Chasing Evo

So somehow, Evo Morales and I ended up on the Isla del Sol on the same day. I came for the hikes and the views, he came to rally up support for an upcoming referundum which will determine whether or not he stays office. When I found out that he might be visiting one of the small villages, I eschewed the typical trek up to the Inca ruins and took the village trails in the hopes of catching up to him. I stumbled into the town of Chu´lla, which was entirely deserted. The whole village had congregated on the top of a local hill and were all dressed in the finest clothes, waiting for the President to arrive. Quecha flags were waving and the local men were performing traditional dances in some unusal headwear. We all waited for over an hour (okay, the villagers waited for hours, I waited for 45 minutes) for Morales to show up and rumors kept spreading as to where he was. I finally had to leave to hike to where the boat was picking up all the tourists. Turns out, Morales was on the island, but he never made it to the town of Chu´lla. Instead, he had arrived at the small port on the other side of the island and had given a short but passionate (so I heard) speech there. The villagers of Chu´lla never had a chance to see their President. As the first indigenous President of Bolivia, Morales was no doubt using the sacred island of the Incas as a symbolic backdrop for his rally to keep the support of the indigenous campesinos.