According to Inca mythology, Isla del Sol is the birthplace of Manco Capac (son of Viracocha, the creator god) and the first Inca. It is believed that Manco Capac spontaneously emerged from a prominent crag in a large sandstone outcrop in the northern end of the island known as Titikala (the Sacred Rock).
It is possible to explore Isla del Sol and the Inca ruins in one long day from Copacabana. It’s a bouncy 2-hour boat ride to the northern end of the island and the port of Cha’llapapa. After dropping us off, the boat continues to Yumani at the southern end of the island. We have 6 hours to explore the island and make it to Yumani before the boat heads back to Copacabana. We begin at the Inca site of Chicana, which is home to the Sacred Rock, although after Machu Picchu, these ruins resemble little more than a pile of rubble to me. Still, the views and the hiking are stunning and that is the main reason we are here.
It’s a 6-mile hike from north to south along an undulating ridge line that runs down the spine of the island at 4,000m (13,123 feet). The scenery ranges from stark and rocky in the north to a more fertile Mediterranean landscape in the south. And accompanying our hike are the exquisite sapphire-blue waters of the lake and the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real. A word to the wise, at several places along the route the locals insist on charging a toll before they will allow you to continue hiking. According to our guidebook, the main industry on the island is subsistence farming (utilizing the ubiquitous agricultural terracing), ‘augmented’ by tourism. Now I know what augmented means! We even encounter two young girls (5 or 6 years of age) at the entrance to Yumani who want to charge us for entering the town. However my manly ego refuses point blank to be extorted by two tiny tots. Hiking Isla del Sol is a fantastic, if tiring, experience and we barely stumble down Las Mil Gradas (the thousand Inca steps – what is it with these guys and steps?) at Yumani in time to catch the boat back to Copacabana.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching tale of love and test tubes.
Speak Your Mind