Natalie's raison d'être: Sapphire Respite

After an arduous journey from Sucre in the south of Bolivia to La Paz on the chilliest bus ride of my existence, Lake Titicaca´s shores were truly a sight for sore eyes. The impossibly blue water sparkled in undulating currents of splendor against the bright, crisp blue sky. Burnt sienna mountains rose in the distance overpowered by giant glacial peaks that seemed to rise from dense white clouds. We spent a couple of days in Copacabana before setting off on boat to Isla del Sol, the legendary birthplace of Inti, the Incan sun god. We saw Incan ruins, magnificent views, did yoga amidst sheep facing the lake and watched life occur as if frozen in time. The people on the island have no cars, some lack electricity and they spend their time herding donkeys, collecting corn and watching the moon rise. It was refreshing to exist in that moment in time only, not thinking about politics or global events. Our world can be as large or as immediate as we perceive it to be. Rather than thinking about what is going on oceans and miles away, I have found myself truly existing on the current plane, in the geographic speck on the planet that I find myself in at a given moment. We returned from the island to our lovely green hostel where we found ourselves cooking ramen on our small electric stove atop our Lonely Planet book around 1 am. Starving after a couple weeks in Bolivia, we were anxious to move toward Peru, incredibly excited to meet our friend and enjoy some more palatable (and edible) food. Between bus rides in Puno, Peru, we ate tamales steaming in their corn husks and eyed the vast market of fruits we had never seen, streetside cevice, and small speckled eggs carted around with birds in tow. After a long bus ride we arrived in Cusco last night. We´ll spend a few days here enjoying the oldest city in America, admiring Incan walls and Spanish colonial squares before heading off to Machu Picchu and exploring the Sacred Valley.