Isla del Sol

Hiring a boat from Copacabana, we set out across Lake Titicaca for the Island of the Sun joined by 70 year old Aymara ceremonial herbalist and poet Rufino P”axsi Limachi and Lucio Ticona, a shaman native to the island. We stay a few days on the north side of the island, meditating on the sublime beauty of sunlight and water, observing the unique vegetation, and exploring the Incan ruins. For a few heartbeats, this place seems completely outside of time. On our last day, we hike the length of the island along the old Incan road to the more heavily touristed south side, a spring fed oasis with towering alder trees. At over 12,500' the whole island is covered with terracing and ruins, figuring prominently in the Andean mythos as the birthplace of mankind.