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Published: February 14th 2008
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Most people who come to Copacabana take a trip to the nearby
Isla del Sol , a very important site in indigenous mythology. The island has been identified as the birthplace of several deities, including the sun, the bearded white god-king Viracocha, and Manco Capac and his sister/wife Mama Ocllo (the first Incas). Most modern-day Aymará and Quechua peoples of Peru and Bolivia accept these legends as their creation story.
The majority of the island’s 2,500 permanent residents are situated in the north and south parts of the islands that contain the main tourist sites (mostly Inca ruins). Smaller settlements are distributed along the middle of the island. I caught the 8 a.m. boat from Copacabana to Isla del Sol and around 11 a.m. the boat dropped me off on the southern part of the island, where I bumped into Emma, an Australian girl I had already met in Puno. After an exhausting 30-min uphill walk up the
Escalera del Inca , we arrived to the village center filled with so many
hospedajes . Lonely Planet had mentioned one with a lovely view so we tried to find that one but after passing 20
hospedajes and
still going uphill we just took the next one in sight.
Although there are a few very interesting sites on the north of the island (incl. a stone labyrinth as part of the Palacio del Inca), there was no transportation on the island, which meant I would have to walk 3.5 hours to get to the north tip of the island, which in Izidora walking speed would be 5 hours. On top of that I would still have to get back down to the southern part to sleep. So that was out of the question. The south part of the island had sites that were simply called ‘ruins’ - didn’t sound very appealing and I’ve had my fair share of ruins in Peru. Like I said, they find an old rock and they call it a ruin. The only option remaining was, according to Lonely Planet,
a magnificent sandy beach that appears to be taken straight out of a holiday brochure for the Greek islands’ located in the village of
Cha’lla, only an hour’s walk away (= 1.5 hours in Izidora walking speed). So while Emma went to explore the south part of the island (she was staying two
nights and wanted to see the whole island), I slowly made my way north to Cha’lla.
With no signposts on the way, I had to keep asking people if I was on the right track to avoid getting lost. It was quite an enjoyable walk - mostly straight ahead, no ups and downs, and the trail went along the coast rather than through the middle of the island so the view was magnificent.
Halfway to Cha’lla I met two wonderful
Argentinean boys. They were carrying their huge backpacks so they walked slowly, having to rest regularly. Their story was that they had bought the boat ticket to the north tip of the island but they got screwed by getting in the wrong boat so they had to disembark on the south tip. They were very dedicated, however, and were planning to walk all the way to the north without backpacks. By the time I met them, they were already reconsidering their decision. So I told them about the beach and we trekked along the trail to the beach. Then our trail suddenly ended and we had to improvise a trail through bushes and what not.
Once we
could make out the beach in the distance our motivation skyrocketed and we were on the move. The boys,
Matías and Emiliano, were so funny. They were trekking along unpaved trails (incl. Machu Picchu) in their fashion sneakers and not hiking shoes. It was hilarious. They called each other
mochilero as a joke because they were so obviously not mochileros.
After all the bushes and rock climbing, we finally got to the beach and had a
picnic. Our shared food consisted of meat paté, mayo, crackers, and some bread. We spent the afternoon enjoying the view and relaxing. Matías even had a quick swim although it was quite cloudy and hence, cold.
The boys finally admitted that there is no way they were getting to the north of the island that day. Being tired and lazy we were also not looking forward to going back to the south part on foot. So we considered our only other option. Since the beach was also docking space there were local fishing boats. We come across Ricardo, a man who agreed to transport the three of us back to the south of the island with his bare arms and oars
for 10 bolivianos per person. This unplanned solution (not mentioned in Lonely Planet) turned out to be my favorite experience of the island. The sun had finally decided to come out, the sea was calm, and Ricardo was strong. We spent a lovely hour on the boat, a genuine local experience. Ricardo told us that ‘thank you’ in the Aymará language is
yuspagará.
Ricardo dropped us off on the south tip of the island and once again we had to climb up the Escalera del Inca. It was definitely more fun climbing with the boys, but I vowed that that would be my last big hike on my trip - I was so sick of climbing. I was not born to hike. I walk! Straight ahead. No hills.
The boys decided to stay at my hostel, so after we rested our aching muscles we went out for dinner. It turned out that there was an important graduation ceremony that evening and all the restaurants were closed, including a pizza place with the most spectacular view. I was so disappointed because I was really craving a pizza.
Once we finally found one restaurant that was open offering only
one meal plan because there only one person working - our waiter. We ate with a Chilean couple (apparently Chileans and Argentines don’t really like each other, but there was no fistfight 😉. Then during dinner Dries and Kristine came to the restaurant!!! It’s a small island 😊 It was really nice to see them again.
After dinner there was nothing much to do on the island, so we (the boys, Emma, and I) played cards. Turned out the boys had ‘Spanish’ cards (not the poker cards) and they were actually very similar to the ‘Italian’ cards that we use in Dalmatia. We played Emma´s game, ‘Cheat’. Then I taught them how to play ‘brishkula’ so we played that and I quite enjoyed that (the game that Argentineans play with those cards is a cross between ‘brishkula’ and ‘tresheta’ so I’m thinking it was probably similar to ‘bela’).
The next day I took the morning boat back to Copacabana with the Argentine boys and we played ‘brishkula’ again. We were going opposite directions (I was going south, they were going north) but they were so nice and helped me get my luggage from my hostel. I also got
a warm invite to Buenos Aires. There was something really special about them and we just clicked so easily. I caught the bus to La Paz, while they headed to Peru.
Aymará Word of the Day:
yuspagará =
thank you *
Next stop: La Paz
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Ivanchica
non-member comment
Ehm... Matias looks niiiice.... (yes, I never change :P) It's nice seeing you in a video, in motion hahahaha