The Ecolodge del Lago is 20 minutes walk from Copacabana’s town center, across the road from a pebbled beach on the Lake Titicaca. It offers sustainable accommodation in many earth cabins inspired by vernacular Altiplano homes called Lak’a Uta, which means ‘Earth homes’ in Aymara. Each cabin has its own little garden, wooden table and seats, and mud-oven to make the most out of the warm weather and surrounding nature.
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All shelters, although they take different shapes, are made from local stones, adobe and straw, and are topped by an arched thatched roof.The cabins are passively orientated, properly insulated and feature solar water heaters and well-equipped toilets and kitchens. The rooms are designed to unwind, they have no TV but do have plenty of natural light and a unique concave ceiling design to admire while lying down.
Because the Ecolodge stands on a mountainside, their large, flourishing gardens are stepped. They offer visitors plenty of spaces to relax in nature as well as amazing views into the sacred Titicaca Lake. One large part of the garden is dedicated to organic food, with different kinds of potatoes, broad beans, corn, onion, fennel and mixed aromatic herbs. Another garden feature are the sculptures, which were created by the builders that constructed the lodge, popping up in different corners to the visitors’ delight.
Old pottery and charming little lights can also be found among the gardens or hanging on plants — like on these beautiful, Andean fuchsia flowers called Cantua. One of the gardens’ many stonewalls serves as bedrock for cactus, moss and other local vegetation to naturally form a luscious green wall.
Designed to offer visitors a relaxing stay in nature, the charming Eco Lodge del Lago in Bolivia celebrates a traditional building method that is natural and sustainable.
+ Ecolodge del Lago
Photos © Ana Lisa Alperovich for Inhabitat
