Island of the Sun

The largest island in Titicaca (14.3 km²), facing the Copacabana peninsula, with more than 80 archaeological sites and human presence since 2200 BC. For the Incas the Sun was born here, and Manco Kápac and Mama Ocllo set out from here. There are no cars or roads: you walk pre-Hispanic paths between its three communities, Yumani (south), Challa (centre) and Challapampa (north). The south has the Inca Stairway (206 steps up from Yumani pier), the Fountain of the Three Waters or of Youth and the Pilko Kaina palace; the north has the Gold Museum, the Chincana and the Titikala or Sacred Rock.

Boats leave Copacabana at 8:30 and 13:30; they return from Yumani at 10:30 and 15:30. Community fees are paid in cash in each sector (north 10 to 15 Bs, centre 15 Bs, south 5 to 10 Bs). There are no ATMs and the signal is poor. The trail climbs to 4,000 m: walk slowly and bring 2 litres of water per person. Check access to the north at the pier the day before. On the boat ask for a seat on the upper deck.

Stories

Legend·Traditional story: not a proven historical fact.

The birth of the Sun

They say that after the flood the world was left in darkness and people lived in fear. One day the Sun rose in all its splendour from the cleft of the great sandstone rock in the north of the island; that is why the crag was called Titikala, the puma's rock, and the island, Island of the Sun. Another version says the Sun hid under the rock during the flood and the island was the first land to emerge when the waters went down.

Legend

Traditional story: not a proven historical fact.

Manco Kápac and Mama Ocllo

The Sun god, taking pity on people who lived like beasts, sent his children Manco Kápac and Mama Ocllo to civilise them. He made them emerge from the sacred rock and gave them a golden staff: where it sank at the first blow they were to found their city. They walked north to the Cusco valley, where the staff disappeared into the ground, and there the empire was born. He taught men to farm and build; she taught women to spin and weave.

Oral tradition

Memory passed down through generations in the lake communities.

The fountain of eternal youth

The people of Yumani say the three spouts of the Inca fountain flow from a spring that has not run dry in five hundred years, and that whoever drinks from them stays young. They say each one tastes different and that drinking from all three brings health, wisdom and youth; the three spouts also recall the threefold Andean law: ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhella (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy).