Inca · Aymara (Indigenous)
Isla del Sol
“An island on Lake Titicaca where the sun is said to have first risen”
Photo: Autorretrato · CC BY-SA 4.0
Scenes
Meaning
The deep blue lake opens on every side, and before the sacred rock on the dry hill a stone altar rests. Snow-capped ranges hover across the water, and the light beneath your feet deepens from jade to indigo.
Inca tradition holds that the sun god Inti rose from a rock on this island to light the world, and that the creator Viracocha set the sun and moon in the sky here. A place of Aymara and Inca pilgrimage, its northern end keeps the sacred rock called Titikala, a stone altar, and the ruins of Chincana.
Field notes
- Location
- 티티카카호 · Bolivia · S16.0° · W69.2°
- Best time
- The dry season, May to October, when the light is clear and the sun sits low over the lake
- Getting there
- By boat from Copacabana in Bolivia to the island's north (Ch'allapampa) or south (Yumani), then on foot to the sacred rock and ruins.
- Etiquette
- A living sanctuary kept by Aymara communities; visitors keep to the paths and do not tread on or move the rock and altar.
Sources
- · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- · Wikipedia — Isla del Sol
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