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Published: February 21st 2008
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You just can´t escape it....
seems like everywhere there are tourists, even if just a few, you´ll never be far from pizza! ISLA DEL SOL ...means ¨island of the sun¨, and as the Incas tell us, is the birthplace of the sun. Either way the sun was quite intense here and I (Dave)am glad I picked up a trendy hat in Copacabana to protect my head from burning. We woke up late and decided to forego breakfast in order to catch the boat that would take us to the southern part of the island. A nice 2 hour boat ride, which was surprisingly cold (we sat outside on the top deck)took us along the coast of Lake Titicaca. It is always described as the highest navigable lake in the world, but apparently that isn´t true. At 3820 meters above sea level...it´s plenty high.
Arriving Isla del Sol, we were faced with the Escalera del Inca (Inca stairs) as they are called. Most of the town of Yumani is along the ridge at the top. The island is home to about 2500 people and is free of cars and other motorized transport. Hooray for two days of NO honking horns!! So we started up and found that the hostel we were looking for was at the top and beyond. Supposedly it had
some of the best views of the island (at least that is what we told ourselves as we kept passing many other fine hotels). Finally we made it and took a seat on the balcony as they cleaned up a room for us - looking over the edge we realized that the extra walk was definitely worth it. The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the balcony, enjoying the view and searching out some lunch - which we only found back down the hill on the coast -which hurt our poor sea level lungs as we hoofed it back up to our hotel.
Awaking to a sunny day we were off, to explore the several kilometer long island and ruins. As we headed north to the ruins we passed many terraced fields of coca, quinoa and other crops. These are all hand-tended and harvested. The scenery and scale of humans ability to tackle the harshest conditions was amazing to see. All throughout Bolivia and other places human power is the main source of production here - be it hauling harvested crops up and down mountain passes or a crew of men hand-building the roads that are driven
on. We sure live a life of luxuries with all of our modern convieninces back home. The strength and determination of Bolivians is evident when you see the terraced fields that they tend to sustain themselves and their families.
Back to the island and traveling the Inca paths. The island is supposedly the birthplace of Inca civilization, the sun and the moon (on Isla del Luna - a short distance away) this area is filled with history and legend. The north part of the island had the most intact ruins in place that we saw. We also observed locals repairing sections that had collapsed in the just past rainy season. These men were hauling huge stones up steep paths to rebuild the damaged sections.
Like much of Bolivia, the island has formed several different cooperatives, a few of which that engage in the tourist trade. These members benefit collectivly from their involvement in the cooperative and share the responsibility and rewards of making the area attractive to tourists. This is why 20 or so men and women from the community were rebuilding sections of the ruins. They also run a cooperative boat service back to Copacabana. Instead of
20 local boats competing for tourists they each take turns running their boat and collectively benefit saving important resources and time. Quite an efficient system in a world of little resources.
We walked north to the ruins along the stunning ridge and headed back along the coast and through several small villages along the way. We basically circumvented the small island and baked in the intense heat. By the time we returned we were quite literally cooked and tired, but very glad we stayed around and walked the island (many people do a half day trip here and are gone).
Another night and huge plate of spagetti and pizza. The menu was quite limited here and many places were closed as this was still slow season here. We quickly learned that menu items were most likely not available as aquiring these items meant a day long trip into town and hauling them up on your back about 1000 ft. One place was even out of trout which seems odd as that is about the one food you can always find here, since it comes from the lake!
Waking up early we plunged ourselves downhill with our packs
Our hostal at the top of the ridge
As you can see, the view was spectacular...worth the LONG hike up. towards the boat back to roads, noise and civilization as most Bolivian´s know it. Isla Del Sol was a nice chance to take a break from the hustle and bustle and we are ready for the next adventure in the city that clings to the cliffs - La Paz.
**THANKS to everyone who has been reading along and sending us comments and messages. It is really good to hear from you all. Keep in touch!!! Hope you are all having a wonderful winter***
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Dad
non-member comment
First time....
This is the first time I am glad not to have been with you guys! Up and down the hills sounded too hard....I liked the relaxing on the balcony and pasta! Keep them coming....I enjoy reading your blog.