The Isla del Sol was a 90 minute boat trip from the shores of Copacabana. On arrival at the pier in Isla del Sol, our jaws dropped but not because of the sheer beauty of the island but because of the reality of what lay before us. Imagine cutting a large bowl in half & that the sides of the bowl are 1,000m high... well, we pulled into the bottom of the bowl! There is no transport on the island & all the accommodation resides on the rim of the bowl. The only way up was on foot via the Escalia del Inca (Inca Stairs). Did I mention that we had all our worldly belongings with us (daypack & backpack)? For those Tarantino fans out there the staircase bore a striking resemblance to the ones in Okinawa where Pai Mei trained Uma Thurman (The Bride) in Kill Bill. With no other option, we struck off up the stairs. We hadn´t got very far when Claire removed her backpack & threw it down in llama shit declaring she was unable to go any further. That left only 1 option: I had to climb the stairs with my gear (leaving Claire pouting), leave my stuff at the rim & come back down to help Claire. In reality it didn't prove that bad & before long we´d found nice accommodation. In Claire´s defence, when I put on her backpack it did feel wobbly & I had to tighten it in order for me to remain steady on the uneven staircase. Claire stated that she felt unsafe & based on the amount of trekking we did later that day I certainly don´t think it was lack of fitness on her part. In fact, we climbed the staircase a 3rd time later that day!
Isla del Sol features prominently in Inca legends, according to which the Sun itself was born here and later gave birth to the first Inca, who travelled from here until stopping in Cusco. The island was beautiful with many amazing Mediterranean vistas. The locals live a simple life: we passed indigenous people with donkeys & llamas & a group in the throws of constructing a roof, from straw, for their house (see photo).What also happened that day was that we bumped into a French Canadian man we had first met in Sorata. During the course of our conversation he mentioned how he would need to travel to La Paz to try to extend his Bolivian visa. As soon as he said this Claire and I realised we had been in the country greater than our allowed 30 days. Aargh!! We decided we would enjoy a full day exploring the island but instead of staying an additional night, we would make for the Bolivian/Peruvian border the following day.
.
That evening, we went to one of the highest peaks to enjoy the sunset over Lake Titicaca and ate a hearty meal of local trucha (trout).
No comments:
Post a Comment