Solstice at Isla del Sol

On Friday the 19th, we took a boat from Copacabana to Isla del Sol (the Island of the Sun) in the middle of Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. According to both Quechua and Aymara legend, this island is the birthplace of the sun, so it seemed particularly fitting to pass the winter solstice here.

After disembarking and immediately climbing 200 Inca steps at 4,000 meters above sea level (read: breathless), we walked another half an hour or so to the top of the Yumani ridge. With some help from a wandering Argentine named Agustin, we found a lovely hostel that, although it did not have heat or running water in the rooms, had views of both sides of the island.

Isla del Sol seems to attract all types. We met a number of young travelers, particularly from Argentina, who were there on some sort of spiritual quest. Agustin was a particularly interesting case. He had clear, beautiful eyes and an absolutely infectious laugh, so you wanted to trust him...but his stories were constantly contradictory and just a little too big to be believed. He had been camping on the island for over a month on a quest to find himself, and he made a little bit of income by bringing tourists to restaurants and hostels in exchange for free food or a small commmission. After checking in at our hostel, he led us to a restaurant that had a $3 set menu that included delicious quinoa soup and the famous Lake Titicaca trout.

We woke up on Saturday morning to a slight pink-orange glow out the window, and scrambled up the hill in the freezing cold to what seemed to be the highest point on the island, to watch the last sun of the solar year climb up above the horizon. I have seen one sunrise in my life that has always stood out as the most impressive. Krissy and I were camping in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and we woke up to the most spectacular pinks, purples, and oranges, punctuated by gigantic cacti. This sunset wasn´t that dramatic, but it was notable for the clarity of the horizon line. As the sun rose over the snowcapped ridges in the distance, each individual ray of the rising sun cast its light down on to the surface of the lake. One at a time, these rays of light transformed the entire body of water into a deep, sparkling blue.

That afternoon, we took a boat from the southern side of the island to the northern side to see the Chincana ruins, as well as the Títi Kharka rock, the Rock of the Puma where the sun was born, and from which the lake gets its name. The ruins themselves are not that impressive, and it takes a good imagination to see the form of a puma in the rock face, but the several hour hike back across the island to Yumani ridge boasted warm sunshine and amazing views. For as long as I have known about the Isla del Sol, I have always dreamed of spending the solstice here, so this was an amazing experience for me!