After 4 hours on the bus and an 1.5 hours on a boat we finally got to Isla del Sol, which some people think is the most beautiful place in Bolivia. Isla del Sol also 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.

After arriving to the southern end of Isla del Sol the visitor is greeted with “the Inca Staircase”, which climbs about 50 meters up, from where you continue on a windy trail to a village of Yumani. Altogether, you get to climb 200 meters before reaching the main part of the village. At this altitude, even without heavy backpacks such a hike would be quite a challenge, so we were exhausted before reaching the top of the hill. As a result, we ended up giving up on the hotel that was recommended to us by backpackers we met in Sucre, and settling for one about 30 meters lower, where for US$5 we got a room with a gorgeous view and an unfullfilled promise of hot water in a shared bathroom.

After leaving our backpacks, we went to explore the island, looking for “Pilka Kaina” ruins. Finding it was a little tricky, and when we asked local kids which way it was, they refused to say unless we hired one of them to take us there. We ended up agreeing to get a guide for Bs.10. (We originally bargained it down to Bs.5, but it turned out to be a longer walk than we expected, so I gave him Bs.10, which is what he asked for originally.)

Next morning we watched sunrise from our room, then got breakfast at one of the hotels nearby (our served breakfast too, but we were pissed at them for lying to us about hot water). After that we took a boat to the north side of the islands, explored a larger ruin site there, and then walked across the island along picturesque but really long “Inca Road” (about 3 hours).

After returning to Yumani in the south we barely made it to the last boat to Copacabana.