Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Finally after a small tour through Bolivia, I return to the main reason I decided to go there anyways, and to pay the $135 visa fee (only for US citizens, thank you US foreign affairs) - the reason being the infamous Isla del Sol. Being considered the birth place of the Inkas, where they according to the legend rose from the lake Titikaka, this is a must see if you're in the area. I gotta say I was impressed with Isla del Sol more so than anything else I've done in Bolivia, but that could be purely my love for the water saying :)

Immediately after Uyuni I hopped on a bus to Copacabana, a small beach type city where you can take a ferry to Isla del Sol. The views on the way there are truly amazing with Titikaka shown in its true glory. By the way, lake Titikaka is the highest navigable lake in the world (whatever that may mean), situated at 4200m above sea level... it's awesome !!!

on the streets of Copacabana, couldn't but smile with pride at the sight of this remnant of Soviet automotive engineering :) that's how cars should be made, with all parts interchangeable and lasting 20+ years, I suppose that's also the reason these cars didn't do very well in a capitalistic economy based on consumerism.

Copacabana port. I even saw some very very primitive sail boats, but I suppose they would be fun to try to sail (life vests are a must though:)

the morning of my departure to Isla del Sol the weather was rainy, but I was ensured by the ship captain that it should clear up by 10-11am and that's usual Titicaca weather. It takes about 2h to get to Isla del Sol on a fairly slow motor boat, but it sure is exciting.

Me with the Isla del Sol backdrop.

Immediately after disembarkment you are greeted with a male and female Inka statues and stairs leading up to the top of the hills on the island, signifying that this one is going to be a tough climb.

As you go up the stairs, the infamous mate, the birthplace of the moon island appears in the backgroung, Isla de la Luna, the home of the female energy according to the Incas.

The island backdrops are truly amazing, with curvy hills rising from the water and immense mountains showing up in the background, this nature is really the reason why this is such a long post :) I hope you'll forgive me.

The hills are actually almost all planted with different crops out of which I could only recognize potatoes :) with blue lagunas appearing in the distance, truly gorgeous.

I climbed what I could tell was the highest hill on the island and admired the panaroma that unfolded below.

At the top of that hill there's a primordial type cross built and laid with stones with bull horns sticking out of its base.

After descending from my high vintage point, I found the actual Inca trail that takes you to the infamous ceremonial table of the Incas. On the trail...

I swear the views just kept getting better the higher you got on the mountains

the lake colors were simply unreal.

The village of Challa Pampa, were I was to spend the night at.

Me being fascinated with the small rocky island rising in the distance, there was something really special about that place...

Finally at the sacred site of the Inkan ceremonial table. Apparently this is where the Inkas performed human sacrifices as well, although I was told on the Inka trail that they only sacrificed animals. Don't take my word for it, consult wikipedia... the stone was ridiculously huge though. It must have taken a few dozen people just to move it.

Some more distant views of the ceremonial table. I actually managed to some actual rock climbing there, pretty scary actually since the rocks kept breaking under my grip.

As you descent from the mountains, you enter this sort of small living paradise. Small cute houses with gardens and animals all routed with the nicest cobblestone path and precipitated with small cascades and rivers everywhere.

Challa Pampa is situated in between 2 beaches very close to each other. A lot of people just decide to camp in tents on the beach which must have been a bit miserable since it rained pretty heavy that night.

Relaxing after a long day of walking on the beach...

the evening was somewhat uneventful given that this was a very small town with not much to do. In the morning I started my walk back to the southern part of the island to the port where I would go back to Copacabana. I was determined to cross into Peru that night so everything had to work out according to plan. This is a typical example of small cascades and rivers that Isla del Sol has an abundance of.

I don't know what it was, but I couldn't help but feel one with nature while on the island. It s a wonderful feeling really when everything falls in its designated place.

In the village of Challa that was on my way I spotted an older local woman who was carrying some firewood to her house and being urged by nana Vika's words of “slava, do good things wherever you are” decided to help her out. She didn't refuse :) we then did some more cutting of small trees on her property to make room for actual crops and she fed me with breakfast, which was more than welcome. So there you go, now I have a place where I'm welcome to come back to on Isla del Sol :)

if you look closely this is the same harbor as on one of the photographs above but from a different perspective. I liked it a lot on the first day and decided to check it out and do some ceremonial swimming in the Lago Titikaka :) although the water is really cold this is something one has to endure when on the island, it's a must :)

on the road to the harbor I found a new friend :)

just walking along...

finally at the laguna, the water is really clear, blending in with the sky. What else can I say, the water is really very very cold. So much that I could only bear about 15 sec of actual swimming before running ashore and trying to dry in the sun :) it was surely worth it though, plenty to recall and talk about.

I picked a new route to get back to the harbor and frankly got lost a bit, but it was well worth it. These are some of the views you get when you get lost on top of a mountain on Isla del Sol.

A small village along the way

the magicness of the island. I love the little natural harbors formed between the hills.

Decided to make a stop and have lunch with a background drop that any top end restaurant would be jealous of. By the way, Bolivia is extremely cheap, that entire meal was about $5 and that's considered expensive, and probably the best fried fish I ever had :) no really, i'm not a big food buff but that fish really was brilliant.

Finally I reached the descent toward the boat dock.

The boat ride back to Copacobana, everybody's tired...

we crossed the border to Peru about 5 min before closing of the border to be greeted by one of the most beautiful sunsets i've seen. The Andes are really amazing creations.

On the Arequipa...