Isla del Sol

An island on Lake Titikaka, and a 2.5 hour boat ride from Copacabana, sits Isla del Sol. At 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) above sea level, Titikaka is the highest lake in the world and one of the largest in the Americas. It's 122 miles long and around 35 miles wide, depending on where you are. As you can imagine, the water at this elevation is freezing!

Leaving the port at Copacabana, 20 of us (I was the only US citizen and there were, surprisingly, two Argentine students) boarded the motor boat to the southern most point of the island. Here, those without the desire to hike four hours up and down the terrain, could get off and have a more relaxed day at the island. Nobody got off! After another 30 minutes, we arrived at the northern most point of the island, where we disembarked and were given a tour of the 15th century Inka ruins, and we then took a 45 minute hike to a peak overlooking the lake. As I have said in prior posts, the altitude really takes you for a spin and now, after this short hike, we were at 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) above the sea!

All of us - whether you were in shape, out of shape, smoked or didn't smoke, were panting like dogs by the time we reached the top. After a brief history of the island (click here for more specifics), our guide asked us if we wanted to take a short path to a boat that would take us back to the southern part of the island where we could hang out until 4 PM, or we could engage in a four-hour hike to reach the southern part. Stupid me opted for the hike.

My God. I bike every day in BA and consider myself to be in good shape, but every 15 minutes I had to stop and rest to catch my breath. Also, I forgot to bring my hojas de coca (coca leaves) to help with the altitude. Fortunately, I ran into another solo hiker from Hong Kong so I had someone to talk to over the course of the hike. I am only guessing (and nobody else seemed to know) but the hike must have been 10-12 miles on very hilly terrain. About 1/2 way there, we ran into two girls - one from Poland and one from Wales - so we collectively trekked the rest of the trail together. The girl from Poland was infatuated with Buenos Aires so we spent the entire hike exchanging stories.

Something else that slipped my mind is that, at 13,000 feet, the sun is much stronger than it is at lower altitudes. The air was cool, so on the trip back, I naively climbed to the sun deck of the boat to work on my tan. Well today, I'm regretting it. My neck is the color of a fully cooked lobster and my nose feels like it's ready to fall off. Funny enough though, many others on the excursion were just as baked as I was.

While Isla del Sol was not as breathtaking as Macchu Picchu, it is truly a spectacular sight, with panoramic views of the crystal clear Lake Titikaka. As I've said in other posts, the pictures simply don't do it justice. You have to see it to believe it.