Sunday in Copacabana

On Sunday, April 24th, after breakfast in our room, we decided to walk up to the lookout point on the hill above our hotel. As we climbed up the steep street to the beginning of the trail, we realized that there was a pilgrimage route that led up the hill from a little church at the bottom. The rough cobblestone trail is very steep and there are stations of the cross every 100 metres or so. There were quite a few groups or families making their way up the trail and stopping to pray at every stone cross along the way. Unfortunately, all of the crosses have graffiti spray painted on them and there is lots of litter along the trail. Nobody seems to notice.
Near the top, we came to a little resting place where there were some vendors and people enjoying a snack. Men were drinking beer at 10:30 in the morning. We decided we'd climbed high enough and walked along a little trail out to a quiet place to sit and look out over the lake. Again, there were heaps of plastic bottles and broken glass along the trail. It's such a shame that there's so much garbage and vandalism in such a beautiful place.
Eventually, we picked our way back down the cobblestone path to the little church, fortunately without breaking an ankle. We found our way through the narrow streets to the big cathedral and went inside. Construction of the Santo Domingo cathedral in Copacabana was begun in the early 1600's and finished in the early 1800's. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. At some point, a descendant of the Incan emperors had carved a wooden statue of Mary, which was placed above the altar. Shortly thereafter, healing miracles were attributed to prayer before this statue. Eventually the Pope recognized this cathedral and statue as an unusually holy place. So, just as the pre-Hispanic indigenous people had done, Bolivians still make pilgrimages to Copacabana. There seems to be a mixture of Christian and indigenous spirituality.
Mass was in progress. We sat for a few minutes and then went back out in the sun. There we finally realized what the decorated cars on the street in front of the cathedral were all about. There were about 20 or more cars lined up. As cars pulled up to the end of the line, the drivers stopped, opened the hood and waited. A priest greeted the drivers and took payment first, of course. Then the priest dipped into his plastic pail of holy water, presumably, and sprinkled water on the car engine and all over the car. Sometimes he sprinkled some on the hands of the drivers. Many of the cars appeared to be new and were getting their inaugural blessing.
A little further along the line, the drivers got bags of flower petals and sprinkled them all over the cars. There was a flower vendor selling bouquets and people decorating the cars. Finally, right in front of the main gate to the cathedral, a man opened big bottles of beer, shook them and walked around the car spraying it with beer. Everyone was happy that the car was now blessed so they could go out onto the narrow cobblestone or dirt roads and drive like maniacs in total safety.
In Southeast Asia, we've seen extremely elaborate Buddhist temples and statues and all the ways that the monks have found to gather money from very poor people. In Budapest, we could have paid $2 to light up the glass case containing the mummified right hand of some Saint. However, making money by blessing cars right in front of the cathedral while Mass was in progress was a new experience. It didn't seem to have a hell of a lot to do with Jesus. We were reminded of the classic story of the wrath of Jesus about the moneychangers in the temple. We just shook our heads.
We walked back through the market, which was busier than ever on Sunday, and took a photo of a big bag of popped corn. There are all sorts of varieties of corn and potatoes on sale as well as the usual meat hanging out in the open. Refrigeration is minimal here.
Back at our hotel, we enjoyed happy hour on our lawn chairs in the sun. In the evening, we ate 2 different trout dishes in our hotel restaurant. Excellent meal. We made a fire in our little wood stove, got comfortable in our merino wool underwear and even stayed up until 9:30 as the moon rose over the lake and shined through our big stained glass skylight. Great day.