Isla del sol continuada....

So here we are again, almost a month since our last post.  We`re not doing so great with the whole blogging thing BUT we`ve resolved to get back to it as we are at least half way through our trip but have only documented a small fraction of it! 

Pig welcomes us to his village

Well, as we mentioned previously, we decided to walk from Copacabana to Yampupata, a town at the end of the Peninsula and with just a small stretch of water inbetween it and Isla del sol.  Due to its proximity to the island, we figured it would be pretty easy to catch a cheap ride over to the island.  Anyhow, the guide book gave us some rough directions on how to get there (pretty much just following a road) and we set out.  The walk itself wasn`t so difficult but we were carrying all of our belongings on our back (including tent, sleeping pads and other camping equipment) hiking at over 4000 meters (13,100ft!), and the sun was strong!  The beautiful scenery kept us going.  We passed through a number of small villages, hiked through some forest and part of an Inka trail and after five hours, we reached Yampupata.  Upon arriving, we quickly realized this was not the touristy town with frequent boat departures that we had imagined.  In fact, we didnt see anyone until we walked right up to the dock where there were a number of boats.  Sitting on the stoop to the boathouse were two old men.  They informed us that we could either pay 70 bolivianos to be taken across in row boat or 120 bs (bs=bolivianos) in motor boat.  This was more than double the price it cost to go in motor boat from Copacabana!  I guess not enough people choose to walk 5 additional hours before reaching Isla del Sol... while 70 bs translates to just about 10 US dollars, we were quite stressed upon learning of this as there are not ATMs in Copacabana and we had a very limited amount of cash that we had changed at the border.  As there was no way to swim across, we went with the cheaper option in row boat.  Upon saying this, one of the old men got up and lead us to the row boat.  At this point I had no idea how old this guy was but I must admit I felt ashamed having him row us across. He was definitely older than our parents (and since they make up 2 of our 7 "followers" I will omit their ages). Halfway through the ride, the guy was panting heavily and had to take off some layers (as is the custom, he was wearing a thick wool sweater and it was certainly in the 70s and sunny!).  At this point he confessed to us that he was 76 years old (and "proved it" by taking off his hat and saying "look, no hair!").  That was incredible news to us as we had imagined at most 65.  I then felt even more ashamed as he was undoubtedly in better shape than I was and is half a century older.
Anyhow, a half hour more of rowing (1 hour total) and more heavy panting, we made it to the island.  We were quite relieved the guy didn`t die on us. I must say that on first glance of the island, we were not too impressed.  For some reason, and I partly blame the guide book, I had imagined a beautiful tropical oasis (in the middle of the Andes?!) and what I saw was a big dry rock.  In addition to lacking in aesthetics, the second we stepped off the boat (and wished the grandpa luck in surviving the trip back) we were told we had to pay an entrance fee of 10 bs each!  "Great, sure glad we have a few peanuts left to eat tonight" was my first thought.  We payed the fees and headed toward these inka steps that follow natural springs up the hillside.  These were also supposed to be pretty special however rains had not been plentiful and what we saw was the tiniest of trickles running next to some super steep stairs.  Note: At this point we were already exhausted due to the hike and lack of sleep the previous night and I`m pretty sure even a tropical oasis in the middle of the Andes would not have impressed us at that point. So we pushed ourselves to continue and slowly made our way up the stairs. Once it started to level out towards the top, we started to get ambushed by small children trying to pull us to their family owned hostal.  Ignoring them was not working and finally we said "see the tent, we are camping!" to which they replied with satisfaction that there were no camping spots on the South side of the island.  We stopped short.  Looking at the sky, there was about one hour of light left and no possible way we would be able to make it to the north end.  We definitely did not have enough money for both a hostal and the return trip to Copacabana.  Hoping the children were wrong, we continued on and after another 15 minutes or so they gave up on us.  As we were reaching the top, and starting to believe the kids were right as there certainly looked to be no flat areas for setting up the tent, we ran into a "villiage official" who informed us that yes, there is camping on the south end and that basically you can put your tent wherever you want to.  That was a relief but we still had to find some place not on a steep slope.  Our stomachs took over our reasoning skills though and we decided to get some pizza, (yes, pizza on ancient Isla del sol! Some would consider that a sacrilege but I will eat pizza anywhere and everywhere) before setting up tent.  "Las Velas" which means "The Candles" was at the crest of the hill past a eucalyptus grove.  A quaint little straw hut in the midst of construction, we were overjoyed when they told us, "please, camp here!" and there was a nice flat area outside the restaurant.  While we were starving, we had to share a small pizza and it tasted so delicious after having only snacked on peanuts and oranges all day.  We finished our day with a beautiful sunset over the lake and crawled into the tent.
Next morning we set off hiking early.  After just two hours we reached a station where a man indicated we were crossing the border from the South to the North part of the island and informed us it would cost 15bs each.  This was the last straw for us.  Nick proclaimed that Isla del Sol sucks!  We had no choice to pay it and in our minds we feared we would not have enough to get back to Copacabana, let alone for the bus ride to La Paz.   We hiked another 3 hours, attempting to enjoy the scenery and the few dismal ruins that remained but also thinking the place sucked at the same time.  Ruins are just rocks after all.  Our hunger, exhaustion and lack of funds would not permit us to have a positive mindset.  While we had originally planned on staying another night, when we saw the return boats just down the hill from us, we made a run for it.  And the price for the return boat...20 bs! and by motor boat!  The only good thing about Isla del Sol, we thought, getting off of it! We paid, hopped on, and enjoyed watching the island getting smaller and smaller until finally it was out of our sight.  Thank God.  Now we just needed to miraculously find money for our bus tickets to La Paz...