Isla del Sol

Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) is an island in the southern part of Lake Titicaca. It is part of Bolivia, and specifically part of the La Paz Department. Geographically, the terrain is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island with many eucalyptus trees. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy. Of the several villages, Yumani and Ch'allapampa are the largest. There are over 80 ruins on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period circa the 15th century AD. Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people lived on the island as far back as the third millennium BC. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among the ruins on the island are Titi Qala (Aymara titi Andean mountain cat; lead, lead-colored, qala stone, "mountain cat stone" or "lead stone", also spelled Titikala), a labyrinth-like building called Chinkana, Q'asa Pata, and Pillkukayna. In the religion of the Incas, it was believed that the sun god was born here.