titicaca-island of the sun

It's like the gap mentioned in Homer's Odyssey.

This is the moon island. Near it, the French explorer has found a giant frog.

The llama girl charged me US$1 for the photo. They are very persistent for you to take their photos.

Since I didn't speak any Spanish, the boat take me to the wrong side of the island (I should be going to the North, but I ended up in the South).

But actually that was what I loved to do but dared not to do so (because of the altitude). So I was forced to do something I wanted to do in the first place. The wrong choice is a better choice.

Panorama photo of the Inca Terrace. Reckoning from the size of the farmland (most are abandoned), there must be thousands and thousands of people living on the island before.

The sheep is not local. All the horses, sheep and donkeys are imported from Spain. Before, Inca only have llama and alpaca.

They wanted candy for the photo. I gave them the non-sweet energy bar, it's better for their teeth.

I went half way through the island, I was still on the right track when I took this photo.

There was a little farm and a little ruin.

Then I met an old man. He asked me for candy, so I gave him another energy bar. He tried to point me to the right direction. But I didn't understand him at that time (it was only my 3rd day in South America). He spent another 30 minutes tried to make me understand. I insisted on the impossible way where there was no trail. Then I found out it was a big uh-oh...

There was an abandoned Inca trail on the western side of the island. Part of the trail, I have to climb over the cliff like Indiana Jones. When I came to the top of the mountain, I finally figured out the old man was right but it was already 3:30pm (6:00pm sunset) and I was on the wrong side of the island. I have to make my way down the mountain where there was no trail and up the other side where the right trail was.

At 4:03pm I finally came down from the mountain. There was something that you wouldn't enjoy when you were doing it (like hanging on the cliff) but you would glad you have done so once you finish. Came to think of it, the view was good. If I do it again, I probably would have listen to the old man. But on the other hand, I did enjoy the experience of taking the wrong path. Again, the wrong choice is a better choice.

I was on my way to the right path.

At 5:54pm, just before the sunset, I finally saw Challapampa. I still need to find a hotel and none was mentioned in my lonely planet.

The island across the town is call Kollabaya. There was a wall separating the island from the town because the town people didn't want their children to mess up the crops.

The night fell just at the moment I reached the town. I saw many kids on the mountains, they all reached the town long before I did.

I spent a few minutes watching the moon. Then I met someone who led me to the hotel... Anything with a roof is better than sleeping on the mountain.

The next morning I met MP- by the beach. We walked to the Chincana Ruins together. This is what we thought was the temple or maybe an hotel for the people who was going to be sacrificed.

Base on MP-'s altitude watch, this place is around 4km high.

The sun is not kidding, I got a sun burnt after two layers of sun block.

This is the sacrificial table where they used to do human sacrifice. Now it was used for picnic table.

After 30 minutes of investigation, we finally conclude that this must be the footsteps of the sun. MP- was pointing at a smaller step which I reckon was the footsteps of the moon.

This is the puma rock, you must have very good imagination to see that (notice the two tiny ears in the front?)

Before we left, we found something that is more likely to be the footsteps of the sun, so I took another picture of it, at least one of them must be the real one.

Looking from far away, the puma rock doesn't even look remotely like any Picasso puma.

Legend said that there was a sunken island at the center of the 3 islands in this photo. Archaeologists had found some farms and small buildings under water. They also found a stone box which after 500 years was still water proof. The box contained many golden toys (they were in the museum).

Another sacrificial table. I guess they use this one as a backup in case the other one was occupied.

Temple of the sun is a dump.

This is the golden toys found inside the stone box of the sunken island.

This is the water proof stone box.

Inca Stairway (Escalera del Inca) will kill you if you run up there without getting used to the altitude. If you survive the stairway, the llama girl on the top will continue to torture you with the request of taking photos.

This is the Pilko Kaina Ruins, my guide book didn't mention what this was for.