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Published: July 17th 2006
We had no idea what kind of trip we were facing up, when we got on the boot that morning.( we had organised this trip the night before without shopping around, ai, can be really wrong, but luck was with us...) A little van picked us up at the hotel and brought us to the harbour of Puno. From where a tourist boot was waiting for us to drive us first to the floating islands of Ouros, and then to the island of Amantani. It was a trip of three hours with the sun high in the sky and a beautiful view over the lake and the mountains. pure relaxing...
First we visited the floating island, and the next stop was on the island of Mantan´where We stayed one night with a very lovely family ( with 6 kids!). The second day we visited Island Taquile...
Flaoting Islands of Ouros
There are more then 24 floating islands. This unique islands belongs to the Uros people. The locals are used to welcome tourist and it is even there only source of income. The leader of the island that we visited told us about some customes, the dresses of the ladies and
showed us how they make the island. There were 7 families living on the island, which is only a couple of square meters "big".
Where this people originally are coming from and why they still living on the islands in the middle of the lake has different explanations. Our guide told us that this Uros people consider themselves as people of the sun and they want to live as close as possible... Another explanation was that they were actually some kind of refugees... whatever, it was pretty interesting!
Amantani
This is a less frequently visited island and the locals are really very friendly. They welcomed us with a local dance in typical dresses. We would stay one night with the family of Eugénio, his lovely wife and his 6 kids. Their house was the farest away in the village. there was no electricity( cause they couldnt pay the bill anymore a couple of years ago) and or warm water ( and it was freezing outside). The mother prepared deliciously meals for us and the kids. We got really a lovely welcome. The first day, in the evening the community had prepared a fiesta with tipical dances. We were dressed
Child of the floating Islands
We visited one of the 24 islands. On this islands were 7 families living. in typical clothes, borrowed from the parents. The next
Taquile Island
This island is a natural island, as Mantani is as well. It is inhabitated for many thousand years and there live around 2000 inhabitants on this island. The inhabitants have a unique tradition in the wedding ceremony... They have to live at least for 3 years together, so they can save money for the wedding which can last for 5 till 7 days! The dresses of the locals are also determicated by their marital status...Making a picture of the locals was a hard and sneaky job, cause they expect a tip for every photo that you make of them...(if I would have to make picture in a legal way, that would cost me a fortune...)
The island isn´t that big, so after a short walk and a delicious lunch ( unfortunately my stamoch was a completely mess, but Marco had much more luck!) we left the island behind us for a trip of a couple of hours on the boath back to Puno.
When we arrived in Puno, we rushed to the hotel to pick up our bags( that we had left there) and took a taxi
to the busstation. The newspapers predicted a strike and that would affect especially travellers so we wanted to be on destiny before midnight. We were able to change the reservation of the bus to Cuzco and a couple of hours later we got attacked by a couple of "touts" who wanted us to convince of the best hostelservices in town. Cusco is a town with more than 250 different hotels and hostels, so choice enough...but we had booked a room already, so no hassle! The taxi brought us for the rediculous high amount of 7 soles to our hostel, but a least it was safe...
Our experiences at the Titicaca Lake are really amazing and I will never forget the lovely family...
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