Next morning I jumped aboard a boat bound for the Isla del Sol, site of the main Inca creation myth. According to legend Manco Kapac and Mama Ocllo, the children of the main creator god were born at a rock on the island's northwest. After an hour and a half chugging across the blue waters of the lake, the boat arrived to the south of the island Yumani, where I hopped off and began exploring. The whole island is only a couple of kilometres long, so it was the perfect place to hike around solo without getting lost! I began by climbing a high hill at the north end of the town, where I could see most of the island laid out before me. From there I climbed down through the fields towards the beach at Challa, halfway towards the north. On my way down I found a nice rock to sit on and take in the scenery of the the lake, which has these high snowy mountains along the eastern side making a beautiful backdrop for its dark blue waters. I've been getting a bit into meditating lately (I know, what a cliche - woman finds her spiritual self while travelling but hey) so I sat and quietly focused on my breath and the warmth of the sun for a while. Afterwards I descended towards a little beach, where I was still in quite a relaxed, almost spacey mood. I sat on a pier looking out at the water which was sparkling in the sun. You know how you can look at the sparkles on the water as if they're a reflection, which of course they are, but you can also just look at the light itself? I watched each sparkle come and go quite entranced. It was like looking at twinkling stars and if the wind picked up the light would catch more of the water and the twinkling would erupt into furious dancing, then peter out to more dispersed sparkles. And don't get me started on the patterns of the ripples in the water, woah. But I swear people I was not stoned! There was just something about the silence of the place which just made me really hyper aware of everything I looked at. What a hippy, hey :) I had lunch by the beach at a little posada run by a cool old Bolivian lady Sonia, with her big green flowy skirt and two black braids down her back. She did a mean chicken milanesa. I sat reading in the sun for a bit then continued on my way to the other end of the island, through the trees and along the rocky coast, eventually reaching the town at the north, Challapapma. The whole walk was so quiet, I had only seen two other tourists walking the other way, other than that it was just sweet solitude. A little out of town was a little hostal where I got a room, then went to the nearby beach for more sunset hula hooping.
The next morning I set off to walk back to the south of the island along the main north-south path. In the northwest is the Sacred Rock that the two gods were supposedly born from, and a beautiful Inca ruin Chicana, also sometimes called the labyrinth. As I walked through it I did have a spooky labyrinth kinda moment too! I left one room, snaked around a few different corridors, then ended up back in the same room by the same door. Ooooohh. I was a little weirded out until I realised I was mistaken and there was a different door :) After that I continued out to the very west summit where I had an amazing 360 view of the island and the lake, which is absolutely massive. I sat there gawking at the view for a good half hour before continuing on my way south. This path took the high road with a lot of hills but eventually I reached Yumani again where I got the boat back to Copacabana. I managed to score a cool seat on the way back, at the front on the roof out in the fresh air. I stuck in my headphones and blissed out to Max Cooper, bopping a little in my seat with my legs hanging out the side, looking out at the shimmering lake...it was heavenly. That afternoon in Copa I sat by the lake in a deckchair with a beer and read my book, lovely lazy winter afternoon!
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