa-Colca Canyon drive, this one was pretty much free of traffic. Puno is located at the western edge of the massive Lake Titicaca. Though there is nothing specifically interesting about Puno, the major draw for us are the floating islands which are easily accessible from Puno.

View of Lake Titicaca from the "Casa Andina Private Collection" Hotel at Puno. The hotel has its own Pier from where we took off by boat to visit the floating island, Uros.

There are around 40 floating islands on Lake Titicaca. The islands, the houses and the boats are all made of Totora reeds.

The Uros tribe used to live completely on these islands. Now, they spend their time equally on the island (catering to tourists) and on the main land.

The Uros islands are made up of many smaller islands (like a neighborhood with 3 or 4 houses).  We were told that modern toilet facilities do exist in one of the islands and any one rushing off in a motor boat (not the Totora Reed Boat) is likely heading to that island :)

Part of the cost of the entry ticket to the islands goes to the tribal families living on the islands. This woman explained how they bring blocks of soil with the Totora reeds, tie them all together and make the islands. Usually, 3 to 4 small huts are built on each island. She was joking that if there is a dispute with a neighbor, they simply cut off the neighbor's part of the island and let them float away to live on their own! May be, she was not kidding!!!

A girl and her Grandma sharing a joke! May be, they were laughing at us ;)

Though exactly not the same, these boats reminded me of the famous boats on the Dal lake at Jammu & Kashmir! Oh, Shikara :)

This big island is the shopping mall and pretty much every tourist to Uros stops by here. We tried a native Peruvian snack which looked like big Papad :)

Relaxing boat ride back to Puno at the top deck !!!

It is always very fascinating for me to learn that similar customs and day-to-day living practices were common among many different cultures across the world though there is no known contact among them! When writing this post, I searched the web to see whether any other country has/had floating islands. There are floating islands in many countries and I was surprised to know that India has some floating islands too on Loktak Lake in Manipur !!!

@Night: Planet Parade !

Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn are all easily visible during this month. I was not planning to photograph them at all until my friend, Sripriya Balasubramanian asked me to share the photos of the planets. Thanks to Sripriya, here they are:

Red: Mars, Green: Venus, Yellow: Mercury.
The planets were visible only from the street and the street lights made the planets look  dim.
I was not at all happy with this photo and decided to try again from another location.
Date: 1/16/2015. Time: 6:11 pm

Saturn is right next to to the crescent moon. Yeah, it looks like a full moon since this is a long-exposure shot.
Right below the Moon & Saturn is the big constellation Scorpio.
Date: 1/16/2015. Time: 5:45 am

Jupiter.Date: 1/16/2015. Time: 5:57 am

Yesterday, along with Swetha, Shreya and Sheila spent the evening at Oceanside beach and pier.
As the Sun set and I was waiting for the planets to show up, couldn't resist this golden glow.
"பொன் மாலை நேரங்களே" :)
Date: 1/18/2015. Time: 5:36 pm

First to show up was the brilliant Venus.Date: 1/18/2015. Time: 5:46 pm

Mars is closer to the top. Venus is below and right of Mars. Mercury is below and right of Venus.
If you couldn't see Mercury (which is very dim), click on the photo and try full screen mode.
Their relative positions are same as in the first photo.
Date: 1/18/2015. Time: 5:58 pm

@Night: San Diego. Lovejoy !!!

I badly wanted the first post of 2015 to be about the night sky!  The comet Lovejoy, named after the Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy who discovered it, was getting brighter by January 10th.  The San Diego night skies were cloudy for the last few days and finally I had clear nights yesterday and today.  Due to local light pollution, I was able to see Lovejoy only with the help of my binoculars. What a name !!! Since it showed up promptly at the beginning of the year, I wish this comet brings Love & Joy to everyone :)

The blue arrow is pointing towards comet Lovejoy, which is a tiny greenish dot in this picture.
As of this writing, Lovejoy is traveling at the speed of 132,471 Km/h and is at a distance of 47.7 million miles from earth.
Thanks to the amazing power of digital camera technology!!!
Date: 1/13/15, Time: 8:37 pm; f/2.8, ISO 800, 13 seconds exposure.

Cropped closeup of the same image. Sorry to disappoint you if you were expecting a photo of a comet with a long tail.
Yes, Lovejoy has a long tail. Just that I haven't  captured it ;)

Here are previous posts of the comet PanSTARRS from March 2013:

                                      Comet PanSTARRS #1

                                      Comet PanSTARRS #2

@Night: San Diego. Shooting, Shooting Stars !!!

The "Geminid Meteor Shower" peaked yesterday night. It was a clear, cool and crisp night. I had set up my camera at my backyard to take continuous, long exposure shots. After the recent rains in California, it felt more like the real winter and it was a chilly night. Every 30 minutes or so I stepped out in to the cold and would have seen around 10 meteors streaking by with few very bright ones. Out of the 296 frames the camera took, 3 of them had the streak of a meteor. I am very happy with my score of 3 out of 296 :) This is my first attempt at capturing a Meteor Shower.

December 13, 2014. 10:19 pm.

December 13, 2014. 10:59 pm.

December 13, 2014. 11:11 pm.
Love the clouds in this frame. Adds a nice character!
Cassiopeia (M shape) is at the center of the cloud.
Ursa Major (Subtharishi) is rising up  in the bottom right corner.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the tiny, hazy patch towards the top left.

  

Neighborhood Colors ;)

One of our favorite neighborhood streets to go for a walk in the evening and enjoy the holiday decorations. iPhone6.

Woke up this morning and opened the window curtains.
A beautiful rainbow (after the much needed, drenching rain storm) said "Good Morning" !!!
December 13th, 7:30 am, iPhone6.