Birthplace of the Sun

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It doesn´t seem to matter where you are, Asia, Central America, or South America, the boats are slow. Since we´re on holidays and having nothing to do but meet new people, soak up some sun, and take in the sights, 2.5hrs for 20km is no big deal. We arrived in the village of Cha´llapampa at the northern end of Isla del Sol, which is by far the nicer end of the island as most folks only come for the day and go to the southern portion of the island.

During our boat ride we met 4 other Canadians, which is the most we´ve come across so far. The six of us hiked north of town for the afternoon to the sacred rock which is both the legendary Inca creation site and the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. It was here that the bearded white god Vircocha and the first Incas, Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Huaca, made their mystical appearances. The sun was pretty intense as the island lacks any sources of shade, but was still fantastic. At least we´re not getting as burnt anymore since we have a bit of colour.

As we have encountered in a number of other villages, we arrive back in town and found a celebration was on the way. It seems, from what we could make out from the little spanish we know, that some guy had returned to the village from ´the service.´ Not sure if that means the army, but that didn´t really seem to matter. There was many a folk in colourful hats and numerous blessings were being made, which included pinning the guy with money and blessing crates of beer. With a large portion of the beer consumed, the villagers danced their way into the night. After dinner we returned to our family guest house where it seems that an after-party was now underway. We were invited in by the owner to drink with his wife, mother, and a few other friends and their wives. The men sat on the chairs and the woman on the floor... some things are still a bit back in the ´Inca´ times here on the island.

Drinks were passed about and prior to any of the woman taking a drink they would pour some onto the floor as an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth). As the evening progressed they stopped doing this all together and just drank. We were each invited to dance and when one of the mother´s (see photo) started to bump and grind a bit too much our host´s mother jumped in stop it causing a bit of tension. At anyrate, it was an interesting evening with the locals which none of us could really communicate with due to their ´state.´ All we know is that we were very ´Welcome to the Island of the Sun´ as that seems to be the only pharse that they all know in English.

The next morning we packed our bags and hiked along the western edge of the Island to the southern town of Yumani. ´We walked under the shade of Eucalyptus trees (yep... i thought they were only in Australia as well) passing some nice beaches and through a couple of peaceful towns. One we pasted through, Cha´lla, appeared to have a big sale/ shipment of doors that were planting a big smile on many of the locals. It was funny sight to see doors being carried on the backs of locals amongst the corn fields.

Upon reaching the southern town of Yumani, which is by far the tourist end of the island, we quickly hired a boat to Yampupata on the mainland. Most folks head directly back to Copacabana but this 17km walk is well worth it. Several peaceful towns hug the shore and we got the impression folks just wanted to hang with us. We ended up making it 2/3rds of the way back and hiked up a knoll to spend the night. The view was fantastic (see photo); the sleep was not. A storm moved in through the night bring loads of wind, but thankfully no rain. We hiked the remaining distance to Copacabana for breakie and then caught an afternoon bus to Puno, Peru.

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Photos

Northern village of Cha´llapampa
The northern end of the island is where it is at on Isla del Sol. Our pad was right along the beach in the foreground.

Hiking along the ridge of Isla del Sol
Hiking...

New doors make a very happy village
Hiking along the western shore of Isla del Sol we came upon a village that got lots of new doors... happy folks.

Yampupata to Copacabana
From a knoll along our walk back to Copacabana. Copacabana is in the background.

Go Mama Go
A dancing mom is always a good thing.