Isla del Sol

(May 26-28)

Running out of time, we move toward Lima. On our way we decide to stop to pay a visit to Isla del Sol. We arrive in Copacabana, on the Titikaka lake with a three/four hours bus ride. We stay just the night there as our goal is rather Isla del Sol, where we plan spending one night (May 27). 

As in most the South America we have seen, Copacabana has plenty of abandoned dogs on the street. During the trip I read once of dogs attacking (and killing) people, dogs attacking each other, I had a fellow traveler in the Uyuni trip being bitten by a dog (nothing serious) and I have seen tons of dogs messing up the trash bags on the street in search for food. I did not find it very pleasant, overall. 

Maybe it is because my last day is getting closer, maybe is because we are running too much from one place to the next, but I start realizing that most of the time my thoughts are with my family and the time I would spend with them for most of June. Isla del Sol is a good distraction, however. They say Bolivia is still unexplored for tourists and I found that Isla del Sol is no exception. This is where the Inca, according to the legend, came from. They slowly moved from here, northwards to reach Cuzco. And finally we see a little bit of culture in this natural landscapes dominated journey in South America: there are a few ruins to visit if you hike through the island, you can't miss them. One funny thing, that started here, is that we went to visit the rock puma on the island. Now, there would not be anything special with it, if it was not that 1) it does not look like a puma, really; 2) now and in the next days, while visiting various Inca ruins, people would point at rock pumas, almost everywhere. I had the feeling, sometimes, that these puma rocks are an invention of the tourist guides to compensate for the lack of information about the Incas.

Numbers: Another feature of Isla del Sol is that it is extremely cheap (we were in low season, it must be said). We spent 10 bolivianos per person in a room in the "El Huerto" hostel (fully recommended). No private bathroom, but shared and perfectly clean. The rooms are made with adobe bricks, it is worth paying the 10 Bolivianos only to experience how insulating the walls are. And a papaya-banana-orange juice for 8 Bolivianos. It seems you can bargain a bit, and we have seen people doing it. We just did not feel like saving 2 Bolivianos (0.2 Euro).

The lovely room inEl Huerto hostel. Adobe bricks rock!