A perfect Lake Titicaca afternoon – on the Islands of the Sun and the Moon. | Nota Bene: Eugene Kaspersky’s Official Blog

Our LatAm-2025 journey continues: farewell Peru; hello Bolivia!…

We begin in this country at Lake Titicaca – its Bolivian side, since we’d just explored the Peruvian side.

Mediterranean-like (in appearance), oxygen-deprived (altitude: nearly 4000m), and really quite fascinating!…

There isn’t all that much to fully contemplate-meditate upon here on the Islands of the Sun and Moon. All the same, these are still iconic places rich in history: legend has it that, on the former island, the first Inca (the founder of the Inca Empire) Manco Cápac (and his wife Mama Ocllo), first appeared to the people. That’ll do for me; so, at least once in my lifetime, I figured I just had to get here and immerse myself in the place and its history – and landscapes. And the place turned out to be really very pleasant – it seems to invite you to settle down, calm down, sit on a bench, and meditate on the view ->

Experienced “specialists” say that it’s precisely here – at an altitude of about four thousand meters, with the view of the lake, and in such weather conditions – that internal meditation and detachment from the vanity of this world are most effective out of the whole region. Unfortunately, we didn’t have several days to test this out. Everything happened in hurry-mode.

What immediately stood out: compared to Peru, Bolivia looks noticeably poorer. Here, for example, is the pier where tourists depart. Compare it to a similar spot from yesterday…

Upon arrival on Isla del Sol – a modest but authentic lunch, followed by a short trek to our hotel. They say this is also an ancient Incan trail. And who am I to doubt it? It wouldn’t surprise me…

At times, the views become simply… Adriatic! It feels like you’re not in the Andes but somewhere along the coast of southern Europe. You have to admit – it does look quite similar! ->

Lake Titicaca, islands, power lines – yes, there is some infrastructure here. On the neighboring Isla de la Luna electricity is generated autonomously.

And here’s where we were staying. Nice cottages, nice views:

But it’s time to go for a walk ->

Yes, the scenery that evening was a bit brutal. But no matter, let’s get up the highest hill on the island!…

Evening falls as we walk through the village of Yumani, heading to watch the highly recommended sunset from the summit of the Island of the Sun – right over there, at the perfect sunset viewpoint:

A mysterious place. It’s not in the photos (we didn’t feel like taking any), but at one point we were suddenly caught in a nasty downpour of rain. So instead of watching the sunset, we hid from the rain – wondering how we’d get back to our warm, dry rooms. But it all worked out. The rain passed and disappeared as fast as it arrived, lightning storms flickered in the distance, and we managed to catch a brief glimpse of the sunset. Oh my word! ->!

But it was soon time for bed. Tomorrow, as usual, we’d be up early – this time to visit the Island of the Moon and then continue deeper into Bolivia… But not so fast! The sky was continuing to put on quite a show. Next time we definitely need to bring a tripod…

Next morning, and Lake Titicaca had… been swum in! This sets my new personal altitude record for swimming. In second place now is Lake Quilotoa in Ecuador (altitude ~3600m, swum in 2019). Here the swim took place at 3812m. Hooray!

This record was set just off the Island of the Moon. The island holds cultural significance: Incan legends state that the creator god Viracocha ordered the moon to rise from here.

The ruins of the Iñaq Uyu (Palace of the Sun Virgins). This was clearly a special place – as evidenced by the traditional high-end seamless imperial masonry:

We were told this was a girls’ school, where they were trained for different futures: the beautiful ones were sacrificed to the sun god (apparently they were drugged, so they went to their deaths happily), the smart ones were prepared as wives for Incan aristocrats, and those who were neither remained as teachers for the next generations. Since this was a prestigious place with the potential to connect with noble families, girls were sent here quite willingly. I don’t know how true this is – it’s just what I heard. Interestingly, in Peru, our guide insisted that the Incas made no human sacrifices, while in Bolivia they don’t shy away from the topic. Where’s the truth? In short – yet another “it’s complicated”.

There’s a soccer field on the site of a former prison. After the 1971 coup (one of nearly 200 since independence in 1825!), political prisoners were taken here and left without provisions. Many died of starvation, and those who tried to escape drowned in the lake’s cold waters. However, reports suggest that several dozen prisoners escaped. Perhaps for this reason, the prison site remains undeveloped: locals were reluctant to settle there, so now there’s a soccer field:

And a few more atmospheric photos from the Islands of the Sun and Moon:

A story about this high-altitude lake would be incomplete without a stroll through the main Titicaca town – Copacabana. Yes, you’re wondering: what does the small Bolivian Copacabana have to do with the world-famous district in Rio de Janeiro? Well, turns out this little Copacabana in Bolivia is the “original”: in the mid-18^th century, a chapel dedicated to Bolivia’s patron saint – Virgen de Copacabana – was built in the Brazilian metropolis, giving the district its new name.

The town’s cathedral – where folks from all over Bolivia bring their… motor vehicles to be blessed! ->

We saw not only cars but even a specially decorated bus; unfortunately I didn’t think to photograph it. Blessed cars are marked like this:

Gift boxes hanging from trees near the cathedral – what are they and why? Unknown. Probably just festive decorations for the main square ->

At the local market, we were amazed by the size of the popcorn, peanut pods, and other agricultural products. How come they grow so big here? No idea…

A few random authentic views of urbanity:

And with that, we bid farewell to Titicaca and Copacabana and moved toward La Paz. About 70km away lies another unassuming but fascinating spot worth visiting, the Kon-Tiki Museum – all about reed rafts and Thor Heyerdahl‘s expeditions. Younger generations will hardly know about this, but in the mid-20^th century, these expeditions were big news. A Soviet participant, Yuri Senkevich, took part in several expeditions.