Covering an area of over 8000 square km across the countries of Bolivia and Peru, lies Lake Titicaca. At 3800 meters above sea level, it is the world's highest navigable lake. And by 'navigable', I mean only big commercial boats - there are actually other bodies of water that are situated higher than Titicaca but none large enough for big boats to access. 60% of the lake lies on the Peruvian side of the border while the rest lies on the Bolivian side (well, it actually depends on who you ask - if you ask a Bolivian, he's likely to say the opposite). Apart from it being a convenient way to cross the Bolivia-Peru border, there were a number of other interesting things about this lake that attracted us here as we made our way to Peru, the third country in our South America expedition.

First, there is Isla del Sol (or Island of the Sun) which is situated on the Bolivian side of the border. According to Inca mythology, the God of the Sun - the most powerful of the Incan Gods - came down to this island to make his son, Manco Capac, the first emperor of the Inca people. A quick 101 on the Inca Empire - they were once a powerful race that controlled most of the west coast of South America including what is now Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina for about 300 years between the 12th and 15th centuries. But it was during the reign of the last 3 emperors (it is believed that there were 13 Inca emperors in total) - a period of less than 100 years - when the Incas expanded their empire to include whole cities made of stone, including the mystical Machu Picchu. I'm talking about buildings and structures that withstood 500 years, including some of the worst earthquakes in recorded history, many of which still stand today. But more on that and the history of the Incas in our next entry.

So, while most people (in this part of the world anyway) know that the capital of the Inca Empire was in Cusco, Peru, few know that it all started on the little island of Isla del Sol, Bolivia. In the northern side of the island next to an Inca site, lies a lump of rock simply known as the Sacred Rock. According to Inca legend, that is where Manco Capac appeared and thus, the birth of the Incan Empire. This rock is meant to resemble the shape of a puma, although we didn't quite see the resemblance when we got there. In fact, Lake Titicaca, when viewed on a map upside down, is said to resemble a puma hunting a rabbit. How did the Incas distinguish between the outline of a puma from say, a cheetah or any other large cat, is beyond me. But then again, that's not the only mysterious thing about the Incas.

Similar to Isla Grande, Isla del Sol has no motorised vehicles and survives on tourism so there were a number of local BnBs scattered across the island. While in Uyuni, we met a bunch of French travellers who just got back from the island and they strongly recommended a place called Palla Khasa - it offered great views of the mountains and the lake, reasonably priced (USD39 per night) and the food was relatively good. The catch was (there had to be one) we had to climb almost 200 meters (that's about 65 storeys) from the jetty to get there. Yeah, we didn't think 200 meters was that big a deal either - except that we forgot we had 15 kilos on our backs and we were still in high altitude. The local kids knew this too, so a bunch of them were already waiting for us at the jetty when we arrived and offered to actually carry our bags for a small tip. The kid that helped with our bags (I let him carry my haversack while I carried Siau-Wei's, which was slightly lighter) couldn't be older than 15 years old and didn't look all that fit, but he was hardly breaking a sweat during the climb. He even offered to carry my haversack at one point, but I couldn't let a kid carry 2 large haversacks while we climbed with just our small backpacks, no matter how much my lungs felt like they were going to burst out of my chest.

One long and painful hour later, we arrived at Palla Khasa. Yes, there was no wi-fi but the view from the place itself made it all worth it. Located on top of a hill, we had a 360 degree, unobstructed view of the island and the lake below us.

Despite having just done that climb, we decided to do more hiking that evening and the following day - we figured it would be good training for the Inca Trail that awaited us just a few days later. The hike that we did the following day around the island was quite a long one - about 18 km in total at altitudes of up to 4000 meters. We started at 10 am and finished around 5.30 pm, stopping only for a quick packed lunch at the Inca ruins on the opposite end of the island. The hike itself was pretty memorable - we've done many, many hikes on different continents and terrains but I have to say that the hike we did around Isla del Sol was probably one of the most scenic we've ever done. Ignoring the lack of toilet facilities along the trail (yes, we had to relief ourselves 'naturally' at some point during the hike), the view of the mountains and lake was quite breathtaking. And with the Inca site to explore mid-way, it made for a very interesting hike. We ended the day exhausted, but glad to have done it.

The morning after our hike, we bid farewell to Isla del Sol. We made our way to the Bolivia - Peru border by bus, where we disembarked to get our passports stamped. While Peru is not the most advanced nation, even by South American standards, it was still miles ahead of Bolivia. This was evident the moment we walked across the border - where there was a simple room with two desks in the Bolivian immigration office, we were greeted with a professional, modern-looking counter on the Peruvian side. As much as we had appreciated the beauty of the Bolivian landscape, we were glad to be moving on to a slightly more developed state.

The Peruvian city we crossed into was Puno, also situated on Lake Titicaca. A picturesque city in its own right but not the most exciting in my opinion. The highlight of our stay here (we only stayed a night) was a short tour of the "floating islands" of Uros. These are a group of 30 to 40 man-made islands with about 3000 inhabitants. However, if you're picturing massive land reclamation projects (ala Singapore), then you can't be further away from the truth. The foundations of these islands are actually made of a grass-like plant that grows naturally in the lake. These layers of grass are replaced monthly as the bottom layer decays and disintegrates. The people who live here are quite primitive - they pride themselves from having survived on these islands for the last 160 years without much help from modern civilization. They still speak the ancient Inca language of Aymara. It was quite interesting spending a couple of hours - and 30 soles each (1 sole = RM1.1) - on one of these islands and meeting the four families that live there.

Oh by the way, if you're wondering about the reference to the Amazing Race in the title of this entry, I was alluding to the filming of an episode of a Latin American version of the popular TV franchise that we stumbled upon during our hike on Isla del Sol. We had just arrived at the site of the Sacred Rock when we noticed the filming crew and equipment, and the familiar red and yellow logo from the show. As it turned out, that location was to be one of the pitstops of the race. We spent a good 30 minutes watching a number of the teams check-in while we ate our packed lunch. So, if you've got one of those not-so-legal satellite dishes that's able to pick up like a thousand channels from around the world, do look out for us in a Spanish-speaking version of the Amazing Race.

Next stop: Cusco and the Inca Trail!