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Published: January 3rd 2006
Dressing up local style!
Yes, that´s me sitting on the LLama..!Had a free day back in Cusco to recover from the Inca trail, which involved a huge breakfast at Jack's cafe (great veggie options) and an hour long massage in the afternoon - fab! Then we all met up at a place where they provide traditional Peruvian costumes and you pay a small fee to take lots of comedy photos.... I think the photos speak for themselves - it was a bit of a worry how many of the blokes made a beeline for the women's costumes!!
Long truck day next arriving in Puno late afternoon. Finger puppets seem to be the thing here, there are kds selling them everywhere! Only 1 sol, so I got a santa and a sheep (as part of my secret santa gift to a New Zealand guy in the group!).
Next day was our trip out on Lake Titicaca, starting with bicycle taxis from the hotel to the port - lots of fun and games dodging traffic, and each other!! First stop on the lake was the Uros Islands which are floating reed islands. They are anchored on one side by wooden stakes, and the one we visited had actually been moved recently
as there was a storm forecast in the area - so the locals hired a couple of motor boats and pushed the island a few kms to a different part of the lake! The houses are all made of reeds although they do have a solar panel so one houe did still have a TV inside. The rooves have gaps in them when dry, but because the reeds expand when wet, they are fully waterproof. The island is always sinking so they have to keep adding layers of new reeds, and the houses need a new roof every 1 and 1/2 years. We all got taken out on a huge reed boat for a trip on the lake. (The rest of the trip was by motor boat, otherwise I think we would still be there now!)
Arrived at Amantani island in the afternoon and got assigned a family to stay with. Our "Mama" was called Justa, and fortunately she spoke Spanish so we could just about communicate. Some of the families only speak Quechua, which is one of the ancient Indian languauges. We were given a list of a few phrases on the boat but frankly I wasn´t convinced
I´d get very far with trying to use or understand it!! We had a bit of a walk up a hill to Justa´s house, not easy at 3800m on a very sunny afternoon. But we had some beautiful views of the lak when we got there. Believe it or not, Justa was even shorter than me! I actually banged my head on the door frame as she showed us to our bedroom. Justa then served us a fab lunch, cooked using a couple of iron pots on a basic fire. We then had a walk to the local football pitch (I´m not a big fan myself but it really does seem to be a universal thing!!) where some of the group played the locals. We were all given brightly coloured wollen hats to wear so that our families could recognise us when they cam to collect us - apparently all gringos look the same to them! Personally I think they just wanted a laugh at us looking a bit silly!!
But the hats were only the start..... in the evening we got dressed up in full traditional dress (blimey those belts are tight!!) and went to the local hall
for music and dancing. Lots of pan pipes involved, can´t say I will be loading any of it on to my MP3 player any time soon, but it was quite a laugh. Justa demanded many dances (fortunately there was 3 of us staying with her so we took it in turns), and it was quite strange being twirled around by a woman so much shorter than me, having to duck underneath her arm each time! I have no idea how some of the 6ft plus blokes managed it with their "Mamas"!
Yet another amazing meal from Justa´s stove in the morning, pancakes and jam, yum! Then back to the boat to visit Taquille island, where they are also very big on the knitted handicrafts. As we wandered around the island we saw men sitting around or even walking along, knitting. It´s very traditional here that the men do the knitting! Our guide told us a bit about how they do their courting on the island, apparently if a boy likes a girl he gives her his knitted hat and she takes it away to test the quality by filling it with water! If it leaks then she rejects him
for being lazy and not careful enough when knitting the hat!
Back to Puno for the evening and our last night in Peru so lots of Soles to use up, what better way than a meal and a few drinks.... And a few more drinks.....!
Christmas Eve, and border crossing into Bolivia pretty straightforward. The only downside was all the standing around waiting when most of us had had 3 hrs sleep or less..! Arrived in La Paz to find it one huge street market, even right outside our hotel. Couldn´t get the truck anywhere near so we had to park up outside the centre and get 10 taxis in a convoy, it was like something out of a film, we even had one car block traffic so we could all turn left across a busy road together! On the way in we passed El Alto where the airport is, we were told the runway there has to be longer than normal as it takes more time to burn enough fuel to get off the ground, due to the lower concentration of oxygen up here! We were also told there are only 4 fire engines for the whole
of La Paz (1.2 million people), for the same reason, due to less oxygen, fires just don´t burn that easily. Managed to negotiate our way through the markets to find food and drink, and despite the previous last night ended up dancing the night away to see in Christmas Day...
Christmas Day! Had a much needed lie in then late lunch at a nearby hotal where we all received our secret Santa presents. I got a very nice pair of earrings, still don´t know who from! Then back to the hotel for games and more drinks.... the usual Christmas stuff really! No TV but I can´t say I missed it.
On Boxing day a few of us went on a city tour, including Moon Valley on the outskirts, where the landscape is, well like the moon I suppose! Impressive scenery once again. Back in the city centre we checked out the witches markets where the sell all sorts of potions and even things like llama fetuses (nice!). It is tradition to bury a llama fetus in the foundations of a new house when it is built as this is thought to bring good luck to the future occupants.
Julie, Justa, me and Anna, at the local dance
Julie is the tallest really, she had to crouch down so it didn´t look quite so ridiculous!! Oh and the Peruvians don´t seem to have the concept of smiling for photos.. Justa was quite smiley at other times, honest! Also visited the coca museum, which tells all about the history of the coca plant including how coca cola actually used to contain small amounts of cocaine!
Next day was a long truck to Potosi (altitude a massive 4070m!!!), which grew up due to the massive amounts of silver found in the nearby hills. There is a mine here which is still worked, but now mainly tin, zinc and lead. Just time for food and bed before another long truck day..
Onwards to Uyani. Major drama when Rosita (yes the truck has a name!) got stuck trying to cross a section of muddy river, we tried digging her out, putting stones and branches underneath the tyres for better traction but nothing was working.... finally about 2 hrs later got towed out by a passing tanker. Arrived in Uyani in time for food and bed, ready for another long day tomorrow...
Day trip to Salar de Uyani salt lake, which covers 12,000 square kms!! First stop was the train cemetry - the town built up around the train station originally but the rialways are no longer used so heavily and all the derelict trains have been dumped here.
Next stop was a salt processing plant, we saw the salt being bagged up at a very impressive rate by the local women, they seal the bags by briefly putting them under a gas flame, imagine doing that every few seconds for a whole day! The salt was being put into red bags and blue bags, and we were told the blue (or was it the red?!) is sold for more money as being better quality... however when you see the women bagging the salt you realise it actually all comes from exactly the same pile of salt!!! On to the hotel Playa Blanc, which is actually made of salt. We were all expecting this shining white palace of a building (well maybe just the girls amoung us!) but it was actually made of salt bricks which were kind of dirty white and brown. Very interesting though! After another drive along the flats (quite slow as they are covered with water this time of year) we got to Fish Island which is covered in cactii and has great views out over the flats (but we did have to walk up a hill first of course! that´s where the altitude really
makes itself known). Driving back we could see a major thunderstorm in the distance... unfortunately it followed us all the way back to Uyani and carried on for most of the night... knowing we had to travel the same way back to Potosi the next we were all worried for Rosita´s ability to cross that river again...
Woke up about 2am to find myself in the Room of Doom.... first got woken by roommate being very ill in the bathroom... 30 mins later I was there too... oh well I suppose I did well to make it nearly 4 weeks before this happened! And at least we didn´t both need the bathroom at exactly the same time!! Thank god we weren´t camping. Truck day back to Potosi was not fun though. I spent most of it lying on the floor of the truck as I couldn´t bear to sit upright. Still, got here in one piece (and we made it across the river!) and had a solid 10hrs sleep last night, then dozed a bit more this morning. Most of the others went on a tour of the mines this morning, but I didn´t fancy it anyway due to
the enclosed spaces. So didn´t feel I missed much there. Had late breakfast and now feeling much much better. Still not sure about New Year drinking tonight though, we will have to see how it goes!!
Happy New Year, wherever you are, whatever you do!!
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craig
non-member comment
salt and vinegar?
Wow - you had rain on the Uyuni salt flats. Reflection-tastic! Have fun in Bolivia coz we realy enjoyed it. Sucre, silver mines, jungle, highest capital - it has it all.