Isla del Sol - Hiking The Island

The #1 thing to do in Copacabana is to visit Isla del Sol. I was told to spend the night there instead of doing the typical day trip and to hike the island from the north to the south, if I get a chance. So that is what we did. We hopped on a 2h boat ride to the north part of the island, where we met a tour guide to show us around the historical sights in the north and to explain to us the significance of those sights and the island in general.

We could've done all of this without a guide and just walked to the Inka site and explored it ourselves, but we were glad to have a guide with us to provide us with interesting context. It was all in Spanish, but he spoke clearly so that I understood the majority of what he was saying - when I didn't | was lucky to have my Guatemalan interpreter, Maria, with me.

After telling us about the tourism industry on the island, its history, culture and the significance of the sites (Lake Titicaca actually means Lake of the Puma Rock), he finished the tour and let us explore the site by ourselves. Sitting over the lake, it was a lovely site and we took our time wandering around and taking pictures.

Then it was time for the long walk to the south of the island. It took us a total of around 4h, but offered us stunning views of the island, the lake and the snow-capped mountains in the background.

While the hike was straightforward with some up and down sections, the elevation of
>4000m made it a tougher hike than it should have been. Poor Maria who is not necessarily a hiking person, but passed the hike with flying colours. I guess travelling with me is not really relaxing. We pretty much chatted for about 4h, laughed a lot, made silly jokes and complained together about every uphill section that revealed itself before our eyes. It was a beautiful hike, though, and at the end both of us were actually quite happy that we did it - even with carrying our day packs with our overnight things.

When we arrived at our accommodation, we were greeted by a cute donkey who was gracing just outside of our room. It provided a perfect picture: imagine looking out a window frame, seeing a cute donkey looking into the room, the lake in the distance, snow-capped mountain behind that and a bright moon rising. Picture-perfect.

That night, I took Maria to a restaurant, which was pretty much the whole reason why I wanted to stay overnight on Isla del Sol. The restaurant was called Las Velas and the unique feature of it was that apart from its kitchen, there is no electricity, but the entire dining room is lit with candle light (Las Velas means The Candles in Spanish). The food was also incredibly delicious and the atmosphere was of course quite romantic. It definitely lived up to its promise.

The next morning, after pancakes for breakfast we walked down to the pier and caught the boat back to Copacabana from which we would continue our adventure.

Maria and I had a great time on Isla del Sol. It was such a peaceful place - in particular the north where less people go to - and the hike to the south we pretty much had completely to ourselves. There is a little bit of magic on this island, I thought, and we were happy to have experienced it. Czytaj więcej