Isla del Sol, Bolivia 🇧🇴
The Island of the Sun is the largest island on Lake Titicaca, and part of Bolivian territory. The island is an ancient holy site of Inca. Legend says that Viracocha, the bearded god who created the universe, emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca and created the sun at this location.
The boat trip across to the island is painfully slow, an hour and a half at a rowing pace. I get chatting to an Italian girl, Vinchenza and Anton who I recognise from climbing the Cerro Calvario at a similar pace to me yesterday. As we get off the boat Anton is freezing, so we make a pit stop for hot chocolate. We then start the assent out of the Port of Yumani. The Escalera del Inca is a staircase leading to a spring once believed to prolong youth. This is slow going again, not sure if it is just altitude but we all regularly have to stop. At the top a Cholita is cleaning the waterfall as this is the water that feeds the port below and it has a weed blockage. It doesn’t look clean enough to bathe in.
Vinchenza is staying overnight and is keen to dump heavier stuff off at her hostal. We walk along the coast towards the north of the island, passing a small church and a family digging out potatoes. They use donkeys as the main form of transport on the island as it is rocky with no roads or cars. The scenery is stunning, across the lake you can see Luna Island and behind that on the far side of the lake are snow capped mountains. After a few wrong turns we find the hostel and Vinchenza is able to drop her stuff. I am not able to use the bathroom as due to restricted water on the island it is limited to guests, just going to have to hold on.
I had read about Inca Ruins on the southern tip of the island called Pilko Kaina. These were thought to have been constructed by the Inca Emperor Tupac-Yupanq. It was a bit of a walk along the coast but mainly downhill, with more steps down to the ruins themselves. They were smaller than I imagined and consisted of a single square building featuring about 8 rooms. I liked the doorways and the face carved into a stone at the entrance.
Obviously the return trip was uphill and we stopped at a couple of places trying to get a cold beer only to be told they were out but the delivery from Copacabana tomorrow would bring some! We ended up backtracking all the way back to the church where we found a pizza place that had 4 beers left. I felt we had earned our pizza and beer, as we smugly sat on the terrace in the sun.
We had to eat a little fast so Anton and I could make it back down to the port for our 3pm return boat. This time I sat on top of the boat napping in the sunshine for most of the trip. Once back on the shore we arranged to have dinner together and enjoyed a tasty spaghetti ragu with mulled wine.
