Sacred lake, Isla del Sol, and the Bolivian shore of Titicaca — where Inca civilization began and the world's highest navigable water meets Andean sky
Copacabana is a small Bolivian town on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca at 3,841m — the departure point for Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun), where Inca mythology places the creation of the Sun and the origin of Andean civilization. The town is Bolivia's most important Marian pilgrimage site, centered on the 16th-century Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana. Daily boats leave for the island; the 90-minute crossing on the world's highest navigable lake is one of the distinctive Andean travel experiences.
Copacabana was an Inca ceremonial center before Spanish arrival — Isla del Sol was considered the birthplace of Inti (the Sun) and Viracocha (the creator deity), and the Inca maintained an elaborate sun temple and sacred spring (Fuente del Inca) on the island. The Basilica was built from 1550 after a miraculous carved image of the Virgin was created by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, an Inca nobleman. The shrine became the most important Marian pilgrimage destination in South America. The town's name was later given to the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro by Bolivian migrants — an etymological transfe…