Copacabana Center Touristic

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Basilica de Copacabana
Calvario
Inti Kala or The Inca’s Tribunal
Kusijata or The Inca’s Bath
Horca del Inca ( The Inca’s Gallows )

“Copa–cahuana”, better known as Copacabana, this word of Aymara origin means “The Precious Stone Look-Out Point". Spanish colonizers found the Incas in Copacabana, and as it was discovered on written documents of that time, the Incas used to worship the Sun and the Moon in their temples and idol centers.

It is believed that it was founded by the Inca Tupac Yunpanqui, establishing 42 main Quechua families (mitimacus or mitmas). However, according to certain archaeological remains, which include data prior to the time of the Incas, there seems to be evidence that leads experts to think that there were other settlements of people prior to them.

There is also the bay area in the Major Lake at 158 Km. from La Paz. It has an altitude of 3,840 meters. It is considered to be a mystical region, at one point in time it also used to be a commerce and trade center, even before the arrival of the Spanish. Nowadays it is considered a center for pilgrims.

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Other attractions that could be found in the area include the following:

Basilica de Copacabana

This is a colonial style church that has been built with the art-style of the Renaissance period and it also has certain Mudejar - Mohammedan style in its design. This construction was concluded in 1640. It has a blue dome over the cross section. The main portal has Doric style columns.

The atrium has 5 smaller chapels and it is surrounded by a wall. All of the construction is covered with several domes that have been coated with colorful tiles.

In the interior of it the Virgen Morena is the main focus of worship, this sculpture was made in maguey (american style of agave), in 1592, by the indigenous sculptor Tito Yupanqui. There is an entire museum dedicated to this Virgin.

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Calvario

This hill is located towards the Northwest of Copacabana, at about 30 minutes from the center of town. It has a stone-paved hiking-trail, pilgrims that walk thru this road would walk across 14 different stations, then they would finally arrive to the summit, this may be the best point to have a spectacular view of the lake and the nearby towns.

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Inti Kala or The Inca’s Tribunal

Stone of the Sun, it is located at 10 minutes from the center of town (on foot), on the highway to La Paz. It is actually a cluster of stone blocks that have been carved into seats and pedestals or worship altars.

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Kusijata or The Inca’s Bath

This is a series of ruins located at 3 kilometers from Copacabana, at about an hour on foot. This interesting attraction is located inside of a Colonial style home, with several gardens (pre-colonial terraces) that have at the bottom a cylindrical receptacle built with andesite stone, which is known as The Inca’s Bath.

This construction is filled with water that comes out of a faucet made of stone located on the top area where the gardens have been built. There are sub-terrain currents of water that are filtered up with deep tunnels made of stone that lead into the center of the mountain, this is the water that is poured into this incredible construction.

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Horca del Inca ( The Inca’s Gallows )

This construction is located on top of the Kesanani Mountain, South of Copacabana, at about an hour from the center of town (on foot). This is a megalithic monument formed by 2 vertical blocks of stone and an additional block of stone placed as a lintel. The Spaniards gave this name to this interesting monument, because it seemed like some sort of sacrificial device (Gallows); but it was actually used as an astronomic observatory that existed even before the time of the Incas. The construction was used to project the first rays of sunlight which reflected over the lintel, the reflections were studied and used to determine the solstices.

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