Like many travelers before us, we made our pilgrimage to visit the Moorish-style cathedral and see a special statue: a black Madonna, carved from wood in the 1580's. The image is greatly venerated in Bolivia and our guide, Gloria, told us gladiolas are the Virgin's favorite flower. It's convenient for the locals that these favored flowers grow in the region. Many bouquets filled with gladiolas adorned the altars inside.

The famed statue is dressed in elegant finery and jewels. Her gowns are changed every three years and a date-book is filled with entries to change her garments until 2029. She is best seen from an upstairs chapel where she may be viewed more at eye-level. (Entry is to the left of the main altar and then up the stairs.) Behind her is a silver screen and she faces toward Lake Titikaka. For Sunday mass and special occasions she is turned to face the main altar. Both altars are highly gilt with pure silver.

In addition to the black Madonna, the church holds an impressive collection of religious artwork and is a pleasant space for worship. Many of the paintings in the church are from the school of Potosí, which is similar to the Cusco school but with lighter values and more reds.

After touring the church, we meandered up and down the pleasant streets of Copacabana and enjoyed strolling through the plaza in front of the church.

In front of the cathedral, a priest blessed someone's new truck and we watched this ceremony. The ritual was similar to many we had already witnessed in Bolivia: there were prayers, pouring of alcohol on the four corners, in this case -- the wheels of the truck -- And, as usual, a counter-clockwise motion, reflecting the turn of the Andean cross was used. The truck was decorated in crepe paper, confetti and fresh flowers. Several children's toy vehicles were also blessed at the same time. Afterwards the entire family posed for photos.

This marks the end of our time with the tour group. We said our good-byes, departed the group and were dropped off at the Rosario del Lago, a sister hotel to the one we stayed at in La Paz. I hung out and surfed the Internet while Ray hiked to the Stations of the Cross which overlook Lake Titikaka on Niño Calvario. I was somewhat travel weary and thoroughly enjoyed a couple hours of down time. The lobby-area, where I enjoyed Internet access, overlooked the pretty bay and hilly landscape.

Once Ray returned, we enjoyed a good lunch at the Rosario and Ray shared details of his morning hike, a 455-foot ascent from the shores of Lake Titikaka to the top of Niño Calvario. At the base of the path was a small white locked shrine and an open area for ceremonies. The trail then became a series of stairs, at first built with flagstone, then after the sixth station rough hewn into the rock. Shops with tempting soft drinks and sacred souvenirs lined the stairs up until the 4th station. At the sixth station there was a large clearing and a line of six altars facing the lake. As Ray labored up the stairs he encountered individuals and families doing devotions at various stations. The kids scampered up and down the stairs and tried to toss rocks on the stations themselves to see if they could land them on one of the arms.

He finally wheezed to the top after about 45 minutes. The sky was overcast and the lake looked angry. Below to the left almost vertically, the lovely town of Copacabana embraced its crescent shaped harbor. Thirty or so bobbing boats pointed towards the town. At the top were a series of shrines in a line along the ridge. The stone base of each shrine was blackened by innumerable candle offerings. On the way down Ray noticed two of the altars at the sixth station were each being used by an older couple and a traditional shaman priest for a ritual. He watched discretely for a few minutes but couldn't tell what the subject of the ceremony was.

Demetria, our guide from Explorandes picked us up at the agreed time and drove us to the Peruvian border where we changed money and were introduced to Bertha, our Peruvian guide and Poncho, our driver.

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Come visit with me at http://travelerstogo.com/ by posting your follow-up questions in the Carribean, Mexico, Central & South American forum. My alias is Sharon Mc1, and I am the destination moderator for that forum -- I love talking about travel!

I recently wrote a practical travel guide for the Peruvian and Bolivian high Andes. I had a great deal of fun writing it, and particularly enjoyed writing the restaurant reviews. Here is the link:

http://p104.ezboard.com/feuropetogofrm21.showMessage?topicID=40.topic

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Articles in this series include:

Miami, Jupiter, & the Everglades (Florida) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/141804/index.html

La Paz, Tiwanaku & Valley of the Moon (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/141500/index.html

Oruro Carnival (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/141977/index.html

Sajama National Park (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/143197/index.html

Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia) http://worldisround.com/articles/143714/index.html

Train Graveyard - Uyuni (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/141742/index.html

Train Graveyard - Pulacayo (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/141647/index.html

Along the Road from Uyuni to Potosí (Bolivia) http://worldisround.com/articles/143868/index.html

Potosí (Bolivia) http://worldisround.com/articles/145509/index.html

Sucre (Bolivia) http://worldisround.com/articles/182068/index.html

Tarabuco (Bolivia) http://worldisround.com/articles/182063/index.html

Jatun Yampara (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/169005/index.html

Lake Titikaka (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/261030/index.html

Copacabana (Bolivia) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/261498/index.html

Along the Road - Copacabana (Bolivia) to Puno (Peru) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/261584/index.html

Cusco, Sacsayhuaman & Lima (Peru) http://www.worldisround.com/articles/270254/index.html