I met Pete and Urv from Bolton near Manchester on the slow boat over to Isla del Sol. After alighting we soon realised we didn`t want to be there and managed to tag along with a bunch of Americans who`d chartered a local to take them to the northern end for the purpose of trekking back down to the south. Before we departed I left my big backpack in storage with the tourist cafe (him: "10 Bolivianos..." me: "don`t think so" him "OK... 5Bs") The Americans all belonged to various arms of the Mormon Church and were at the holidaying end of a charity project installing running water and performing dental and medical work for a remote Altiplano community - cool! Soon after starting our trek we arrived at some ruins - there are over 80 ruins on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period circa the 15h century AD. Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people lived on the island as far back as the third millennium BCE. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among the ruins on the island are the Sacred Rock, a labyrinth-like building called Chicana, Kasa Pata, and Pilco Kaima. In the religion of the Incas, it was believed that the sun god was born here. The Aymara are a native ethnic group from the Andes and Altiplano - about 2 million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile. They lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Incas - their name for the island is Titi'kaka. Some linguists and archaeologists believe the name to be a corruption of Titi (puma) and Kala (rock). In a 1612 Aymara-Spanish dictionary the phrase Tahksi kala is listed as "piedra fundamental" or "foundation stone" possibly alluding to the origin story of the Inca that the Sun and Moon were born in the lake.
One version of the Isla del Sol myth has that Manco Capac is said to have emerged from a prominent crag in a large sandstone outcrop known as Titikala (the Sacred Rock). The people of the province were without light in the sky for many days and grew frightened of the darkness. Finally, the people saw the Sun emerge from the crag and believed it was the Sun's dwelling place. In another version related by your dad, others believed the crag was dedicated to the Sun because it hid under the crag during a great Flood. Isla del Sol was the first land that appeared after the flood waters began to recede and the Sun emerged from Titikala to illuminate the sky once again. A temple was built at this rock and later expanded by the 10th Inca Tupac Inca Yupanqui. He built a convent for mamaconas (chosen women) and a tambo (inn) for visiting pilgrims. (Wiki)
After seeing our ruins (which, although fantastic, after Peru seemed quite mild and plain really) and an awesome Inca picnic spot with stone table and chairs, we started the trek proper in the super-bright light towards the south. The island sits at about 4000m and the altitude made trekking a bit huffy even on its easy slopes and wide trails. It reminded me of a Greek island, and on this amazing blue lake was a very pleasant days walking. Pete explained a little of the diverse geological formations but mostly I just observed and took photos of the awesome colours and wicked textures. The height of the lake and a clear shining day made for surreal visual effects, particularly as the day grew longer as we trekked the length of the island. As the sun dropped the massif of Cordillera Real (an extensive line of 6000m + snowy mountains) became more marked on the horizon and were very impressively set above the huge body of water. The layers of refracted light created an amazing multi-coloured atmosphere and the afternoon wind painted brushstrokes on a canvass of grey aqua. We settled in a comfortable hostel with terrible beds but great views from the top of the hill at Yumani.Throughout the day we had been charged 3 separate entry fees into the different sections of the island, none of which we were informed of before leaving for the island. That night Pete, Urv and I were treated to a 1.5hr wait in not busy restaurant while our to be friends from Isle of Man, Felicity and Will, waited 2hrs - there were at least 4 people in the kitchen and the meals were very simple. Earlier I had descended down to the harbour to collect my backpack but the cafe was closed! The guy had not mentioned anything to me of a closing time, nor had a note been left, nor could I find where they had gone to to retrieve my pack. When they returned (late) to open up the next morning they had the gall to ask me for another fee for storing my bag an extra night! Luckily I didn`t punch the wanker in the fayce. It was the combination of all these things that made me realise I wasn`t in Peru anymore - Bolivia was another large step up in unprofessionalism and moronacy. I have also considered whether this particular strain of humanity has evolved with less logical reasoning due to a smaller brain capacity.
I was also quite disappointed in the island itself after such a huge(!) build up from fellow travellers - not a scrap of nice vegetation nor anything of interest really - the setting is definitely what made it such a great day.That night`s sleep wasn`t so good due to the beds and 4100m, as such I was awake for the sunrise behind the Cordillera, a truly special sight. I shared the boat back to the mainland with the Mormon`s and we chatted more about their charity project and travel in general. I finally got my breakfast at Paranoid Android with all the British mates. The late morning bus to La Paz passed by much of the lake, including a ferry across a channel. A few years ago a bus full of people had blown over and sunk on the crossing and because of this most people got off the bus to get on a passenger boat over, while the bus swayed it`s way across... with me and a few others abordo. Of course no one had told me what was happening, but under the gaze of my water gods we made it just fine. The rest of the journey brought closer the snow-capped Real range and revealed the hazy air of the burning-off season swallowing an endless altiplano, inhabited by campesinos and sparse grasses. La Paz`s outskirts sprawl out onto the altiplano, but this is a recent phenomenon as the city itself sits in a bowl-valley under the watch of the 6462m Mount Illimani.
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