Isla del Sol: Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

After we visited Tiwanaku, we escaped La Paz for good and traveled to Lake Titicaca and the Isla del Sol. We had to cross the straight between the small and large lakes by boat. The bus in the background of this photo is our bus! We arrived in Copacabana, Bolivia, a thoroughly touristy town, and almost immediately boarded a ferry for an hour and a half ride to Isla del Sol. The island is the legendary birthplace of the sun and the moon in the Incan tradition. We spent four days and three nights there hiking from the village in the south to the village in the north and back again and visiting Incan ruins. There are no motorized vehicles or roads on the entire island, which was a great relief after the smog of La Paz. Everything is carried on the backs of the people or the donkeys on pleasant, paved, Incan paths, or else in boats. The island is only 10 kilometers from end to end, so it was very enjoyable to explore by foot.

The first night we were on the island we stayed at the town on the southern end called Yumani. This is the view of the lake and the Cordillera Real from our hostel room window. In the morning we left some of our stuff in Yumani and hiked to the northern end of the island. The landscape was beautiful along the way. The steep sides of the entire island (and the smaller islands surrounding it) have been reconstructed into farming terraces by the pre-Incan and Incan inhabitants. Most of the terraces are currently used for growing wheat, quinoa, potatoes, and other grains. The terracing completely changes the appearance of the hills. We met lots of sheep, llamas, alpacas, and pigs on our hike. We walked along an ancient Incan road, partially paved with stones. Here are some photos of the amazing terraced hills and shore of Isla del Sol.
At the northern end of the island we visited the most popular of the 180 Incan ruins on the island. Here is Ryan in one of the many niches:
The doorways were beautiful in front of the bright blue lake. The sun in this part of the world is FIERCE! We were constantly slapping on more sun block and I didn´t take off my hat until very late in the day. These two girls were posing for photographs:
More doorways:
Nearby the ruins is the Piedra de la Puma, or Rock of the Puma. If you try you can imagine a puma´s head in profile here in this rock. This rock is sacred. From it was born the sun and the moon according to Incan legend. Also it is the birthplace of the male and female founders of the Inca dynasty. These two depressions in the sacred rock are called the refuge of the sun and the refuge of the moon and are scars from when the sun and the moon were born.
Our second night on the island we stayed in the northern-most village, called Cha'llapampa. It was located on a beautiful isthmus and had the nicest beach that we visited. Unfortunately, the water (and the air) was too cold for swimming. The villagers have these small sail boats and row boats to get from village to village and to fish for trucha (trout).
Here´s a view of the village of Cha'llapampa from the Incan trail.
At sunset we climbed back up to the top of the island to watch the sun set over the lake. It was beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and I got a kiss: Just after sun set:
The moon and evening star and the fading rays of the sun:
We slept in a great little hostel right on the beach. There were many fewer tourists in the northern end of the island than the southern end. In the morning Ryan took this photo of a man herding his sheep along the beach from the balcony outside our room.
After a great breakfast we headed out along the low route back to Yumani. We hiked through the third village on the island called Challa. This photo shows the crops drying in careful piles in Challa. As I said before, we met many domestic animals. This pig was happily grunting away. He was tied to this little bush. We arrived back in Yumani in the afternoon, dumped our bags in our hostel, and headed out to see the ruins on the southern end of the island. The Incans love niches!
After our third night on the Isla del Sol we got up early and hiked down the ancient Incan Stairway, passed the magic Incan fountain to the beach to catch the boat back to Copacabana. The villagers have to travel half way down this steep hill (there are 204 stairs in the Incan Stairway) to get their water from the Incan fountain. This woman is loading donkeys with heavy containers of water. We also saw many people carrying big containers of water on their backs.
Here I am on the Incan Stairwell. The water from the fountain supposedly gives eternal youth and fertility to those who drink it. We sterilized some and drank it. We´re not sure if the magical properties survived the ultra violet light we subjected it to, but the water was cool and delicious. Isla del Sol was a beautiful and relaxing break between the cities of La Paz and Cusco, Peru. the people who live on the Isla del Sol are very open and friendly compared with Bolivians we have met elsewhere. Perhaps it is because tourism is such a huge part of their livelihood here and they are all very used to weird tourists coming and taking pictures of things. I´m glad we decided to spend a few nights there. After we took the ferry back to Copacabana we boarded a bus bound for Cusco and arrived twelve hours later.

-Naomi