After coming home for the holidays, we jumped right back into traveling. We spent a day in La Paz to relax, then headed for Copacabana to visit the world-famous Lake Titicaca! Lake Titicaca is among the world´s highest navigable lakes at 3820 km and straddles the Peru-Bolivia border.
We started from Copacabana on the Bolivian side of the Lake to visit Isla del Sol. According to ancient legend, the sun was born here, and the Inca believe that their first emperor rose from a rock called Titicaca (Rock of the Puma) on the island´s northern shore. Today, communities of Aymara people live there.
In order to get to Isla del Sol from Copacabana, Jeremy and I decided to start with a hike instead of a boat. So, we headed out of town just about as soon as we arrived in Copacabana (early afternoon) so that we could make it to the island by dark. Our guidebook outlined the hike quite nicely, but after walking over an hour without seeing the first reference point (a stream that we were to cross beyond a reforestation project) we started to consider turning around. Just as we were seriously considering this, we heard it - a stream! That put another bounce in our steps! The rest of the hike was tiring, but relatively easy to follow, especially after the help of a local man who directed us to a short cut.
After walking about 3 hours, we arrived in a little village called Titicachi. We still had about 2 hours of hiking before reaching the port to take us to Isla del Sol. In Titicachi, we were admiring a local elementary school when a man approached us. He said that he had a boat that could take us to island. We hesitated and continued walking. By the time we had decided to take him up on his offer, he had disappeared. As we decided how to proceed, a teenage boy appeared and offered his boat. This time, we responded immediately and followed him and his little brother to their 2-person rowboat on the lake.
Before getting to the open part of the lake, the teen had to row through many patches of reeds. The rowing was clearly difficult, but he managed well. The boys´ family were subsistence farmers, but also sold fireworks for money. In all, the rowing took about an hour and a half. We had arrived at Isla del Sol and it wasn´t even dark yet!
Isla del SolAs our boat pulled up to the south shore of Isla del Sol, we found another young boy waiting for us. He wanted to guide us to our hostel and we let him. It was a good thing too; the path was a bit tricky, and our map proved to be less than helpful! When we reached our hostal, we were exhausted from the day´s travels... We had left La Paz at 7:30 in the morning and arrived at our hostal on Isla del Sol at 7:00 at night! We found a place for dinner, then quickly fell asleep.
After a tasty breakfast the next morning, we headed for the north side via a path that locals and tourists alike directed us to. Shortly after climbing the path´s hill, the path disappeared. In addition, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. It was raining and lightning was in the distance. We quickly scrambled down the Incan terraces that were built for agriculture, looking for another path. Happily, we found one.
We followed this new path to a small village. Though the museum we were looking for was closed (it was supposed to be about all things Aymara, a local indigenous culture), we found a small ceramics museum there, with lots of giggling kids outside.
After visiting the museum, we continued to make our journey towards the north, finding paths as we went along the coast of the island. We crossed a beach where locals offered us a boat ride to the north, which we declined. After about 3 1/2 hours of hiking, we arrived at village on the north side of the island, Challa`pampa.
This village was also where the port was to take us back to Copacabana, so we inquired about departure times. Unfortunately, the cheapest boat (at least 8 times cheaper than our next cheapest option) was to leave in 45 minutes. We were still at least that far away from some of the most important sites on the north, so we didn´t have the chance to see the Titicaca Rock (rock of the puma) where the Inca´s first emperor is said to have risen or the Chincana ruins.
When we got on the boat, we didn´t realize that we weren´t yet done sightseeing. Before arriving back in Copacabana, we stopped at two more spots on Isla del Sol that we hadn´t yet seen: The Incan Stairway (which we climbed), and the Pilko Kaina ruins (which we skipped in favor of sitting in the hard-to-find shade).
Here are some pictures of our time in Isla del Sol:
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Crossing the Border Back into PeruWe arrived in Copacabana too late to take a tourist bus to Puno in Peru, so we found a collectivo (like a 15 passenger van) to the Bolivian border town of Kasani. There, we got our exit stamps and spent our remaining Bolivianos (Bolivian currency), with the exception of some currency souvenirs.
After we were all squared away in Bolivia, we walked across the border into Peru where we conducted more border-related business. All went well. Next, we took a moto-taxi to a small town called Yunguyo and then a bus to Puno. This way of getting from Copacabana to Puno ended up saving us lots of money too!
We arrived in Puno around 8:30 at night, promptly checked into a hotel, and had dinner with a fellow border-crosser and 22-year-old Danish carpenter named Emil. After relaxing for a day in Puno, we continued our island-hopping on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.
Islas Uros (Islas Flotantes)We bought a ticket which would take us to three popular islands in two days. Some people do all three islands in one day, but we wanted to spend at least one night. The first island we went to is known as the Floating Islands. These are literally floating islands! The islands are made of layers of reeds which the people living there just add to every so often because the layers decay over time from below. The Uros people who lived there during the time of the Inca Empire built the islands to escape Incan conquerers. Today the Aymara and Quechua people inhabit the floating islands and depend on fishing and tourism for their livelihoods. We were only there a short time, but we managed to get a glimpse of how amazing of place it was. We also bought a great, ceramic bowl and a mobile made of the same reed material of which the island is built.
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Kitty On Board!Between the floating islands and the next island, we came to realize that there were itty-bitty, vocal kittens on board our boat! Of course, we had to hold them.
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Isla AmantaniNext, we traveled about three hours to another island called Isla Amantani. Before heading to the islands, we weren`t sure where we were going to be staying on the Island of Amantani, but it was not a problem. The captain of the boat introduced us to his wife and we were immediately escorted to their house and shown our room. It wasn`t only because they liked our smiling faces. This is common practice. On the island, there are no tourist services like hotels and restaurants, but they have instead set up their homes to house and feed tourists. The family we stayed with lives very simply. They grow their own food for sustenance and do tourism and boat transportation for additional income. We didn´t get the particulars about the family and their daily activities mostly because there was little interaction between them and us. Our meals were served to us in the room and there was no communal area where we might have been able to talk to the family more. Plus, we think that even though they are involved in tourism, they are still shy and unfamiliar with tourists. The same is probably true on our part. Besides, there wasn't much time to hang out and talk.
We arrived in the afternoon, relaxed, had a late lunch and then headed off on a hike to some high-up ruins. Although we have become more accustomed to high altitude and exercise is an everyday activity, we had some difficulty climbing to the top of the mountains on the island. At last, we managed to reach the summit of a mountain dedicated to Pachatata, the Earth-father's mountain. It faces Pachamama, the Earth-Mother's mountain. Atop each one is a simple temple. Pachatata's temple is a small, square ampitheater. Pachamama's temple is a circular ampitheater. These temples can only be entered once a year to perform the islands most important spiritual rituals. Interestingly enough, only those who have been struck by lightning were allowed there at any time. The Amantani have a dualistic (male/female), earth-centered faith. We also went to a museum which had many cultural artifacts of the Inca. The Amanti people have similar cultural practices and crafts that have endured over the past five centuries.
Overall, we really enjoyed being on the island. If school would have been in session (they are on summer break right now), we would have considered staying there a while to volunteer. It was very simple and quaint with very few tourists. Not to mention the island has beautiful views.
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Isla TaquileWhen we awoke at Amantani, it was pouring rain. In fact, it had been raining hard all night, pounding on the metal roof over our room in deafening noise. We got on the boat and headed to Isla Taquile about an hour away. By the time we got there, the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to show.
We had two and a half hours to see the island before heading back to Puno. We started our time on the island by climbing a very steep stairway from the port to the town above. From our many recent uphill climbs, we've learned to walk very slowly when walking up steep hills at such a high altitude (close to 4,000 meters). That way we do not get so out of breath that we have to stop and rest. It's a bit like the race between the tortoise and the hare. We try to be tortoises.
When we reached the top, we continued wandering mostly because we did not know what there was to see and do on the island. Plus the weather turned out to be beautiful. We eventually came upon an arrow with the word "ruins" written under it in chalk, so we decided to check them out. Along the way, we walked on an ancient stone path with many stone arches. After about an hour we reached the summit where the ruins were. There wasn't much left of the ruins, but it was a gorgeous view of both Island Taquile and the nearby islands. Before heading back to the port, we walked to the main plaza of this small town where we looked at some woven crafts made by the islanders.
On the way there, we had noticed that many people were finely dressed in traditional garb. We assumed that they were on their way to a wedding or church because it was Sunday. I talked to one man who said that he was the director of a choir singing in the church that morning. That explained
his traditional wear, but not everyone else's. Later we found out that everyone on the island is required to be dressed traditionally when out in public. We didn't quite understand why that was, but we assume it may be to help ensure that their culture is well-preserved, perhaps especially because of the presence of tourism.
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Around PunoAfter all of our island-hopping on Lake Titicaca, we returned to Puno to relax for another night before moving on to our next destination - Arequipa. These pictures are of common local public transportation.
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Now we are in Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city. We plan to relax here for another week or so, then head to Lima to meet Sarah´s father!
